Day 15 - Leah Feels Unloved

Genesis 29–30; Job 19–20; Proverbs 3:5-8;

Commentary on Genesis 29–30

Jacob arrives at his uncle (Rebekah’s brother) Laban’s land. He meets his two daughters, Leah (the oldest) and Rachel (the youngest). He meets Rachel first, while out in the fields, and falls in love with her, because she was beautiful, like the other matriarchs Sarah and Rebekah.

Laban then makes a deal with Jacob: after he serves him for seven years, he will get to marry Rachel. He works for the seven years, but when it came around to the wedding, Laban deceives Jacob and gives Leah instead of Rachel, and Jacob only notices it in the morning after.

Jacob asks Laban why he did that, and he says that in their country they don’t give the younger before the firstborn. But Laban gives Rachel for marriage after the marriage festivities of Leah, in return for additional seven years of labor.

Laban gives Zilpah as maid to Leah and Bilhah to Rachel.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and Leah feels unloved. The sisters then fight for Jacob attention, specially using sex. Leah initially is fertile while Rachel is not, because God barred Rachel’s womb when He saw Jacob’s favoritism.

Jacob’s children:

1. By Leah:
   1. Reuben
   2. Simeon
   3. Levi
   4. Judah
2. By Bilhah:
   1. Dan
   2. Naphtali
3. By Zilpah:
   1. Gad
   2. Asher
4. By Leah, again:
   1. Issachar
   2. Zebulun
   3. Dinah (daughter)
5. By Rachel:
   1. Joseph

The names all have meanings. The wives deliver their maids to Jacob to have children through them, just as Sarah did with Hagar, conceiving Ishmael.

After Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob asks Laban to return to Canaan, and they make a deal for Jacob to take some of the flock, but Laban is dishonest, but Jacob is able to get the upper hand in the end, using his natural intelligence. He prospers, having large flocks, servants, camels and donkeys.

Notes: We have a nice little arc of divine providence (meeting Rachel) and divine justice (getting deceived because of his deception) for Jacob.

Fertility is seen as a great sign of God’s favor.

Verses: “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” Gen 29:20

“When the Lord saw that Leah was hated” Gen 29:31. Hated is used here not as we use, but as “less favored and loved”

Commentary on Job 19–20

Chapter 19 is a cry of sadness by Job. He primarily talks about his sadness on how the people that he loved and cared about - his wife, intimate friends, his servants, young children - all seem to despise him. He calls out his friends for only making the situation worse, because even if it were true that he is guilty, God is already punishing him, he doesn’t need his friends to do the same. At the end, though, Job demonstrates hope, calling God his “Redeemer” and that in the end, He will be at his side. He also warns his friends that their way of speaking about him may bring God’s judgement against them.

Zophar gets offended by Job’s proposition of God’s judgement against him. Then, he gives a speech on how the pleasure of sin is short, and that the wicked quickly perish. God’s wrath against the wicked is inevitable and unstoppable.

Allegorical sense:

1. Christ is the living Redeemer, that by his incarnation and resurrection, has come to save us all and wants to be at our side if we freely accept him.
2. The pleasure of sin is an illusion; It is not a lasting pleasure that leads us to the ultimate good. Although sinners may enjoy a life of carnal pleasures in this life, the godless shall not inherit heaven.

Commentary on Proverbs 3:5-8

Trust in the Lord above your own insight. Personally, this is a true showing of faith, you not only know intellectually the truths about God, but trust and follow his commandments. People today choose religions and denominations based on what set of propositions of behavior they agree, and this is terrible. If you believe in and trust in God, you should put his word above your own understanding.

Trust in God and doing His will heals us.