LEAH (Heb. Lē'ah, Gr. Acix). - Daughter of Laban and elder sister of Rachel (v.). She was given by her father in marriage to Jacob, in place of Rachel, who was the chosen one and for whom he had served seven years, on the pretext that it was not the custom in the country to marry off the younger sister before the elder (Gen. 29:22-26). Jacob accepted her but after a week also obtained the hand of Rachel, by the license then in force (later abolished by Mosaic law, cf. Lev. 18:18), of marrying the sister of the first wife.
Less graceful than Rachel and defective in her eyes (it is difficult to specify the defect: according to the Vulgate she had
"bleary" eyes, according to the Septuagint a weakness of sight), L. never enjoyed from her husband the same affection and the same consideration shown to her sister, as can also be gathered from the fact that at the critical moment of the meeting with Esau, Jacob left in the least dangerous position Rachel with her son Joseph, and ahead of her, in a more exposed place, L. with her children. Nevertheless the Lord favored her more than her sister, granting her numerous offspring before the latter could have a single son. Her first children were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah (Gen. 29:32-35): the names given to them attest her piety and gratitude toward the Lord. Then, as Rachel had already done with her slave Bilhah, she gave her husband as a concubine or second-rank wife her servant Zilpah, who bore two sons, Gad and Asher, who according to the law in force were legally attributed to the mistress. She herself later bore two more sons, Issachar and Zebulun, and a daughter named Dinah. To the descendants of L. were reserved the most honorable prerogatives among the people of Israel: to the tribe of Judah the royal dignity and the messianic scepter (cf. Gen. 49:8-12), and to the tribe of Levi the honor of the priestly line. Neither the place nor the date of her death is mentioned; this occurred before the entry of the Israelites into Egypt, since her name does not appear in the list of the emigrants. She was buried by Jacob in the tomb of the patriarchs in Hebron (Gen. 49:31).
Dante recognized in L. the symbol of the active life (cf. St. Thomas, Summ. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 179, art. 2), representing her in the Earthly Paradise as "a lady all alone, who went singing, and culling flower from flower" (Purg., XXVII, 97-108; XXVIII, 37-84).
Gaetano Stano