And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Reuben; for she said, Because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.
Jacob's home is already divided. He worked for Rachel and only got Leah, and the wife he did not choose bears the first son. At the birth Leah speaks past her husband to God, and the name she gives the boy — Reuben, "behold, a son" — holds her whole situation in one word.
One commentator points to the divine name used here. It is not Elohim, the general word for God, but the covenant name — "Jehovah" in older translations, "the LORD" in the ESV:
Notice that it is not Elohim here, but Jehovah, God in special relationship and moral dealing. He looked on the sad and despised wife. He gave the comfort of a son not to Rachel but to Leah, the one "hated" by comparison. Rachel, happy in her husband's love, stayed barren!
Look at who mentions God in this whole scene. One writer sums it up in a line:
Sorrowful and wronged Leah alone speaks of Jehovah.
Leah joins two things: God has looked on her, so now her husband will love her. The first was true. The second was her own conclusion. The same writer weighs how much of Jacob's heart she was counting on:
We can see how large the firstborn loomed in the mother's eyes, and how much she counted on the boy's appeal to Jacob's heart. But Jacob was slow to forget the wrong done to him about Rachel, or to feel his own wrong to Leah. Jehovah looked tenderly on her injured spirit. And she, for her part, acknowledged Jehovah's compassion in the matter. "Jehovah," she said, "has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me." That hope came too soon: so far we hear not a sound of such love from him.
Reuben is the first of four sons Leah names. One writer lines up what all four names mean:
The names of Leah's sons are interesting. Reuben (behold a Son!); Simeon (hearing); Levi (joined); Judah (praise). It is the order of the gospel.
Leah names the child, not Jacob. One writer ties that to God's discipline and to Jacob's own walk in these years:
There was also discipline from the hand of God… Notice that in each case the mother gave the name, and it grew out of her own circumstances and feelings. Jacob does not appear to have had any say in the matter. In this stretch of his up-and-down life there is no record of an altar of sacrifice and communion. Being out of touch, he had no guidance about the names of his children.
Commentators draw more than one lesson from Leah. One reads the two wives as a picture of God's dealings with Israel and the other nations:
Jacob loved Rachel first. Yet he still had to wait and serve another week for her, after Leah had been given to him. This bears on the Lord's relation to Israel, whom He loved first. Meanwhile the slighted Gentile has taken Israel's place, with rich results in His grace… Leah was hated compared with Rachel. So Jehovah stepped in with His special regard for her sorrow, and that regard came out in the name of her firstborn son, Reuben.
Another writer turns the two wives inward, to the believer's own experience:
Rachel means "sheep." She pictures the lovely state of soul, in humble submission to God, that believers would like to reach. She was the desire of Jacob's heart. But in struggling to get Rachel, Jacob only got Leah, whose name means "wearied." Leah is a picture of what I really am, not what I want to be. There was conflict between the two. I may try hard to make myself different, only to find myself "stuck" with what I really am, just as Jacob was "stuck" with Leah!
- Seen — the covenant God looked on the wife nobody wanted, and the loved wife stayed barren.
- Spoken — in a chapter of scheming and rivalry, the wronged woman is the only one who names the Lord out loud.
- Named — Reuben means "behold, a son," and stands first in a sequence that runs on to hearing, joining and praise.
- Premature — God's compassion was real. Leah's hope that Jacob would now love her was her own, and no word of love from him follows.
- Silent altar — Jacob built no altar in these years and had no guidance about his children's names. So each name carries the mother's own feelings.
And she again conceived, and bore a son, and said, Because Jehovah has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this one also; and she called his name Simeon.
Leah names her second son out of the one thing she is sure of: God noticed. Her husband is still cold, but she reads her life by what the LORD has done, and Simeon's name keeps the record.
The word describes how Leah stood next to her sister, not a settled cruelty in Jacob. One writer reads the whole scene as God's discipline on Jacob, and notes who chooses the names:
There was discipline from the hand of God. Jacob's love rested on Rachel, and next to her Leah was hated. So God arranged that Leah bore children while Rachel was barren. The closing verses of the chapter give us the birth of four sons and their names. It is worth noticing that in every case the mother gave the name, and it grew out of her own circumstances and feelings. Jacob does not appear to have had any say in the matter. During these years of his uneven life we read of no altar where he sacrificed and had fellowship with God. Being out of touch, he had no guidance about the names of his children.
Reuben's name said the LORD had seen her. Simeon's adds a second sense: He heard her too.
The even stronger sign of her husband's coldness does not weaken her sense of the favour Jehovah was showing her — it renews it. As with Reuben, so now the naming of her second son says it: Jehovah heard as well as saw. We do not learn of any softening on the offended man's part: he had his Rachel.
Later, Israel divided the land and gave Simeon's tribe a portion inside Judah's. One writer draws a lesson from that pairing:
Simeon's inheritance is closely connected with that of Judah. "Their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the people of Judah." Simeon means "hearing" and Judah means "praise." So the two are linked together. If our hearts are open to hear, and our faith takes hold, then we praise and worship. Then we enjoy our God-given inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The same writer sets Simeon's name beside his brothers' and offers the pattern for readers to weigh:
Reuben ("behold a son!"); Simeon ("hearing"); Levi ("joined"); Judah ("praise"). This is the order of the sons of Jacob by birth. It tells out the gospel. In the blessing of Moses the order is: Reuben ("behold a son!"); Judah ("praise"); Levi ("joined"). Simeon ("hearing") is left out. When the Lord comes, Israel will behold Him as the Son, will break out in praise and worship, and become joined to Him. No "hearing" is needed then. We pass this on to our readers for consideration.
Kelly traces the same four names as a rising line in Leah's own soul, ending at the highest point she ever reaches:
And again she bore a son, and said, Now this time I will praise Jehovah; therefore she called his name Judah. Never do we hear of her soul rising so high; the sorrow-stricken woman breaks out into praise of Jehovah... Yes, of Judah came according to the flesh the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.
Jacob's love and God's gifts run in opposite directions. One writer turns the picture inward, to the unwanted "I" in a believer's own experience, and notes what Jacob never did:
It was Leah who bore children, while Rachel stayed fruitless for a long time. So it is the hated "I" that seems to dominate in the experience of a believer who really wants to be what he thinks he should be. Leah bore four sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, while Rachel remained childless. It is good to consider that despite Jacob's dislike for Leah, he never suggested putting his wife away, as people commonly do today. In fact he kept her longer than Rachel.
Kelly also reads the two sisters on a larger scale — an illustration, not a plain statement:
Rachel represents Israel, Messiah's first object of love on earth. But this fails through no fault of His. And He has Leah. She represents the calling of the Gentiles in the meantime, during Jacob's servant state and heavy sorrows. It is the time when "the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the LORD.
- Heard. Reuben confessed that God saw; Simeon confesses that He also heard. The second son marks a second proof that heaven is paying attention.
- Hated. The word measures Leah against Rachel. God answers the comparison by making the less-loved wife the fruitful one.
- Named. Every name comes from the mother out of her own feelings; Jacob, with no altar in these years, has no say and no guidance.
- Order. Behold a son, hearing, joined, praise. One writer sees the four names in birth order telling out the gospel.
- Praise. Simeon's tribe later settled inside Judah's land — hearing inside praise. Hear God, and praise and the enjoyment of your inheritance in Christ follow.
And she again conceived, and bore a son, and said, Now this time will my husband be united to me, for I have borne him three sons; therefore was his name called Levi.
Leah has borne Jacob two sons, and she still hopes her husband will be attached to her. She names the third son Levi — "joined" — and that one word will shape the whole story of his tribe.
With her first two sons she named God. With Levi she does not, and one writer weighs the difference.
Therefore his name was called Levi. It is not as before that she called it. Everything seems more vague and in a lower key here; and Jehovah is not named. But He never fails; and again she bore a son, and said, Now this time I will praise Jehovah; therefore she called his name Judah. Never do we hear of her soul rising so high; the sorrow-stricken woman breaks out into praise of Jehovah.
"Levi" means joined. Leah used the word of a marriage; her son's life joined him to two very different things.
Here, then, we have the birth and name of this most remarkable man. His name carries wonderful meaning when we look at his later history. In nature's wild and lawless excess, we find him "joined" with his brother in carrying out a deed of blood and murder (Gen. 34). Then came the day when God called him to drink deeply and largely of the cup of His electing grace, "joined" with Aaron in "the work of the tabernacle" (Num. 8).
The record of Levi himself is short and dark, and Jacob's blessing did not soften it. Yet his tribe ended up serving at the sanctuary.
The third son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. 29:34). Very little is recorded of Levi. He joined with Simeon in the treacherous and vengeful dealings with Shechem (Gen. 34:25-31). When Jacob blessed his sons, he pronounced a curse on their cruelty, and added, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." This shows the righteous government of God. That government is in no way set aside by the reward of their later faithful conduct, which caused this tribe to be chosen for the Levitical service and the priesthood. It was sovereign grace.
One writer traces that change back to the cross.
Christ has, once for all, borne sin's deepest curse in His own body on the tree. Now even Levi can lift up his head. By nature he knows only "instruments of cruelty" — things that must have kept God forever at a distance from "his secret and his assembly." By nature he is cruel, fierce, self-willed, scattered and divided. Yet God can, in His mercy, make him familiar with "the instruments of the tabernacle." He can bring him into the enjoyment of the covenant of life and peace, in union with the great head of the priestly family.
Two things about Levi point beyond him: his place as third son, and his name.
From Levi, third son of Israel, sprang both the Levite and the priest. This "third" speaks of resurrection, always connected with the third day (compare Hosea 6:2). And so the sign of the true priest (Num. 17:8) was the dead rod blossoming and fruitful in the sanctuary. Levi's own name also, "joined," is full of meaning. The Mediator, in whose person and work God and man are truly joined, is the One who becomes the Priest.
Leah's first four sons, taken in order, spell out a message.
Interesting are the names of the sons of Leah. Reuben (behold a Son!); Simeon (hearing); Levi (joined); Judah (praise). It is the order of the gospel.
The same word now describes believers, and it brings work with it.
Levi means "joined." The grace of God had joined them to the Lord and His ministry. Believers in Christ are joined to the Lord. They are both priests and Levites; they have priesthood and ministry. Our priesthood is the ministry of the sanctuary, in worship and intercession. Our Levite ministry is many sided.
- Joined — wanted. Leah names her third son while still hoping for her husband's attachment. This naming is vaguer than the first two, and God is not named in it.
- Joined — wrongly. Levi's first joining is with Simeon at Shechem — cruelty that Jacob curses: "I will divide them in Jacob."
- Joined — by grace. God's government still stands. Yet sovereign grace takes the man of "instruments of cruelty" and hands him "the instruments of the tabernacle."
- Joined — in Christ. The name pictures the Mediator. In His person and work God and man are truly joined, and He becomes the Priest.
- Joined — now. Believers are joined to the Lord and to His ministry: priests in worship and prayer, Levites in a service with many sides.
And she again conceived, and bore a son, and said, This time will I praise Jehovah; therefore she called his name Judah. And she ceased to bear.
Leah is the wife Jacob did not choose. Her earlier sons carry names shaped by that pain, but with the fourth she looks past her marriage to God, and calls him Judah — "praise." (Where the ESV has "the LORD," older translations print God's name as "Jehovah." That is why the quotes below use it.)
The chapter turns on God's notice of the unloved wife. One writer points out which name of God stands here, and who received the sons:
It is not Elohim here, but Jehovah, God in special relationship and moral dealing. He looked on the sorrowful and despised wife, and gave not to Rachel but to Leah, the one who was "hated" by comparison, the comfort of a son. Rachel, happy in her husband's love, was left barren! We can notice how the firstborn loomed large in the mother's eyes, and how much she counted on it to call to Jacob's heart. But Jacob was slow to forget the wrong done to him about Rachel, or to feel his own wrong to Leah.
Leah names each of the four sons, and her own feelings supply the meaning every time. One writer links Jacob's silence to his spiritual state in these years:
Note that in each case the mother gave the name, and it grew out of her own circumstances and feelings. Jacob does not appear to have had any say in the matter. During this up-and-down stretch of his life there is no record that he had an altar for sacrifice and communion. Being out of touch, he had no guidance about the names of his children.
Her third son's name still reaches for Jacob. The fourth reaches past him, and one writer follows the change:
And again she bore him a third son, and said, Now this time my husband will be joined to me; for I have borne him three sons. So his name was called Levi. Everything seems more vague and in a lower key here, and Jehovah is not named. But He never fails; and again she bore a son, and said, Now this time I will praise Jehovah; therefore she called his name Judah. Never do we hear of her soul rising so high; the sorrow-stricken woman breaks out into praise of Jehovah, and her fourth son carries it in the name she gave him that day. Yes, of Judah came, according to the flesh, the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. How much His grace rises above our praise!
One writer reads the four names, in their birth order, as a picture of the gospel:
Reuben (behold a son!); Simeon (hearing); Levi (joined); Judah (praise). This is the order of the sons of Jacob according to their birth. It tells out the gospel. In the blessing of Moses the order is: Reuben (behold a son!); Judah (praise); Levi (joined). Simeon (hearing) is left out. When the Lord comes, Israel will behold Him as the Son, will break out in praise and worship, and become joined to Him. No "hearing" is needed then.
Leah gave the name for her own praise. Later it marks a whole tribe, and a lion at the close of the Bible:
Judah is compared to a lion, as a king among beasts. Here we see an allusion to Christ acting in judgment. Genesis is the seed-plot of the Bible. We pass to Revelation, where everything reaches its fruit and finality, and in Revelation 5 we find "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" about to take the book of judgment and break its seals. And the universe is filled with His praises.
Leah's praise over one baby was small next to the praise another birth would draw out:
How much more fitting were the praises that greeted the coming and birth of Mary's child! Praises from Mary, praises from Elizabeth, praises from Zechariah, praises from the heavenly host, praises from the aged Simeon and from Anna... Very soon there will be a universe of bliss, filled with the praises of God and the Lamb, all resulting from the coming into the world of Mary's child, the blessed Son of God. While we await our part in the praises of that happy day, it is our privilege to "offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually."
- Seen — The LORD looked on the wife nobody wanted, and gave children to Leah while the loved wife stayed barren.
- Silent — Jacob names none of these sons. With no altar and no communion, he has no guidance, so Leah's feelings name them all.
- Risen — Her earlier names still reach for her husband. With the fourth she stops asking and praises God. Her soul is never higher.
- Gospel — Behold a son, hearing, joined, praise. One writer reads that birth order as the gospel told in four names.
- Fulfilled — Christ came from Judah. The Lion of that tribe opens the sealed book, and the universe fills with praise that Leah first spoke alone.