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I was surprised that even after marrying him, Jacob didn't really try to love Leah, and yet she still stayed with him.

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I loved the sentence, “but Leah found a way to focus on the blessings God had given her, not the ones He hadn’t”

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Jacob was in a way “forced” to marry Leah bc she was the oldest sister. Yet even through that Jacob never found love with her. But even through this she still had children with Jacob and continued to live with them.

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I thought that it was really romantic that Jacob worked for his uncle for 14 years to marry the woman he loved.

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the part explaining her “weak eyes” was interesting, i always wondered what that meant!

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She still lived Jacob even though he was married to Leah first.

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Jacob’s feelings of affection towards her and willingness to work 14 years for Laban to marry her.

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She says that the Lord saw her in her misery, much like Hagar

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It was interesting to learn that she didn't believe in God before meeting Jacob, but through her rivalry with Rachel, she became a believer and even named her sons based on her relationship with God.

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The Regina George of sisters it seems

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Her “weak eyes”, initial jealousness of Rachel’s relationship with Jacob, and ability to trust in God even though He was not super well-known at the time.

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it was really sweet how much the text talks about Jacob loving Rachel vs. treating marriage as transactional in nature - she was the sole object of his affection

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I find the pattern of infertility throughout this part of the Bible to be a really interesting detail showing that God will provide even if it looks bleak. Rachel falls under this category before she had Joseph.

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She constantly tries to get Jacob to love her, but Rachel remains his favorite. She has the most kids with Jacob. Jesus came from Judah’s line, and he was Leahs kid.

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She was really into beating Leah on how many kids she could have with Jacob. It was like her main goal out of life.

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Her beauty, unwillingness at first to trust that God will allow her to be barren, and agreement with Leah for the mandrakes.

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I think it’s helpful to remember that even though Rachel was the one whom Jacob fell in love with, she still had conflicting emotions and insecurities that aren’t always talked about.

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Rachel is Jacob’s favorite wife, and her kids are his favorite out of the 12. She is the one that he wanted to marry and waited 7 years to marry.

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I thought the parallel of Rachel and Leah’s conflict to Jacob and Esau’s conflict was super interesting.