When morning came, there was Leah!
—Genesis 29:25
If there is a Women’s Hall of Fame, Sarah is in it. So is Rebecca. Rachel, too.
But Leah isn’t. Leah, the unremarkable, unloved, unwanted woman.
Leah was the patsy in Laban’s wedlock deception of Jacob. Jacob thought he was marrying Rachel. Laban did Leah no favor when he veiled her, escorted her down the aisle, and got her hitched to Jacob, the now-deceived deceiver. The bride got baited. The con got conned. You couldn’t trust Laban or Jacob as far as you could throw Laban’s ranch house.
But God exalted the lady those two trashed. Leah’s descendants—since she gave birth to a son named Judah—included a Bethlehem shepherd named David and a Bethlehem-born carpenter named Jesus—a chosen-of-God king and the eternal King of kings.
God nominated Leah for his Hall of Fame.
God has often used the abused.