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Leah [a] (/ ˈ l iː ə /) appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel .
Rachel and Jacob at the Well by James Tissot (c. 1896–1902) Rachel is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 29 when Jacob happens upon her as she is about to water her father's flock. She was the second daughter of Laban, Rebekah's brother, making Jacob her first cousin. [2] Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban.
Genesis 29:29 describes her as Laban's handmaiden (שִׁפְחָה), who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. When Rachel failed to have children, Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob like a wife to bear him children. [2] Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. [3]
When Laban planned to deceive Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel, the Midrash recounts that both Jacob and Rachel suspected that Laban would pull such a trick; Laban was known as the "Aramean" (deceiver), and changed Jacob's wages ten times during his employ (Genesis 31:7). The couple therefore devised a series of signs by which Jacob ...
Laban was more than 30 years older than Jacob, and employed him for 20 years. Laban promised his younger daughter Rachel to Jacob in return for seven years' service, only to trick him into marrying his elder daughter Leah instead. Jacob then served another seven years in exchange for the right to marry his choice, Rachel, as well . Laban's ...
Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob; Secondary matriarchs: Some Jewish sources list Bilhah and Zilpah (Jacob's concubines) as additional matriarchs, for a total of six matriarchs. [10] [11] Other sources also include an emphasis on Tamar (the daughter-in-law of Judah) and Asenath (Osnat) (the wife of Joseph). [12]
In the backstory, Jacob arrives at his uncle Laban's settlement to escape from his older brother Esau, and falls in love at first sight with his cousin Rachel. She reciprocates his feelings, as, secretly, does her sister Leah. Jacob asks Laban for permission to marry Rachel, offering his service to Laban in exchange.
Leah: The oldest, and in Jacob’s eyes less desirable, of Laban’s two daughters, Leah is wise, vulnerable, and often hurt by her husband’s obvious preference for her sister. Though Leah is fruitful and bears him many children, Jacob’s elevation of Rachel’s sons above her own is a source of pain and jealousy.
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