Leah Part III - God remembered and honored Leah long after (God's love)
“God remember those who suffer…”.
The Bible didn’t say if Jacob ever loved Leah as much as he did Rachel but it does say that Leah stayed with him and Jacob, with her.
She gave him four sons while Rachel had two. We don’t know if Leah continued to agonize over winning Jacob over but the scripture does say that after her youngest son, Judah, she said “This time, I will praise the lord” instead of “Surely my husband will love me now”, finally.
Leah had no idea what the Lord had for her, a recognition and honor she wouldn’t have thought of, long after she was gone.
Rachel, on giving birth to her second child, on their way to Bethlehem, died. It must’ve truly broken Jacob’s heart. The girl he worked an extra seven years for went ahead of him, and again, he’s left with the second choice – Leah, the resilient, loyal, unwanted, unloved wife.
“So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). – Genesis 35:19”
So years passed by and Jacob’s time to die too arrived and requested they bury him with his fathers –
“There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. – Genesis 49:31”
What an honor for Leah to be buried among the patriarchs, and with the love of her life, Jacob. And God’s goodness didn’t stop there. From her son’s line, Judah, came the Son of God who took the nature of a man, Jesus Christ, to redeem the world from eternal condemnation. What would be a greater honor than that?
NOTE: God remembers those who suffer, who suffer for doing what is right, who suffer for what pleases God, and maybe in our lifetime, we never would get to see the whole plan set out for us, the BIG complete picture but for certain, in the end, HE will uphold the righteous and the faithful.
“Is there anything impossible with the Lord? – Genesis 18:14”
Further Readings:
Comments
It's not that I don't have sympathy for Leah in her situation, I do. I just tend to be more touched and inspired by the powerful love between Jacob and Rachel. I see the whole thing with Leah as a merciful God doing the best He could for both parties in a situation created by the deception of another.
I always find it a little humorous that Jacob still had no problem sleeping with both of them, along with the maid...such a typical guy! *hehe*
I think it was stupid of Jacob to give 14 years of labor for a woman who didn't mind if her husband slept with her maid as long as she could compete with her sister.
And dyring those times, having miltiple wives weren't much of an issue yet...I think, unlike today.