The Unwanted Wife

Any Sister Wives fans out there?  Although I don't watch it religiously, I have seen it and it is such a train wreck you can't hardly quit watching.  And NO I don't agree with it.   You just thought Sister Wives wasn't in the Bible huh?! Well it is and it doesn't work out so well...proof that when God planned one man for ONE WIFE He knew what He was talking about.

Along with my Chronological Bible, I also read a commentary of each chapter by David Guzik.  It is a random commentary I found years ago and have loved his view on scripture.  You can read his commentary here.  His stuff will be in italics below.

Yesterday I read some things in his commentary that I never would have thought of before and he shed some light on the Rachel/Leah story that was so eye-opening that I had to share with you. I just know somebody out there feels this way or can relate and I have to share it or I would be disobedient to what God has told me to share.

The scripture background comes from Genesis 27-29 but the synopsis is this...Abraham's promised son Isaac has 2 sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau is the hunter and Jacob is the cook.  Esau is the oldest and is supposed to take the birthright and the blessing however, Jacob tricks his father Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of Esau (with his mother's help and guidance).  Esau then threatens to kill his brother so his parents Isaac and Rebekah send him away to Rebekah's brother Laban's house until Esau cools off (what meant to be a few days ended up being about 20 years).  Jacob flees there and finds Rachel who he knows he is to marry and works for Laban for 7 years for her.  At the end of the 7 years, he wants his wife Rachel but Laban gives him his youngest (and not as pretty) daughter Leah instead.  She is veiled and it is dark so he doesn't know it isn't Rachel until the next morning.  He was disappointed and still wanted his wife he worked for, Rachel.  So he commits to another 7 years working for Laban to have Rachel as his wife.  So here is the first episode of sister wives in scripture.

The problem with it is Leah feels unloved and unwanted her entire marriage.  She continues to have babies with him because she feels like that will make Jacob love her more.  It doesn't.  She ends up having 6 in fact and ends up giving her servant to him too to add to her children.  The competition between Leah and Rachel (sister wives) gets really ugly.

Several things I wanted to point out in this story....

1.  Regarding Jacob waking up the morning after and Leah was there instead of Rachel...Remember Jacob had deceived his father into thinking he was Esau to get the blessing.  Now it is only like God to make Jacob go through being deceived himself to learn a valuable lesson.  It hurts alot worse when you have to experience it yourself.

Imagine how Jacob felt; imagine how Leah felt; imagine how Rachel felt! All because of Laban's sin. Or, should we say, because of Jacob's sin? The deceiver has been deceived!

 Significantly, Laban's deception towards Jacob is similar to the deception Jacob put upon his father Isaac and his brother Esau. This is an example of Jacob reaping what he had sown. Jacob exchanged the younger for the older; Laban exchanged the older for the younger.

When Jacob deceived his father and cheated his brother, God did not change His plan to choose Jacob to receive the birthright. Instead, God took Jacob to the school of hard knocks to discipline him. Don't think your disobedience can derail God's plan for your life, but it will greatly affect how you end up experiencing it. You may spend 20 years working for someone like Laban while God teaches you a few things.

 Laban is a perfect picture of a deceptive manipulator. He ends up getting exactly what he wanted (both his daughters married). Yet, this will turn out badly for both himself and his daughters. Oftentimes, God judges manipulators by giving them what they in their sinful desires and methods want and allowing it to be loss for them.

 2.  I had never really thought about how Leah must have felt in all this.  She was unwanted, unloved, and after giving of herself for the first time on her wedding night to her new husband, the morning after finds out her husband didn't really want her, but her sister instead.  UGH the heartache she must have felt!!!!  God had compassion on her that is amazing.

God's compassion on Leah is touching; she is truly the innocent party in all of this mess. God can minister to a wife and meet her needs even when the husband is acting in an ungodly manner. 

Isaiah 54:5 says, For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name. God can meet the needs a hurting wife has, needs that are neglected by the husband.  

Jacob, even though he did not love Leah, still would have sex with her. Unfortunately, men are much more able to detach sex from love than women are. Worse yet, Leah was painfully aware of the fact Jacob did not love her, even though he was obviously having sex with her. 

 Of course, Jacob and Leah were married, so there was nothing sinful in their having sex. But this plainly shows that Jacob, like most any man in the flesh, was able and willing to have sex with someone he did not love. 

To some extent, and for some period of time, Leah has allowed the Lord to meet her need, and she can now praise God! Leah knew the Lord better, driven to Him by the neglect of her husband.

Leah, though she was neglected by Jacob and despised by Rachel, had a great purpose in God's plan. The two greatest tribes came from Leah, not Rachel: Levi (the priestly tribe) and Judah (the royal tribe). And most importantly, the Messiah came from Leah, the uglier sister, who was neglected and despised, but learned to look to the Lord and praise Him.

    

 If that is you...feeling unwanted, unloved, rejected and used, turn to the Lord. You didn't do anything to deserve it, it's not your fault, and there is always a greater purpose than you know.   To Jesus, you are special, loved, prized, and precious.  Allow the Lord to meet your needs and know that unlike any other human on earth, He will never let you down!  And you just have no idea what treasures God has in store down the road!