Lea is the eldest daughter of Laban. She has brothers and a sister, Rachel.

One day a cousin of hers, Jacob, comes from Canaan. First as a guest, then he stays to live with them. He is immediately impressed by Rachel and is willing to work for her father for 7 years if he can marry her afterwards.

Not much is told of Lea. Only that she has pale eyes. Interpreters say that these are light eyes, while dark eyes are the beauty ideal at that time.

There is also the word “but” as a contrast: but Rachel was beautiful in stature and handsome to look at.

Lea remains single, even in the 7 years Jacob works for Rachel. And then the wedding day arrives, a feast with guests and good food.  When night falls, however, Laban brings not Rachel but Lea to Jacob's tent.

Does Laban want Lea to have a husband too? Is Laban deceiving Jacob so that he gets another 7 years of free power? Or is it really the custom that the eldest daughter marries before the youngest?

We don't know. But as soon as Jacob wakes up and notices that it is not Rachel but Leah lying next to him he rushes to Laban to seek redress.

This was to be expected, but it is, to say the least, not nice for Lea.

A week later, Jacob also marries Rachel. Lea is second choice. For Jacob loves Rachel more than Lea.

God also sees that Lea is less loved. He comforts her by giving her children.

 

We first hear Lea speak for herself when she gives names to her children. Here you hear what is going on in her heart:

Reuben: the Lord has seen my affliction. Surely now my husband will love me.

Simeon: because the Lord has heard that I am loved less He has given me this son.

Levi: now, this time my husband will be attached to me, for I have given him 3 sons.

Judah: this time I will praise the Lord.

When she gives names to the children of her slave Zilpah, she says:

Gad: happiness has come!

Aser: how happy I am! For the women will praise me happy.

Later she has two more sons and a daughter Dina. With her sons she says:

Issachar: God has rewarded me because I gave my slave girl to my husband.

Zebulun: God has given me a beautiful gift, this time my husband will live with me, because I gave him 6 sons.

Leah sees her children as gifts from God and she gives Him the glory. The Lord, He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and also of her husband Jacob. Thanks to Jacob, she also knows the Lord. Not as “just any god,” but as the Living One, Who cares for her and takes care of her.

She loves her children and her husband very much. But that love is not completely reciprocated. And that continues to hurt in her life. Leah, missing her husband's love, feels loved by the Lord.

 

We hear Lea speak again, this time to her sister. For when Reuben finds love apples in the field, symbolizing fertility, Rachel wants some too. Lea says, “Isn't it enough that you took my husband from me? Must you also take my son's love apples?”

Yet she gives Rachel the love apples because then Rachel allows her to sleep with Jacob that night.

Apparently, Jacob sleeps with Rachel at night. Not only does Lea miss Jacob's love, but also his closeness at night.

That evening Lea walks up to Jacob and she says, “you must sleep with me tonight because I have hired you fair and square for my son's love apples.” That night Jacob sleeps with her.

 

We also hear words from Rachel that relate to Lea.

Rachel becomes jealous because Lea has children and she does not.

She gives her slave Bilha to Jacob to wife and when the latter gives birth to a son in her place she names the baby Dan and says, “God has provided justice for me. He has also listened to my voice and given me a son.” When her slave girl later gives birth to another son Rachel names him Naftali and says, “I fought a hard battle with my sister and I won.”

And then, after many years, Rachel's prayer is also answered, she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son: Joseph. She says, “God has taken away my shame. May the Lord give me another son.”

 

Jacob now has 11 children. Lea has 6 sons and a daughter, the slave girls have 4 sons together, and Rachel has 1 son: Joseph. In Genesis 37:3 it says that Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons because Joseph was born when Jacob was already old.

Joseph, the same is written of him as is written of his mother: he was beautiful in stature and handsome to behold (Genesis 39:6).

Years later, when Jacob is already back in Canaan with his family, you read that Joseph is sold by his brothers.

Did the strife between the sisters penetrate the tents of the growing children? They hated him. Hatred goes much deeper than being annoyed with someone once.

Hate is a poisonous seed in your soul. It gets roots and it will grow if you give it food. Food in the form of gossiping, speaking ill of someone, pointing out another person's shortcomings, repeating your annoyance over and over until you can only look at someone with contempt....

Don't give seeds of annoyance a chance to grow!

Leah should have stayed close to God. He who saw her sorrow and comforted her by giving her children she could care for and who love her.

Rachel should not have been superior to Lea.

And Jacob, could he have shown less that he loved Rachel the most?

When they travel back to Jacob's homeland and Jacob becomes afraid of his brother Esau and his reaction, he puts the slave women and their children in the front, Lea and her children behind, and at the very back Rachel and Joseph. The most important and safe place. If Esau has bad intentions they would have the best chance of escaping.

But Esau is happy to see him: it is a cordial meeting and reconciliation.

 

In the following years they move further into the land and then something sad happens: Rachel dies giving birth to her second son. She is buried by the side of the road. Joseph and his newborn brother Benjamin no longer have a mother. Jacob has to miss his beloved wife. And Lea now has no sister.

Life goes on. Now Lea finally has the place she always wanted: Jacob's wife. Together they meet Jacob's now aged father: Isaac.

Lea, in her life, was always second choice. But God saw her. The genealogy from which later the Messiah, Jesus, is born continues not with Joseph but with Judah, Lea's son. She is allowed to be matriarch.

She is interred years later, when she dies, in the family tomb where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah are also buried.

God has an eye for the vulnerable, the unseen. He wants to surround people with His love.

In His shadow we may take shelter. He knows your name, He knows your silent sorrow. And He listens when you call.