Leah

Leah, the Unloved Wife

Genesis 29:21-35; 30:1-22; 31:1-16; 33:1-2; 34:1-2

by patsy norwood (c) 2005-2017 All Rights Reserved

Mini Lesson # 13

One would hope that Jacob grew to care for Leah over the years but it is evident throughout Scripture that his true love was Rachel. This was reiterated in Genesis 33:1-2 when Jacob fearing Esau, his brother, would seek to kill him upon learning he was on his way home placed his children along with their mothers in strategic locations within the group. Fill in the following blanks:

Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maid servants. And he put the ___________ and their children in front, _____________ and her children behind, and ________________ and ________________ last. (Genesis 33:1-2)

Look again at Genesis 33:1-2. Whose children would Esau and his men come to first?  Second?  Third?

If there had been blood shed whose children would have been the most protected?

Actions speak louder than words and Jacob's actions here spoke volumes. What did they say?

As if being married to someone who didn't love you wasn't enough, Leah had yet another heartache to bear which involved her daughter, Dinah. Read Genesis 34:1-2 and tell us what it was.

One tragic event follows another, and it is not long before Rachel dies giving birth to Jacob's twelfth son. Leah is now Jacob's only wife (Zilpah and Bilhah were Jacob's concubines) and the rivalry is over, howbeit, not the way Leah would have preferred. Do you think Leah had any regrets?

patsy

She Hath Done What She Could