In the bible it says Leah was hated and tender eyed. What does this mean?
Question
Gramps,
In Genesis it says, Leah (Jacob’s wife), was hated and tender eyed. What does that mean? If Leah was hated, does that mean Jacob didn’t love her? I’m just curious. My name is Leah and I am forming a complex about my name. Thanks
Leah
Answer
Leah,
Lets summarize the story of Leah as it is told in the Old Testament. Leah is living at home with her father Laban and younger sister Rachel. One day a stranger visits their home. It turns out his name is Jacob and he is looking for a worthy wife. He had seen Rachel and had been impressed that she was the one. He negotiates with Laban to serve him 7 years for Rachel’s hand in marriage. He serves faithfully for seven years and when the time came Laban tricks him into marrying Leah instead.
Laban gave the reason for his trickery that it was not right that the youngest daughter be married first, but that Rachel could still be his, for another 7 years of service. While the scripture give the reason Laban stated for his actions, I think Laban’s action at the end of the second 7 years shows that he had greater interest in the blessing and prosperity that having Jacob as a servant brought him, then possibly the well being of his daughters.
So here is Leah, married to a good man, but a man that she knows loves someone else. That someone else being her younger sister who was also married to that same man. Which means a sibling rivalry of major scale. A rivalry that she loses more often then not.
If you put yourself in her place you can easily see why she might feel that she was hated.. Hated by a father that used her, hated by a sister that felt threatened by her. While we can be sure that Leah had her faults like everyone does, a large measure of her difficulties were not because of her own actions, but because of the actions of other.
Leah did what we are all encouraged to do when we are faced with the injustices that life can offer. She lived faithfully to the best of her abilities even though her life was hard and unfair.
To me it seems that having the name Leah and knowing the story of the biblical Leah, I would take my name as an honor to have. A goal to follow her example in the face of trial and hardships.
Gramps
Look at the casting of the Naberrie sisters in Star Wars, Episodes II and III as an example…w/o doubt Natalie Portman, as Padme Naberrie Amidala Skywalker, would be considered ‘hotter’ than the woman cast as her older sister (Claudia Karvan), Sola Naberrie Janren. Still, Sola is by no means unattractive, and coincidentally, Ms. Karvan has what could well be described as ‘tender’ eyes. If, for some reason, George Lucas had decidedly to rob from Genesis and have Anakin Skywalker have a polygamous relationship with the Naberrie sisters, it would have been a similar situation, especially if Sola turned out to be more fertile than Padme.
Since Leah (“Leia”, LoL?) and Rachel were indeed, sisters, they were probably similar in height, weight, and general appearance. Consider that Jacob has labored for seven years, and after the wedding feast he’s probably quite ‘buzzed’, and wouldn’t readily detect the switch. Also, as tents were typically fabricated from camel hair, they can be quite dark inside at night. Of course, due to his own anxiousness, like any young groom, “the boy…has no patience.”
Since Leah had six sons and at least one daughter from Jacob, she simply couldn’t have been repulsive. Though, being “so human”, Jacob did favor Rachel (hence the ‘hating’, or more precisely, loving ‘less’), which is why Leah’s womb was ‘opened’, and her sister’s wasn’t, at least at first. It would seem that as Jacob matured, both in life and spiritually, he did indeed love Leah quite intensely. A man deemed worthy to be a Prophet would not mistreat any of his wives, if plural marriage is in effect.