Leah: Swapped Bride

Leah: Swapped Bride
Unloved by Man, Loved by God
By Shirley Mitchell

"When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, 'It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.' "
Genesis 29:31-32

When Jacob saw his Uncle Laban's daughter Rachel, it was love at first sight. He was so spellbound by her that he rolled away a stone to impress her. Love-struck Jacob agreed to work for Laban for seven years in return for his daughter Rachel's hand in marriage.

After seven years, Laban threw a feast with all the people to celebrate the marriage. However, he followed the family motto "want it, manipulate to get it." He tricked Jacob by giving him Leah instead of Rachel. He claimed that it was against their custom for the younger daughter to marry before the older daughter. Then he told Jacob to finish his bridal week with Leah, and then he would give him Rachel in exchange for seven more years of work.

Genesis 29:17 says, "Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful." This terrible descriptor and contrast with her lovely sister implied that Leah was not beautiful to behold. The Hebrew word for weak can also be described as "soft, tender, or delicate." We do not know exactly why God's Word describes her this way. We only know by the contrast that Rachel was the striking one with the beautiful figure who captivated Jacob's attention. Leah, who Jacob met second, could never steal his eye.

Scripture does not tell us at what point during the wedding feast and night that Jacob realized that it was not Rachel. With a veil covering her face and a bit of wine, Jacob did not realize the sisters had been swapped immediately. I imagine that Leah knew what it felt like to have her husband look at her with the love that he had for Rachel. When he looked at her knowing it was just her, the razored finger of rejection must have sliced her soul. He loved her sister more than he loved her. If the sisters were ever buddies with a strong friendship or if Leah was ever "mothering" to her younger sister Rachel, this surprise on Rachel's beloved catapulted their relationship to the most competitive sister rivalry in the Bible.

When God saw that Leah was not loved, He opened her womb. She said at her first child's birth, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now." She named her son Reuben which sounds like the Hebrew word for "he has seen my misery." The name means "see, a son." When she conceived again and gave birth to a second son, she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon which means "one who hears." Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi which sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew word for "attached." She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah which means "praise Jehovah."

When Leah first started having her children, she saw them as a means to capture her husband's love. Persevering through her desperation, by the time she had her fourth son, her obsession waned and defeated thinking diminished. Although I think she may have slipped back into old thought patterns by the fight that breaks out later when Leah had trouble conceiving, Leah started to think victoriously for this moment in time. Through this fourth son, God rewarded Leah by making Leah and Judah a part of the lineage continuing the family name for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Leah's son Judah, not one of Rachel's sons, is in the line of the King of Kings. It is Leah's blood, not Rachel's, that flowed through the Immanuel Jesus' veins. Jesus is called the Lion of Judah after Leah's son, not one of Rachel's.

I believe that since her husband did not satisfy her with the romance her heart longed to have, that God, the Romancer of her Soul, stepped in and romanced her. His love for her was irrevocable and unretractable. She didn't have to compete with anyone to get it. God never looked at anyone with more favor and affirmation than he did Leah, which seared her heart.

I believe that Leah was so right when she named her sons. The all-seeing eyes of God had seen her misery. The God who has heard every word in every language ever uttered by man heard that she was not loved. God knew if she could not get her husband to love her that she would settle for some attachment.
Many of my friends did not get the Cinderella princess marriage where they lived happily ever after. I have walked with many women who have remained faithful to their husbands through job loss, drugs, alcohol, gambling, and many other things. Many of my best friends are divorced and know that pain. Many are still single and not willing to settle for less than God's plan. Many ladies do not have that earthly prince charming who loves her, provides for her, and fights for her.

Rachel died in childbirth on the way to Bethlehem and was buried there. When Jacob was dying, he gave instructions to his sons to bury him with his fathers in the cave of the field of Ephron the Hittite. He said about his burial place in Genesis 49:31, "There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah." He was buried beside his wife Leah, not Rachel. Weak-eyed and unloved, Leah was buried with the Patriarchs. For me, I think this is so beautiful because the place of the sisters' burials was not decided by either one of them. God chose the places where their lives would come to an end. I think it is symbolic that although Rachel was not displaced as a wife, Leah won her place as his wife, too. God honored this precious woman who had no choice in her destiny, but God heard her misery and gave her blessings - some of which she may not even know about until we all stand before the Lion of Judah. Hallelujah!

Pray with me: Oh, Lord, You will satisfy all of our needs. So many of us do not have that special mate depicted in the romantic movies. We struggle just to survive the marriage. But Lord you created us - whether we are a man or a woman - with the need for romance. You satisfied Leah's need for romance. You can satisfy our need for romance. Romance us and lavish Your love upon us. May not one of us feel alone. May we realize You are better than what any human could ever be to us. In Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

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