Tuesday, March 12: “A Matter of Perspective III”

Genesis 49: 31, 32: “There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah–in the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.”

Much is made of the love between Jacob and Rachel, sometimes at the expense of his love for Leah. But before we put Leah on the list of unloved wives, consider this–with whom is Jacob lying to this day? Not Rachel; Jacob buried her where she died at Bethlehem, en route to Hebron, where Jacob grew up. Jacob could have carried her body the remaining one-day’s journey and buried her with his father, mother, and grandparents–but he didn’t. He reserved that honor for Leah. So which one did Jacob love best (and which one bore Judah, the ancestor of Christ)? From the perspective of eternal repose, it’s Leah.