Another Unique Choice

We studied the 29th chapter of Genesis this past Sunday, which is the messed-up story of how Jacob married 2 women--sisters, no less--and worked 14 years for the dowry. He only wanted to marry the lovely Rachel, but his soon-to-be father-in-law married him off to her older, plainer sister, Leah.


Anyway, what struck me this time around was the listing of children that the women bore to Jacob. Jesus, y..ou may recall, was from the tribe of Judah. In other words, he was a distant descendant of Jacob's son Judah. However, despite the fact that Rachel was the favorite wife and most of the rest of Genesis is concerned with the life of one of her children, Judah was the child of Leah--the wife who is described as "unloved."


It's one more of those interesting choices of individuals through whom God maintains the covenant he made with Abraham. Isaac, rather than Ishmael (technically the firstborn); Jacob, not Esau; Ephraim, rather than Manasseh. Among the list of women who stand out in Jesus' genealogy as recorded by Matthew, Leah fits well.