When I was in high school, I had a boyfriend. He had the most incredible blue eyes. He could give me a certain look that just melted my heart. We were in love. Well, one of us was in love.
We both worked at Tom Thumb along with several other kids from our high school. There was this really cute girl who worked there, too. One day, I had gotten to the store a little early for my shift. I saw my boyfriend sitting over at the snack bar having a coke and talking with this other girl, so I went over to join them. When I sat down next to my boyfriend, he didn't acknowledge me at all. He was talking to this other girl and looking at her with the same special look that I thought was just for me. I felt invisible, like I was intruding into their private little world of flirtation, and it made me feel horribly alone and unloved.
I think Leah must have felt that way. Her husband didn't choose her. He chose her sister - the "pretty one". Her dad played a dirty trick on Jacob, and Leah found herself married to a man who loved someone else.
Leah's story is sad, at least in the beginning. But God saw her tears. He understood the pain she felt watching her husband and her sister, Rachel. Leah was a third wheel - not wanted... not loved. But God loved her. And God blessed her with a great honor. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, would be born from Leah's lineage.
Jacob may have chosen Rachel, but God chose Leah. I like that.
http://youtu.be/k_MyC6kJzPg - Unfailing Love - Chris Tomlin
Father, there are times when we feel alone, like no one understands or cares. Our friends are so caught up in their own lives, they don't always "see" when we're hurting or struggling. But You see, LORD. And You care. You're always there, whether we realize it or not. Thank You for being our Comforter and our Strength. Your love, O GOD, is unfailing. We will trust in You. We pray this in the Name of Jesus, our Savior, who makes all things new. Amen.
Psalm 56:8
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.You have recorded each one in your book.
2 Chronicles 30:9
For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."
Psalm 25:6
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past.
Jacob loved Rachel. It was love at first sight. He knew this was the woman that he wanted to marry. But to win her hand in marriage, Jacob had to work for his uncle Laban (Rachel's dad) for seven years. He did that willingly because of the prize set before him. After seven years of hard work and honorable service, Jacob was finally marrying the love of his life.
Laban was not quite as honorable as Jacob. You see, Rachel had an older sister, Leah. Evidently, Leah was not a woman who would make heads turn. Depending on the translation, the bible says Leah had tender or weak eyes. I'm not sure what that means. Either her eyes were soft and gentle - her one true asset, or they were weak and not pretty at all. I'd like to think that the Scripture was pointing to her one good trait, tender eyes. One things we do know, Rachel was a a knockout in every way. And Jacob wanted her, not her sister.
Laban decided he need to get Leah married off and the only way he saw that happening was to trick Jacob into marrying Leah. From what I've read, a marriage officially took place when the bride's father would bring his daughter to the groom on the wedding night - basically handing her over to her husband. That was the final act that sealed the convenant of marriage. So Laban delivered the bride (Leah) to Jacob in the dark of night. Jacob expected Rachel, but he was fooled.
Poor Leah! She was stuck in a marriage with no love - worse yet, her husband loved someone else, her very sister. As I read about Leah in Genesis 29, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. God had compassion on Leah, also. In fact, the bible says "because Leah was unloved, the LORD let her have a child, while Rachel was childless." Leah had six of Jacob's 12 sons. After each birth, she named the sons:
Son Meaning of What Leah said at his birth:
his name
_________________________________________________________________
Reuben "look, a son!" "The Lord has noticed my misery and now maybe
husband will love me"
Simeon one who hears "The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me
another son."
Levi affection for “Surely now my husband will feel affection for me, since
I've given him three sons"
Judah praise "Now I will praise the Lord!"
Issachar reward "God has rewarded me"
Zebulun honor "God has given me good gifts for my husband.
Now he will honor me, for I have given
him six sons"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doesn't it break your heart? She knew that Jacob didn't love her. Every day, she had to watch him with Rachel. All she wanted was for Jacob to love her. Can you imagine how miserable it would be to be stuck in a loveless marriage?
But God is so rich in mercy. He saw her pain and had compassion on her. Not only did He bless Leah with six sons, He also blessed her son, Judah, with an amazing blessing. Jesus, the Messiah, would descend from Judah, whose mother was Leah, not Rachel!
God blessed Leah.
One other thing I find interesting about this "love story", when Jacob was dying, he asked to be buried in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan. He told his sons, "There Abraham and his wife, Sarah, are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebeccah, are buried. And there I buried Leah." Jacob was buried with his wife, Leah. Rachel, the one he loved, was buried alone in Bethlehem.
For the record, my research shows that these two burial sites were about 13-14 miles from one another. Jacob could have easily chosen to be buried with Rachel, or he could have had Rachel's bones moved to the family burial cave, but for some reason, he didn't. Instead Jacob chose to be buried with Leah. Maybe she was loved more than she knew.
Three things I've learned from this story:
- God sees our pain when no one else sees, and He has compassion.
- God can use the worst circumstances for good. He has a purpose for what he allows in our lives.
- Sometimes, our greatest blessings come after we're gone, to our children.
These are the names of the twelve sons of Jacob: The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob's oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun." Genesis 35:22b-23
Matthew 1
The Genealogy of Christ, the Messiah
1 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
4 Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
6 Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah).
7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asa.
8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.
Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.
9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham.
Jotham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amon.
Amon was the father of Josiah.
11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).
12 After the Babylonian exile:
Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
14 Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
16Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment