Genesis 30:9-13: a reflection

9When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a son. 11Leah said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad. 12Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a second son. 13Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher.

In the ongoing tension of Jacob's household, Leah, who has borne several sons, now sees more children come through her servant Zilpah, and she responds with expressions of gladness. She names the first son Gad, saying, how fortunate! and the second Asher, saying, happy am I, for the women will call me happy. Amid a complicated and often painful family situation, Leah keeps finding words of gladness for the good that comes to her.

There is something worth noticing in Leah's choice of words. Her life was far from ideal; she was the less-loved wife in a rivalrous household, and her story holds real sorrow. Yet in these verses she does not name her children after her grief but after her gladness, choosing to see and name the fortunate, happy things that came to her. In the midst of a hard life, she still marked and celebrated the good.

There is a quiet wisdom in Leah's response. Life is often complicated and mixed, with real sorrows woven through it, and it would be easy to name only the disappointments. But Leah shows the value of noticing and naming the good, of saying happy am I even when life is far from perfect. Ask God to give you eyes to see the fortunate, glad things in your own complicated life, and a heart ready to name them with gratitude rather than dwelling only on what is hard.

Lord, in the midst of a hard and rivalrous household, Leah still found words of gladness, naming the good that came to her, happy am I. In my own complicated life, with its real sorrows, give me eyes to see and name the fortunate, glad things you send. Keep me from dwelling only on what is hard, and teach me a heart ready to say, even now, happy am I, with gratitude to you. Amen.