The Unloved Woman

 I want to talk a little about the unloved woman. I will focus of course on Leah, Jacob's first wife. Leah evidently had feeling for Jacob that were not felt by Jacob for Leah. Leah was like any normal girl. She had hopes and dreams and she no doubt thought once she was married all of her troubles would be over. But we read in Genesis her story and how that marriage and children did not earn her Jacob's love.

"When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren." Gen.29:31

Sometimes the unloved woman has unrealistic expectations about love and romance and marriage. Sometimes she thinks she has it all figured out and she is surprised when her plans fall apart. Sometimes it's a matter of misunderstanding or trying too hard to make love happen.

Leah tried to make it work. She was faithful. She bore Jacob children. But Leah was not as pretty as her sister and nothing she did could change Jacob's attitude. He did his duty as a husband, but he did not love Leah.

"For three things the earth is perturbed, yes, for four it cannot bear up; ...a hated woman when she is married." Prov. 30:21,23.

This is a recipe for disaster. In todays world Leah would have divorced Jacob. But in her world, Leah could do nothing but stick it out and hope that things would change.

I see one thing that seems to stand out in Leah's story. In Genesis 29 we read 

"And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, now I will praise the Lord. Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing." Gen.29:35

For her first three sons it was all about Leah trying to win Jacob's love. But with her fourth son there is a change in tone in the story. Leah has done what any unloved woman must do. She had left her cares with the Lord and decided to serve the Lord no matter what. Rachel never did anything like that.

We know the end of the story. Rachel dies alone and is buried alone. Leah is buried with the family and Jacob is buried with her. In the end Jacob did love Leah. Rachel was selfish, Leah became selfless. 

Love and romance are a gamble that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. But trusting God will always bring about the best end result. Even the unloved woman is loved by God.