Leah was Laban's elder daughter and Jacob's first wife, who suffered the pain of being unloved yet was blessed by the LORD with fruitfulness, becoming the mother of six tribes of Israel.
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Leah was the elder daughter of the Aramean Laban and the older sister of Rachel. She entered Jacob's story when he traveled to Paddan-aram seeking a wife. To secure the marriage of his younger daughter Rachel, Laban devised a scheme and brought Leah to Jacob in the evening of the wedding feast, and Jacob went in to her (Genesis 29:23). Jacob later also took Rachel as his wife, but because Leah was the firstborn and less beautiful than Rachel, he slighted her and did not love her. The LORD saw that Leah was hated (the Hebrew word rendered "unloved" carries the sense of being rejected), and He opened her womb, while Rachel remained barren (Genesis 29:31). Leah bore Jacob four sons in succession—Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah—each time giving voice to her longing for her husband's love. Even amid this pain, the LORD's favor made her the foremother of multiple tribes of Israel, including Judah, from whose line the messianic lineage would descend. Leah was eventually buried with Jacob in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron (Genesis 49:31), alongside the other patriarchs and matriarchs. Her life reminds readers that those overlooked or unloved by others are seen and cared for by the LORD; her name and story are preserved in Scripture as a witness to God's faithfulness.