Scripture Daily

Context No. 3553 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 29:31-35: in context

31The LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because the LORD has looked at my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” 33She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.” She named him Simeon. 34She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. 35She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Leah is the unloved wife, overlooked in favor of her sister Rachel, and the passage says simply, the LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb. God sees the unloved and the overlooked; Leah's ache did not escape his notice, and he acted for her.

And there is a moving progression in the names she gives her sons. The first three reflect her longing for her husband's love: surely now he will love me; the LORD has heard that I am hated. But with the fourth son something shifts. She names him Judah, saying, this time I will praise the LORD. Her focus moves from the love she craved from a man to praise of the God who had seen her all along. And it is from this son, Judah, whose name means praise, that the line of David and of Christ himself would come. God saw the unloved woman, and out of her longing and her turn to praise, he brought forth the royal, messianic line.

Do I trust that God sees me even when I feel unloved or overlooked, and can I move, like Leah, from craving what others withhold to praising the God who sees me?

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