Leah and Rachel: Dynamics of a Struggling Sisterhood

May 5, 2001

 

The story of Leah and Rachel is filled with great tragedy, missed opportunities, and grief. At the same time, it reveals the internal dynamics of a relationship with elements of shared love, a strong filial bond, and perpetuating the lineage of the ancient Hebrew people. Without Leah and Rachel, Jewish heritage would not only be dramatically different, but might not have survived at all.

 

These two sisters, the daughters of Laban, are not featured too prominently in the story of Genesis, but when they are heard and seen, their words and actions resonate with great conviction and impact.

 

The competition between them is first ‘nurtured’ when Jacob becomes enamoured with Rachel. She is described as being “of beautiful form and fair to look upon” (Chapter 29 verse 17). Evidently, Jacob was attracted to her beauty and good looks. He labored for seven hard years to obtain the privilege of having Rachel as his wife.

 

When the seven years had passed, Laban had a feast. He brought his oldest daughter Leah, instead of Rachel, to Joseph. We need not dwell on this deception at this time (I believe I discussed it in another writing); but suffice it to say that Jacob had every reason to be angry with Laban, for he looked forward to spending his life with Rachel. We don’t know how Rachel felt about this arranged marriage, for we don’t get her point of view in this part of the story. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t require a great leap of faith to fathom that she too would have felt betrayed by her father’s actions, assuming she wanted to become Jacob’s wife. Leah too would have good reason to be enraged if she didn’t consent to this ‘new’ arrangement, and if she felt exploited.

 

As a result of Laban’s clever wheeling and dealing, he gives both his daughters unto Jacob. First, Jacob is required to sleep with Leah for one week. After that, he can spend quality time with Rachel; but only with the condition that he labors for Laban for seven additional years. That Laban is some entrepreneur!

 

All of these shenanigans undoubtedly caused some angst and sibling rivalry between the sisters. Yet it is for a different reason, described in Chapter 30 that we really see the fireworks explode. In verse 1, we are told that Rachel is barren and envies Leah because she has given birth to many children. Rachel’s pain is so profound that she exclaims (in verse 2): “Give me children, or else I die.” This decree brings to mind Patrick Henry’s immortal “Give me liberty or give me death”.

 

We don’t know if Rachel’s utterance is a threat to commit suicide if she doesn’t get what she wants or needs. That’s certainly one interpretation. Another is that it could signify biological dependency to the maternal process: a woman will physically die if she does not bear children. While pregnancy and childbirth does bring some biological benefits such as an increase in hormonal activity, a lack of giving birth certainly doesn’t lead to death. More plausible is the perspective that Rachel felt her infertility would lead to emotional or spiritual death, or perhaps that she would become ostracized in a society that greatly valued reproduction.

 

Whatever the case, Jacob doesn’t show any compassion for Rachel. Instead, he becomes angry with her and exclaims this is all God’s doing. Rachel then acts cleverly. Instead of cursing at Jacob or even God, she tells him to sleep with her handmaid Bilhah. In verse 3, she says that Bilhah “may bear upon my knees, and I also may be built up through her.” I view this as a form of surrogate motherhood. Though she can’t conceive herself, she gets Bilhah to give birth for her. Indeed, in verse 6, Rachel declares, “God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son.” It’s as if Bilhah is nothing more than a stand-in proxy.

 

Yet this isn’t by any means the end of this segment of the story. In fact, in many ways, it’s just the beginning. For Rachel views this as a triumph over Leah. In verse 8, following the birth of her second son through Bilhah, Rachel says, “With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed.” Perhaps the sisters actually wrestled with each other, which would have preceded Jacob’s wrestling with a ‘man’ in a later story. But in the context of this story, it clearly points to the triumph of competition for the birth of a newborn child. The fact that the son was named Naphtali, which means ‘he wrestled’ in Hebrew, adds a strong symbolic and linguistic dimension to this metaphor.

 

This leads to further competition that translates into more sex and offspring for Jacob. Leah, in turn, gave Jacob her handmaid Zilpah. She bore Jacob a son. When Leah said, “Fortune is come”, she named the boy Gad that means fortune in Hebrew. When Zilpah gives birth again, Leah said, “Happy am I! For the daughters will call me happy.” A short time thereafter, she names the boy Asher, meaning happy. One gets the strange feeling this is something greater than a competition over Jacob, or the bestowal of birth names conveying the emotions experienced at the time; yet I would be hard pressed to describe this feeling.

 

In verse 14, we discover that Reuben brought mandrakes to his mother Leah. Rachel then asks Leah for some of the aphrodisiac. Leah, with great indignation, replies in verse 15, “Is it a small matter that thou hast taken away my husband? And wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also?” While it doesn’t surprise the reader, Leah has once and for all revealed the source of her resentment against Rachel.

 

In response, Rachel once again shows her cleverness. Rather than argue with her sister, she tells her to sleep with Jacob in the evening in exchange for the mandrakes. There’s that labor exchange theory again! This time, however, it’s a more unusual quid pro quo agreement: sexual favors in return for a good that increases sexual activity! There’s no taboo against something which modern American society would undoubtedly argue constitutes a breech of ethics. Whatever catalyst works to further the propagation of the species is favored.

 

Leah doesn’t miss a beat. She meets Jacob and tells him that he is to lie with her, and Rachel will receive the mandrakes. Jacob obliges, most likely ungrudgingly. Leah bears two more children with Jacob. The competition of the sisters finally leads to God opening the womb of Rachel: she conceives Joseph, certainly one of the greatest figures in ancient Jewish history. In other words, a great hero who changed the course of this historical narrative emerges from this fierce sibling rivalry.

 

In Chapter 31, the two sisters are actually in agreement. Jacob has taken them and the flocks of Laban. After giving a long speech, including a recount of a dream he had of God telling him to return to the “land of thy nativity”, they reply in verses 14-17: “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Are we not accounted by him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our price. For all the riches, which God hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God hath said unto thee, do.”

 

Leah and Rachel realize the transgressions of their father. They know that he has devalued them. He sold them into servitude, and if that wasn’t demeaning enough, he probably received nowhere near their intrinsic worth. In addition, the sisters recognize their right to his inheritance. They argue quite eloquently about their legitimate claim to the “riches” God has taken from their father. There’s no question that they are indignant about this inheritance tax, espousing a libertarian abhorrence of taxation. However, the last sentence shows deference and respect for God. They could have easily taken the path of heavy resistance against God; yet they undoubtedly saw the wisdom of his advice to Jacob, and knowing about the righteousness of God, tell Jacob to listen to him. Jacob heeds their advice and returns to the land of Canaan.

 

By David A. Epstein