In the story of Jacob, how much thought have you given to Leah?
I realized today that I have never given her much thought. My focus has always been on Rachel, after all, she was the one Jacob loved and worked so hard for. In reality, I considered Leah a rather minor player in the overall storyline.
I’ve thought about Leban and how he took advantage of Jacob’s situation and gave him a woman he didn’t love or even want, on his wedding night. But I’ve never once considered how that might have made Leah feel.
Leban didn’t just give Jacob a “thing” that night – he gave him his eldest daughter, a woman, someone created to be loved and cherished. It’s unlikely Leah had a choice in the matter, even though it was clear before the wedding that Jacob loved Rachel.
How would that feel? To be snuck into the tent of your sister’s husband, on her wedding day? To be the “rude awakening” of a husband who didn’t choose you and was tricked into being with you at all?
Here’s the interesting thing. Whenever I think of the bloodline of Jesus, I always think of Jacob and Rachel but Jesus was from the tribe of Judah – Leah’s firstborn.
God took someone no one else wanted, the one who was unlovely and unloved in the estimation of people and wove the bloodline of Jesus through her child, her generations. He lifted her up when others put her down. He marked her with favor and His radical, unfailing love when no one else saw her value.
The story of Leah is in The Jesus Storybook Bible. It’s only a couple of pages but I appreciate that they highlighted so many things that are easily overlooked. From now on, when I read the story of Jacob – I will look differently at the role of Leah, not just in the scope of Jacob’s life but in the beautiful tapestry that is the story of redemption. And this new perspective is one I want to carry over to everyone I meet.
Paul said that we should not know anyone after the flesh – meaning just looking at the outward behaviors and appearance; but that we should know them after the spirit – not just their God-given identity, though that’s important – but to see them as someone who plays a role in a bigger picture that we will not fully comprehend this side of eternity.
Consider each person of value and esteem them as image-bearers of God, even when nothing in their life seems to bear His fingerprints His love for them is unstoppable and unfathomable and He asks us to love them exactly as He does – with no strings attached. We never know the role someone plays in God’s story but we can always help encourage them that they are important, valuable, loved, and have a purpose even if they can’t see it today.
In God’s reality – no one is “minor” or unimportant.
Notes/References:
The story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel begins in Genesis 29.
2 Corinthians 5:16 TPT So, from now on, we refuse to evaluate people merely by their outward appearances. For that’s how we once viewed the Anointed One, but no longer do we see him with limited human insight.
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