Leah Leah was Laban’s first daughter, Jacob’s unloved first wife, and Rachel’s older sister. After Jacob deceived his father Isaac into giving him the blessing intended for Esau (Gen 27:1-40), Jacob went to his uncle Laban in Mesopotamia to escape Esau’s revenge and find a wife (27:41–28:5). He fell in love with his cousin Rachel and arranged with her father to marry her after seven years of work (29:17-20). After the wedding feast, Laban deceived Jacob by giving him Leah instead of Rachel (29:21-25), claiming that custom required the older daughter to marry first (29:26). Leah was less attractive than her sister (29:17), and Jacob did not love her (29:30-35). Jacob’s love for Rachel induced him to work another seven years to marry her. Because Jacob favored Rachel, the Lord blessed Leah with six sons and a daughter (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah) before Rachel was able to conceive (29:31–30:22). At one point Rachel bargained with Leah for some mandrakes, a plant believed to ensure conception, in exchange for conjugal rights. Leah then conceived and bore her fifth son (30:14-17), increasing her advantage in her rivalry with Rachel. Leah was t...

Rachel Rachel, Laban’s beautiful younger daughter, was Jacob’s favorite wife. He first met her as he arrived at Paddan-aram in Haran, when he helped her remove the stone from a well and watered her father’s sheep (Gen 29:10). Jacob agreed to work seven years for Laban in order to have Rachel as his wife, and the time seemed like only a few days because of his great love for her. Laban deceptively required Jacob to marry Leah, his older, less attractive daughter, before finally giving him Rachel. Unlike Leah, Rachel was barren in the early years of her marriage to Jacob (29:31; 30:1). She gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob in order to have children by her, and Dan and Naphtali were born (30:3-8). In time, Rachel conceived and bore Joseph (30:22-24), and soon after, Jacob took his wives, children, and possessions away from Haran. Somewhere between Bethel and Bethlehem, Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin (35:16-20). Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb that was a landmark even in Saul’s time (1 Sam 10:2). Rachel and Leah are highly regarded for having built up the house of Israel (Ruth 4:11). In Jeremiah 31:15, Rachel is pictured as crying for her children being carried...