Leah’s Longing for Love and Acceptance

Morning light dawned. The bridegroom opened his eyes to discover that the previous days’ celebration was only a sham. He expected to see Rachel, the woman he worked seven years to marry, instead he was met with her sister. This new bride was just the punchline of a cruel joke – a tool used by her own father to weasel out seven additional free years of labor.

Her name is Leah, and the narrative of her early marriage found in Genesis 29 and 30 is easy to push past in a Bible full of much more attractive figures. We treasure the stories of faithfulness and incredible miracles, but Leah’s presence in the Bible complicates the seemingly beautiful love story of heroic Jacob and beautiful Rachel. We’d rather skip over the uncomfortable polygamy, and we may not want to identify ourselves with the older, ugly sister Jacob was tricked into marrying. But when we look deeper into this forgotten woman’s life, we can see God’s character and grace with deeper beauty….

This post originally appeared at Morning by Morning. Click here to continue reading.