LEAH,
Eldest daughter of Laban the Syrian, who deceived Jacob into an intercourse, then termed marriage, with this unsought, unloved woman. She became mother of six sons, named as heads of six of the tribes of Israel. Among these was Levi, whose posterity inherited the priesthood, and Judah, the law-giver, from whom descended "Shiloh," or the Messiah. These were great privileges; yet dearly did Leah pay the penalty of her high estate, obtained by selfish artifice, in which modesty, truth, and sisterly affection, were all violated. Jacob, her husband, "hated her," and she knew it; knew, too, his heart was wholly given to his other wife—her beautiful, virtuous sister; what earthly punishment could have been so intensely grievous to Leah? As her name implies, "tender-eyed," she was probably affectionate, but unprincipled and of a weak mind, or she would never have taken the place of her sister, whom she knew Jacob had served seven years to gain. Leah loved her husband devotedly; but though she was submissive and tender, and bore him many sons, a great claim on his favour, yet he never appeared to have felt for her either esteem or affection.
Jacob had sought to unite himself with Rachel in the holy union of one man with one woman, which only is true marriage; but the artifice of Laban and the passion of Leah desecrated this union, and, by introducing polygamy into the family of the chosen Founder of the house of Israel, opened the way for the worst of evils to that nation, the voluptuousness and idolatry which finally destroyed it. A treacherous sister, a forward woman, an unloved wife, Leah has left a name unhonoured and unsung. She was married about B.C. 1763.