'Bad' Moms of the Bible: How God Works Through Our Worst MomentsSample

Rachel and Leah: One Big Dysfunctional Family

By Laura Dye

Jacob boldly lied when he dressed up as his brother, Esau, and tricked their father, Isaac, into giving him all the good stuff instead. But Jacob received a hefty dose of his own medicine when he woke up the day after his wedding to find that instead of marrying his beloved Rachel—who he had waited and worked seven years for!—he had been tricked into marrying her sister, Leah.

Jacob was a tricky fellow who had just met his match in his father-in-law, Laban.

Jacob’s father-in-law did give Rachel to be Jacob’s wife eventually, but the deception tainted everything. And poor Leah was in the middle of it all.

Two actual sister wives living together… I’m trying so hard not to think about that TV show.

Leah was unloved but quite fertile. The babies came regularly, and when they stopped, Leah responded by giving her maid to her husband.

Rachel was so very loved but so very barren. She also gave her maid to her husband to even the baby score somewhat with her fertile sister.

There was a tug of war and lots and lots of babies in the mix, and then the weird incident of selling a son’s mandrakes for a night with “the man,” as we read in Genesis 30:14-18. What a place to raise a child! By the time Leah and Rachel finished their war, their reality was a small army of children. Leah and Rachel had created a family with lots of dysfunction!

But God was still very much interested in this family.

God is pleased when we lead our children to His feet, but what about when we find ourselves in the midst of dysfunction?

God does not lose interest in us or our children.

As Leah and Rachel’s children became adults, their behavior looked an awful lot like where they came from.

But God didn’t stop caring for them.

From such dysfunction came the 12 tribes of Israel and Joseph, who saved his entire family and all of Egypt from famine.

Genesis 50:20 says: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.”

God can and does redeem our dysfunction and use it for His glory!

Let’s Reflect:

1. What are some family dysfunctions that you see in your family tree?
2. Have you surrendered the generational dysfunction to God for His glory?