Leah

Overview

• Leah is the elder daughter of Laban and the first wife of Jacob, mother of six of the twelve tribes of Israel — including Levi, from whom came the priesthood, and Judah, from whose line came Christ.
• Though the less-loved wife, she was the most fruitful of the mothers of Israel.

Her Story

Leah was the elder of Laban's two daughters, described as having "weak" (or tender) eyes, while her younger sister Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance (Genesis 29.16-17). When Jacob had served seven years for love of Rachel, Laban deceived him: at the wedding he brought Leah to Jacob in the dark, and only in the morning was the substitution discovered — Laban excusing it by the custom that the elder must marry first (Genesis 29.21-26). Jacob then received Rachel also, in exchange for another seven years' service (Genesis 29.27-30).

Because Leah was "unloved," the Lord "opened her womb" while Rachel remained barren, and she became the most fruitful of Jacob's wives. She bore in turn Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, naming each for her sorrow and hope (Genesis 29.31-35). When she ceased bearing, she gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob, who bore Gad and Asher (Genesis 30.9-13); and after the episode of the mandrakes she conceived again, bearing Issachar and Zebulun, and then a daughter, Dinah (Genesis 30.14-21). Two of her sons carry the weight of sacred history: Levi, ancestor of Aaron and the priesthood, and Judah, from whose tribe would come King David and, at last, the Messiah.

When Jacob at last resolved to flee Laban, both Leah and Rachel took his side against their father, saying they had been treated as strangers and sold (Genesis 31.14-16), and they went with him from Haran. Leah is buried beside Jacob in the cave of Machpelah, the tomb of the patriarchs — as Jacob himself recalls, "there I buried Leah" (Genesis 49.31).

Sources

[^1]: Genesis 29–Genesis 31; Genesis 49.31 — Leah's marriage, her sons (the tribes of Israel, including Levi and Judah), and her burial. Cf. the synaxarion Righteous Joseph the Patriarch (Liturgics) on Leah's sons among the twelve tribes.