DOAK™ Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 6

DAUGHTERS OF A KING UNITY Leah, Rachel and the Fate of Competition When the pursuit to win defeats your destiny. The Biblical story of Leah and Rachel could probably give reality TV a run for its money if it were set in today’s time. These two sisters, as different as night and day, were pitted against one another by their father’s greed and manipulation, and the love for one man. In the midst of this drama, both women would play important roles in birthing one of the greatest nations the world has even known, made up of the twelve sons they help to bear - the twelve tribes of Israel. In Dr. Paula Price’s book, The Prophet’s Dictionary, destiny is described as, “...the ultimate end or outcome of a person’s existence. Destiny is more than what one does to get through life. It includes the final destination for that life as a result of their pursuit or rejection of the destiny devised for them by their Maker.” In Leah’s and Rachel’s world, destiny is not a word in which they would be familiar. The only hope in fulfilling anything in their lives would be to marry a man of means, and bear him sons to carry forth his legacy. Even in this nominal place of hierarchy, to bear a son was a high honor given to a wife of a biblical household. To bear multiple sons elevated common women to the status of royalty, as equal as any queen. For most, this was the only perceived destiny one could have, and for some like Rachel, they would do anything to obtain it. Photo: by James Lewis, Photographer Biblical Characters Collection, Icons of the Bible www.pinterest.com/ pin/304978205996225892 In the book of Genesis, chapter 29, the scriptures open to a scene of Jacob (fleeing from his brother Esau) coming to the end of his journey at a well in the center of a courtyard in the town of Haran. This is the home of his uncle and mother’s brother, Laban of Nahor. As he inquired of the shepherds that were present at the well, his eyes become fixed upon a beautiful young woman, as she approached her fellow shepherds. Her name is Rachel, a shepherdess and youngest daughter of Laban. To say Rachel was beautiful is an understatement. In verse 17 (Gen. 29), the Bible states, “Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and wellfavored.” One translation says, “She was lovely to look upon and shapely in her appearance.” Not only was she graced with profound beauty, she was also industrious, mature, and intelligent. Women shepherds were not common in those days, but for Rachel, her brothers were too young to take on the responsibility, and her older sister (Leah) had a physical impediment, so she was the one her father entrusted to govern his house. “Destiny is more than what one does to get through life. It includes the final destination for that life as a result of their pursuit or rejection of the destiny devised for them by their Maker.” -Dr. Paula A. Price Author, The Prophet’s Dictionary The moment Jacob laid his eyes upon Rachel, he instantly fell in love and bartered seven years of his life in servitude to Laban, in order to marry her. ISSUE 02 | WINTER 2016 7