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LEAH
Laban’s daughter, the wife of Jacob, and the older sister of Rachel.
After deceiving his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing intended for Esau (Gn 27:5-40), Jacob left home and went to his uncle Laban (27:43; 28:2) in distant Mesopotamia, in order to find a wife (27:46–28:2) and escape the revenge of Esau, who had determined to kill him (27:41-42). Here he fell in love with his cousin Rachel and arranged with her father to marry her in exchange for seven years of work (29:17-18). When the time for the wedding feast came, Laban deceived Jacob in an apparent scheme to keep his services for seven more years; he gave Leah instead of Rachel to Jacob on the wedding night (vv 21-25). His lame excuse that custom required the giving of the older daughter in marriage before the younger (v 26) was hardly appropriate at that point and certainly should have been explained from the beginning. Leah is described as “weak-eyed,” perhaps to be understood as “dull-eyed,” in contrast with Rachel, who is described as “beautiful and lovely” (v 17).
Jacob’s love for Rachel (Gn 29:20) induced him to agree to work for another seven years in order to receive her also as his wife. Because of the intense rivalry between the two sisters and Jacob’s favoring of Rachel, the Lord blessed Leah with six sons and a daughter (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah) before Rachel was given any children (29:31–30:22). This barrenness became a great burden for Rachel over the years. At one point she bargained with Leah for mandrakes, a plant believed to ensure conception, in exchange for conjugal rights. The result was to increase her sister’s advantage, however, because Leah conceived and bore her fifth son, Issachar (30:14-17).
Leah was given the honor of being the mother of the two tribes that played the most significant roles in the history of the nation of Israel. The tribe of Levi became the tribe of the priesthood. The tribe of Judah became the tribe of royalty through which the promised seed (Gn 3:15; 12:2-3; 2 Sm 7:16; Mt 1:1) ultimately came in the person of Jesus Christ.
See also Jacob #1.