| Fairy tale marriages/relationships don’t always turn out according to plan.
Consider the following real to life scenarios:
The prince kisses beauty and she still falls asleep.
Rapunzel lets down hair and it’s only golden extensions.
She kisses Prince Charming then he turns into a frog.
Belle finds out that she really did marry the Beast.
Honeymoon turns into the scene on Exorcist – head spinning around and spitting pea soup.
She turns into Cruella Devil and he turns into Humpty Dumpty.
“and there I buried Leah–” Genesis 49:31
We can learn how to have meaningful relationships from the fact that Jacob buried Leah. These lessons can help our relationships in marriage, family, and friends. This is not just for married people who only make up about 48% of Americans, but also single people. The marriage and subsequent love of Jacob and Leah have lessons for us to learn today in all of our relationships.
Genesis 29:31 – “Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”
Jacob did DEVELOP A LOVE for Leah through the years (notice his concern for both of them in 31:31 and 32:11), and ultimately, his love for Leah eclipsed his love for Rachel.
In ch 35, Jacob calls for all the idols to be brought out, and he buried them under the terebinth tree by Shechem. This was probably where he first learned that Rachel had stolen the teraphim from Laban. After this, we never hear about Jacob’s great love for Rachel again. More important for us to notice is that just after this, Rachel dies. And upon her death, Jacob buried her where she lay (Genesis 48:7).
It would have taken only a day’s journey—15–20 miles—to bury Rachel in the cave at Machpelah. Certainly, that was nothing compared to the journey Jacob expected his sons to make to bury him there—about 300 miles from Egypt (48.29–30). So, burying Rachel where she lay wasn’t a matter of inconvenience as to take her back there. Rather, it was a decision made by Jacob that Leah would be buried at Machpelah. Though Rachel was his preferred wife at first, Leah was God’s preferred wife—and Jacob’s covenant wife. Notice what Jacob says as he concludes his instructions as to his burial: “There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah–“ (49.31, my emphasis).
Leah was Jacob’s ultimate choice. Leah was the wife whom he laid in the family tomb, with the other patriarchs and matriarchs. Leah was the wife Jacob wished to lay next to after this life had passed.
It is quite possible that Jacob’s love story is the greatest in the Bible. It is not great, however, in the way that it is often told. Rather, it is a great love story because ends in real love, not superficial love: the kind of love that is learned and based on mutual faith and belief in the promises of God.
How did the relationship between Jacob and Leah turn from a loveless marriage to one of the greatest love stories written? What can we learn about all of our relationships from this powerful story? Can we experience the type of turnaround in our relationships with our family and friends as Jacob and Leah?
We will explore this story and by the power of the Holy Spirit learn how to develop meaningful relationships in our marriages, family, and friends.
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1. In-person with social distancing (see image below)
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