Leah and Rachel Genesis; 28 through 34
A young girl pulls daisy petals saying, “he loves me, he loves me not”, and I am reminded of the biblical Leah. She lived out that girlhood game.
Leah saw the horror clearly on Jacob’s face when he discovered that she was not Rachel, the beautiful sister he thought he had bought and married. That morning after the wedding Leah mirrored to Jacob his own experience of being the unfavored one. He also had once been disguised to gain his brother’s status. He probably viewed Laban’s offer to work another seven years in payment for Rachel as one of life's paybacks.
After the bridal week Leah became the displaced wife. From then on the devoted sisters had to vie for Jacob’s love. God saw that Leah was unloved and made her fertile. She named her first son Reuben meaning "the Lord saw my misery". Each of her subsequent sons was an attempt to win Jacob’s love but she never lost sight of God’s favor and she regarded each child as a gift.
Meanwhile Rachel, though deeply loved by Jacob, remained barren. Her desperate words to Jacob, “Give me children or I shall die” are evidence that Jacob’s love was not enough for Rachel. Being barren she was feeling less favored by God.
Leah's heart's desire; Finding peace in God’s love when the love of her husband was unrequited.
Rachel’s heart’s desire; Rachel found Jacob’s love insufficient to her true happiness. She felt the absence of God in her childless state.
In a time when women were the property of their father and then their husband, having children added status and value to their lives. It was also in childbearing that women experienced God’s presence and favor.
Points to ponder;
From a woman’s view this is a story about two devoted sisters maintaining a peaceful coexistence in a situation where neither had the love they would have chosen. This is shown in their words to Jacob about their father, “He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us.” Arranged marriages have impacted women throughout the ages and even today in many parts of the world. What happens when a person must exchange freedom for security as women did throughout history? Can this be happening in less drastic ways in peoples’ lives today? Are there areas in your life where security is limiting your freedom?
Many medieval women mystics chose hidden lives in convents/beguines to avoid the marriages arranged for them. Safe behind the walls of these confines they found freedom with the divine and discovered their voices. Their feminine theologies and images of God are being resurrected by scholars to foster our spiritual quest in our own times. (Read Enduring Grace by Carol Lee Flinders or Why Not Become Fire By Evelyn Mattern)
Sibling rivalry is normal but is intensified when one sibling is favored over another. Parents are the child’s first encounter with God. Parent love mirrors the degree of God’s love for them. What steps can parents take to assure love and value to each child in a family?
Leah never experienced being loved for whom she was. She sought to be loved by pleasing her husband by providing sons. Even today some women put pleasing their partners ahead of their own needs and happiness. What can this do to their relationships? to their sense of self worth? to their family?
God saw Leah's misery. In the co-creating role of childbearing, Leah experienced the presence of the divine in her life. On the other hand Rachel in her barrenness experienced God's absence. Matthew Fox says that God is experienced in the via negativa as well as the via positiva ( absence as well as presence). Julian of Norwich lived in the time of the Black Plagues when the abesence of God was experienced by most people but she was able to experience God's presence vividly. She developed a positive theology about original sin during this time in contrast to the prevailing theology of the church of her time. One must have a strong sense of self to be able to maintain such deep convictions alone. At those times when God seems absent, what can you do to maintain that "all will be well", and convey that message to those around you as Julian did?
Motherhood can lead a woman to experience the feminine aspects of God? But the feminine nature of God has been absent in traditional religions. How has that absence affected our cultures, women's spriritualities, our churches and our world? Women mystics among them Julian of Norwich and Hildegard referred often to the motherhood of Christ/God. How might the world be different if the feminine qualities of God and feminine language or pronouns had been used in the teachings of religion. For a further exploration of the image of God concept see
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/884044osiek.html
Leah regarded each child as a precious gift of God. Imagine a society where each child was regarded that way.
Leah saw the horror clearly on Jacob’s face when he discovered that she was not Rachel, the beautiful sister he thought he had bought and married. That morning after the wedding Leah mirrored to Jacob his own experience of being the unfavored one. He also had once been disguised to gain his brother’s status. He probably viewed Laban’s offer to work another seven years in payment for Rachel as one of life's paybacks.
After the bridal week Leah became the displaced wife. From then on the devoted sisters had to vie for Jacob’s love. God saw that Leah was unloved and made her fertile. She named her first son Reuben meaning "the Lord saw my misery". Each of her subsequent sons was an attempt to win Jacob’s love but she never lost sight of God’s favor and she regarded each child as a gift.
Meanwhile Rachel, though deeply loved by Jacob, remained barren. Her desperate words to Jacob, “Give me children or I shall die” are evidence that Jacob’s love was not enough for Rachel. Being barren she was feeling less favored by God.
Leah's heart's desire; Finding peace in God’s love when the love of her husband was unrequited.
Rachel’s heart’s desire; Rachel found Jacob’s love insufficient to her true happiness. She felt the absence of God in her childless state.
In a time when women were the property of their father and then their husband, having children added status and value to their lives. It was also in childbearing that women experienced God’s presence and favor.
Points to ponder;
From a woman’s view this is a story about two devoted sisters maintaining a peaceful coexistence in a situation where neither had the love they would have chosen. This is shown in their words to Jacob about their father, “He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us.” Arranged marriages have impacted women throughout the ages and even today in many parts of the world. What happens when a person must exchange freedom for security as women did throughout history? Can this be happening in less drastic ways in peoples’ lives today? Are there areas in your life where security is limiting your freedom?
Many medieval women mystics chose hidden lives in convents/beguines to avoid the marriages arranged for them. Safe behind the walls of these confines they found freedom with the divine and discovered their voices. Their feminine theologies and images of God are being resurrected by scholars to foster our spiritual quest in our own times. (Read Enduring Grace by Carol Lee Flinders or Why Not Become Fire By Evelyn Mattern)
Sibling rivalry is normal but is intensified when one sibling is favored over another. Parents are the child’s first encounter with God. Parent love mirrors the degree of God’s love for them. What steps can parents take to assure love and value to each child in a family?
Leah never experienced being loved for whom she was. She sought to be loved by pleasing her husband by providing sons. Even today some women put pleasing their partners ahead of their own needs and happiness. What can this do to their relationships? to their sense of self worth? to their family?
God saw Leah's misery. In the co-creating role of childbearing, Leah experienced the presence of the divine in her life. On the other hand Rachel in her barrenness experienced God's absence. Matthew Fox says that God is experienced in the via negativa as well as the via positiva ( absence as well as presence). Julian of Norwich lived in the time of the Black Plagues when the abesence of God was experienced by most people but she was able to experience God's presence vividly. She developed a positive theology about original sin during this time in contrast to the prevailing theology of the church of her time. One must have a strong sense of self to be able to maintain such deep convictions alone. At those times when God seems absent, what can you do to maintain that "all will be well", and convey that message to those around you as Julian did?
Motherhood can lead a woman to experience the feminine aspects of God? But the feminine nature of God has been absent in traditional religions. How has that absence affected our cultures, women's spriritualities, our churches and our world? Women mystics among them Julian of Norwich and Hildegard referred often to the motherhood of Christ/God. How might the world be different if the feminine qualities of God and feminine language or pronouns had been used in the teachings of religion. For a further exploration of the image of God concept see
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/884044osiek.html
Leah regarded each child as a precious gift of God. Imagine a society where each child was regarded that way.
posted by Her Heart's Desire @ 12:11 PM
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