Two sisters, one man—-that is bound to cause trouble!
But the truth is that Jacob loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. When he saw Rachel first and all of her beauty, his heart was swept away. Did she say anything special to him, did she help him with anything, did she give him directions, was there anything that she did or said that captured Jacob’s heart? This is what the bible says:
Genesis 29:9-18 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So, she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood. After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak[a] eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”
What was interesting to me is that Jacob was sent to the same place that Jacob’s grandfather Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Issaac. The difference is that Rebekah worked and served Abraham’s servant by sharing water with him and watering ALL OF HIS CAMELS. However, the opposite happened with Jacab and Rachel. She was a shepherd coming to water her sheep, but when Jacob took one look at Rachel, he rolled that stone away from the well and watered the sheep for her! It would seem that the only thing that was required of Rachel was her lovely figure and beauty. She probably had many admirers, got many compliments, love gestures and she probably never had a problem with someone rolling the stone away for her so that those sheep would be watered. I am sure it was much more than ‘weak eyed’ Leah received!
But although Jacob loved Rachel, GOD enabled Leah’s womb and she had 3 sons and Rachel was jealous of her because of it, because she was barren! This had to be difficult for Rachel, this was probably the first time in her life that the attention was not on her!!!
Unfortunately, the rivalry between women was something that was common during those days because having children meant having WORTH!!! So, when some could not have children, they probably felt that their life was not viable and the emptiness would consume them, just as it did for Rachel! I believe she was so consumed that she completely lost any love that she may have had for Jacob in the beginning, if she had any. The bible never states that Rachel loved Jacob!!! The one yearning for his heart was Leah.
So, in all of this jealousy, hurt, pain and confusion, who had a heart for GOD? After years of desiring her husband’s heart and not receiving all of it, Leah had her 3rd son and she named him Judah. She began to realize who really loved her and she gave her heart to the LORD!!! GOD knew LEAH’S HEART EVEN BEFORE SHE DID AND HE BLESSED HER BY ALLOWING JUDAH TO BE A PART OF THE BLOODLINE OF THE MESSIAH—JESUS!!!
So, did Jacob finally love Rachel with his whole heart? We will let Pastor Chrisman tell us about that next week!!!!
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