Who
Laban’s elder daughter, given to Jacob in place of Rachel. Less loved, she was the more fruitful: she bore Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah. At Judah’s birth she said, “This time I will praise the LORD” (Genesis 29:35). From her sons came Israel’s priesthood through Levi and its kings, and at last Christ, through Judah. She was buried with Abraham and Isaac in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 49:31). Justin Martyr read Jacob’s two wives as the synagogue and the Church, Leah standing for Israel and Rachel for the Church.
Key verses
- Genesis 29:35
She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.
- Genesis 34:1
Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
- Genesis 35:23
The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
Where the Bible names her
Family
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name her.
- Gregory of Nyssa, Answer to Eunomius' Second Book Chapter 1
Answer to Eunomius' Second Book. The first part of my contentions against Eunomius has with God’s help been sufficiently established in the preceding work, as all who will may see from what I have worked out, how in…
- Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule III.30
How they are to be admonished who lament sins of deed, and those who lament only sins of thought. How they are to be admonished who lament sins of deed, and those who lament only sins of thought. (Admonition 30.)…