Wow and thank you to all who subscribed, liked and commented. Please continue. I want God’s word shared with everyone possible. Before I dive in, I did go to the Dr. my asthma is flared up so onto prednisone I go. Hopefully that calms things down. Having this flare up, I still wanted to spend a little time with my baby goats (if you didn’t know I have goats you can check out that blog). I was sitting under our flowering cherry tree and the beautiful blossoms started to fall like pinkish white snow. What a gorgeous wedding that would make! Flowering petals floating to the ground in a non winter snow appearance. Sigh….
Every girl dreams of that beautiful wedding and the loving man she’ll marry. What if your father decided to force you to marry someone because you were older and the man wanted your younger sister instead? I’d be livid with my Father that’s for sure. Unfortunately this happened to Leah. Leah was the eldest and the sister of Rachel. Jacob immediately fell in love with Rachel and wanted to marry her. She was beautiful. Her Father agreed then decided it wasn’t proper and on the day of the wedding sent Leah in Rachel’s place. Jacob was deceived because Leah wore a veil. Can you imagine the shock when he saw he married the wrong sister!!!!
I guess in Bible times you sucked it up and dealt with it. The Bible doesn’t go into full detail but I can only imagine that things weren’t the greatest in their marriage. When Jacob went to Leah and Rachel’s father he begged him to allow him to marry Rachel. He could but only under the condition that he work for him for seven years. (That’s love right there! Some guys would probably say Nope I’m good).
Eventually Rachel and Jacob did marry. So her and Leah basically became Bible time Sister wives. They both had children to Jacob. Jacob has 12 sons and became known as “The 12 tribes of Israel”. He also had only one daughter, Dinah. Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. I’m mentioning this for a few reasons. Joseph was Jacobs favorite. It was extremely obvious to the point it outright annoyed his brothers. So, before I end up telling another Bible story, I’ll stop here but just saying that YES, this is the Joseph with the coat of many colors. The one I mentioned in Genesis 50:20. However, neither of Rachel’s son’s lead us to the path of Jesus. Shocked? I actually was.
So here’s Leah, basically the one that wasn’t wanted and yet if it wasn’t for her there would be no Jesus. Of the 13 children, she had 6 sons and Dinah the daughter. So that’s 9 children. I said Jacob had 13???? Ok, so without having to call in Maury Povich for a DNA envelope-Jacob also had relations with 2 handmaidens of Rachel and Leah. (Wonder if they had Springer back then? No?…). Personally I could not do this and I’d be the one moving out. Geez. It was because God saw that Leah was unloved that he allowed her to become pregnant. Of course her rivalry with Rachel was constant. Leah died sometime before Jacob as did Rachel. Both are buried along with Jacob in the same family tomb mentioned before.
Leah’s son Judah is the descendant whom married Tamar. Judah is the founder of the Israelite tribe of Judah. Which descends the line of David.
We learn from Rachel and Leah that God’s plan has nothing to do with beauty or favorites. Today so many people body shame others because they don’t fit into a certain “look”. God’s plan doesn’t look at our beauty. His plan will proceed regardless of our looks. If we think about it, beauty is only skin deep. The ugliness he does hate is how we treat, talk about and act towards others rudely. Why people feel the need to shame another is beyond me.
The only time you should look down on another person is if you’re helping them back up!
Lord, as we are now in Holy Week let us all reflect on what you’ve done for us. Even you, in a time when you were deceived and had friends turn on you-enduring pain forgave them. You asked, Please forgive them for they know not what they do”. Forgiveness is a difficult task. I pray that each person reading this forgives. Forgiving isn’t forgetting. We forgive for ourselves so that we can have peace. You helped and continue to help me forgive. I pray we’re all a better person and T.H.I.N.K. before speaking. Amen
The Carpenter’s Daughter 