The Jacob-Rachel-Leah Story
It is recommended that the series “A New Way to View The Women of the Bible,” “Women are Equal to Men,” and “Jacob and Esau Birthrights and Blessings” be read before reading the posts in this series.
Review of the previous post.
The previous post, post number 3 of 8, continued the discussion of possible explanations for the general questions and begins a discussion of Leah’s part in the story.
Preview of this post.
This post, post number 4 of 8, continues the discussion of possible explanations for the general questions and discusses some implications of the story.
(3) Implications
Rachel permitting Jacob to marry Leah in order to ensure offspring is one of the great selfless acts of the Bible. Without her sacrifice, it is likely that the line of Abraham and Isaac would have died with Benjamin and Joseph[1].
This interpretation can also explain Rachel’s assent to the marriage and her remarkable silence thereafter. She knew Jacob loved her, but she was barren, as seven years of trying had proved, so she felt that a marriage to Jacob would be doomed. Unlike Abraham and Sarah, God had not promised them progeny before they initially conceived (compare Genesis 17:2 with Genesis 35:11); therefore, they would not have reason to believe that their marriage would produce offspring. Perhaps Rachel, Leah and Jacob (and even Laban) had the understanding that Leah would be a “wife” for purposes of progeny, but Rachel was the “real” wife. Leah would go along with this to avoid being married to Esau or to avoid remaining unmarried altogether, and because she may no longer have been a virgin. Such an arrangement would benefit everyone.
Perhaps the three of them understood the importance of Jacob producing progeny to fulfill his duties under the Covenant and agreed that the arrangement of Jacob’s marriage to both Leah and Rachel was the best way to fulfill those duties[2].
The situation had to be devastating for Rachel: her sister was fertile with Rachel’s beloved husband while she remained barren. She surely felt that her barrenness was her fault. This pain had to be made more intense when she saw the children, especially Leah’s children. Rachel had sacrificed her own happiness and self image so Jacob could produce progeny and fulfill his commitment to the covenant of his father and grandfather. Yet Rachel persevered. Perhaps this is why Rachel is so beloved. On some level perhaps we all empathize with Rachel and her pain and lover her like a suffering daughter and admire her for the way she bore her burden.
Preview of the next post.
The next post, post number 5 of 8, presents a discussion of God’s part in this story.
[1] Under this scenario, Joseph never would have ended up in Egypt and the entire history of the Jews would have been different, or perhaps never happened as the Jacob clan might have died of starvation during the famine that sent the clan to Egypt in the Exodus story.
[2] The agreement between Rachel and Leah appears to be an instance of women cooperating with each other to achieve a common goal. As discussed in the section on women, the women of the Bible teach us the value and benefits of cooperation.