The mother of the lost children

Leah, Jacob’s second wife, is the mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.

Just like many today, Leah thought that if she could trick Jacob into laying with her first that she could have Jacob as her live-in husband (Genesis 29:32). But Jacob loved Rachel (Genesis 29:30) and even after Leah and Laban’s (their father) trickery, he still agreed to work another seven years for Laban. (Genesis 29:27)

Reuben, Leah’s oldest son, found some mandrakes, which were thought to have fertility powers, growing in the field. He brought them to his mother. Rachel asked for some of Reuben’s mandrakes because she was childless. Instead of giving them to Rachel, Leah hired Jacob to lay with her for one night. This is not love and if Jacob had moved in permanently with Leah, his second wife, he would have become property. He no longer would have been a free man as he was with Rachel his first wife and the one that he loved.

Jacob and Rachel’s commitment to each other was based upon love. Leah thought that she could force her way into their family and have Jacob all to herself. Jacob never let it happen. Because Jacob laid with Leah, she become one of his wives, but not his first wife. Rachel was the one that he loved, she was his first wife. A man must never move in with a second wife.