(Genesis 29:31-32, 35)-NASB
“31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened
her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 Leah conceived and bore a son
and named him Reuben, for she said, ‘Because the Lord has seen my affliction;
surely now my husband will love me.’35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.”
The history of Mother’s
Day can be traced back as far as the ancient Egyptian pagan rituals were
mothers were considered blessed by the gods by having children. In modern America, Mother’s Day can be traced
back to Julia Ward Howe in 1872. Julia
Ward Howe is best known for writing the song The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
But the holiday that we celebrate was inspired by Anna Jarvis which was instituted
in 1912. Today it is a multi-billion
dollar business which has everyone from the florist, to the chocolate candy
manufacturers, to the restaurant industry cashing in heavy.[1]
Today I would like to
speak about mothers. Their importance in
our lives is extreme. If a child has a
good mother, but a bad father, he or she is more likely to develop a strong
moral compass. William Ross Wallace in
his titled mother’s day poem said it best, The
Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World. There is something extremely innate about the
tie between mothers and their children.
I know that so much of what I have gone through in my life would have little
meaning had it not been for my mom. At
the same time I look at the life of one of my nephews who is setting in prison
for at least 15 to 30 years for aggravated assault, kidnapping, and
robbery. His life has been filled turmoil
and the main source of irritation has been a single mother who never cared to
have anything to do with him. One moment
of showing love to him from her would change everything.
The Bible is replete with
mothers of all kinds. Good ones, bad
ones, funny ones, strange ones, smart ones, and of course foolish ones. Most people when they focus on a mother for
a study will look at Eve, or Hannah (Samuel’s mother) or Elizabeth (John the
Baptist’s mom) or Mary, mother of Jesus or even Timothy’s mother and
grandmother. But there are other women
in the Bible who give us a clear picture of the needs and hopes that moms have
as well as the insight into what is or is not a good characterization of a mom.
One such mother in the
Bible that I believe is often overlooked is Jacob’s wife, Leah. The story starts in Genesis chapter 29:18
where Jacob confesses his love for Rachel, Leah’s younger sister. Evidently, according to Laban, Leah and
Rachel’s father, the older sister has to be given away in marriage first.[2] None of this is explained to Jacob up front;
so a deal is made between that Jacob would work for Rachel for seven
years. The way the deal goes is that at
the end of the Jacob would get Rachel as his wife and he would be allowed to go
back to his home in Canaan where his father Isaac and mother Rebecka lived.[3] As a side note Laban is his uncle.[4]
The Bible says that seven
years past like a brief moment in time.[5] Finally the time has come, the wedding feast
is thrown, and the bride enters the tent to spend the night with the groom.[6] Sounds cool and appear to be the perfect love
story, however the next morning Jacob wakes up to find that Laban had given him
a special wedding gift. The bride was
not Rachel, but Leah![7] The passage that follows breaks out into all
kinds of outrage and anger. Jacob is
beside himself. So a new deal is made
and Jacob would receive Rachel upfront for an additional seven years of labor.[8] This sets the scene for what is about to
happen for the rest of Jacob’s life.
There are three things to
note about Leah from the quoted scriptures above. First, she was not the most loved person
around. Verse 31 states that she was “unloved.” Not the greatest feeling. The Bible gives us some small details about
Leah. Not only was she the first born,[9]
but she is also someone with very week vision.[10] Some theologians believe that the comment
about her eyes may have a lot to do with her overall physical appearance.[11] In other words she may have been a very weak
looking person. According to those who
believe this is true, Rachel may have been a fairly big bone woman giving her
the appearance of being stronger.[12] This would make sense considering the fact
that what was needed for that time period was be strength, not beauty. If the appearance issue is true it would have
even more to do with feeling unloved since most men may have gone after Rachel
to court rather than Leah. We have to
take one more look at this issue of being “unloved.” How do you think she felt when her dad slipped
her into Jacob’s tent rather than letting Rachel marry him. Talk about a shotgun wedding! This takes the cake.
The second thing we see
is that Leah knew she was not loved in verse 32. This shows up at the birth of Reuben. The meaning behind the name Reuben is given,
“…‘Because the Lord has seen my
affliction; surely now my husband will love me.’” She could tell that Jacob didn’t love
her. She longed to have his
affection. Her father had betrayed her
with the treachery on the wedding night.
Jacob had never showed interest in her before, what was to say he would
now. However, because a son was involved
maybe things would be different; or at least that was her hope. Feeling unloved did not keep her from loving,
serving, or staying with Jacob. Some may
contribute this attitude with the day and age they were living, which may be
true. That being said, I believe that
there was something deeper at work, something that kept things intact at the
worst possible moments, which leads us to our third point.
Leah evidently had a
relationship with God. This can be seen
from three different angles. First,
according verse 31 it states, “Now the
Lord saw that Leah was unloved,…”
While we know that the Lord sees everything (the doctrine of
omniscience)[13]
I think that He shows careful attention to His child.[14] This would be an example of it; the Lord saw
her situation and responded in a way that would give her some assurance. The second way we can see she had a
relationship with God is found in how she names her children. With Reuben she talks about the Lord seeing
her circumstances and with Judah in verse 33 she names him out of praise to
God. I believe this shows an acute
awareness of the presence and person of God.
She knows He is present with her during her time of difficulty. Last, we see that she had a relationship with
God based on what her sister, Rachel, did that she didn’t do. In a later chapter God instructs Jacob to
leave.[15] As they prepare to leave Rachel sneaks back
to her father’s house and steals some idols that they worshipped.[16] Leah did not do this, but Rachel did. On a circumstantial level alone there appears
to be a much deeper relationship with Yahweh.
While overlooked, Leah
plays a very important part in all of our lives. Not only does she reflect the qualities of
faithfulness, a relationship with God, and endurance, but she is a person of
importance historically. Through Leah
comes Judah; from Judah comes Boaz; from Boaz comes King David; from King David
comes King Solomon; from King Solomon comes a whole host of family which leads
to Joseph and Mary. And from Mary comes
Jesus the Christ, Savior of the world.[17][18]
From a mothers hand and
heartache comes the gospel message of salvation and hope. Little did she know that it would come to
this, but I am certain that she continues to praise the God who included her
son in His lineage. From Jesus Christ
and the sacrifice He made on the cross along with His great and glorious bodily
resurrection we find salvation. The ugly
that we see come from Jacob, Leah, and Rachel’s lives are only representative
of the ugly that God sees in our lives every day. He is displeased with us and with our
rebellion against Him, but He loves us.
Because of that love, He became a man, suffered on a cross because of
our sin and rose from the dead three days later to give us hope and salvation
if we just ask Him for it.
There are two points I
wish to make regarding Leah’s life and Judah’s legacy leading to our
Savior. One, you as a mom may feel that
your days are spent in loveless, worthless, daily, endless junk. Remember that it is a relationship with God
that sustains you. Two, you don’t really
know who you are raising. If you read
the rest of Genesis you will see that Judah was not the brightest nor was he
the most morally spectacular son.
However, he was the most repentant and in the end the wisest. While Joseph, his half younger brother,
shines the most at the latter half of the book, if you read it carefully it is
Judah who begins to display leadership toward doing the right thing. So don’t despair, that child who you cry over
today, may be the leader or raising the leader who God uses to share the gospel
in the most dramatic way ever seen.
God’s Blessing On All The
Moms!
Steven SwaimPresident and Founder, Be Devoted Ministries
Please feel free to share
any of my material with friends and family.
Invite them to visit this website.
[2]
Genesis 29:26
[3]
Ibid, 29:18-20
[4]
Ibid, 27:43
[5]
Ibid, 29:20
[6]
Ibid, 29:21-24
[7]
Ibid, 29:25
[8]
Ibid, 29:30
[9]
Ibid, 29:16
[10]
Ibid, 29:17
[11]
John H. Walton, The NIV Application
Commentary-Genesis. Zondervan, Grand
Rapid, MI, 2001. Pg. 586
[12]
Ibid
[13]
Proverbs 15:11
[14]
Romans 8:28
[15]
Genesis 31:11-13
[16]
Ibid, 31:19
[17]
Matthew 1
[18]
Luke 1:26-38
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