Facts About Leah: Are They True or False? Quiz

Answer: False

Laban was Leah's father, as per the 29th chapter of Genesis. Laban was also the father of Rachel and his two daughters are arguably the best-known sisters in the Bible. They were both wives of Jacob. Their children formed part of the original Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Answer: False

To the contrary, there is a suggestion Leah was not attractive. At least she didn't seem to measure up against her sister Rachel. Genesis 29:17 in the NIV Bible states, "Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful." The suggestion, of course, is that Leah did not have a lovely figure and was unattractive.

Answer: True

It's a bit of a long story. Laban got fourteen years of labor out of Jacob, largely by tricking him. Jacob agreed to work for seven years for Laban if he could marry his younger daughter Rachel. However, at the end of seven years, Laban gave Jacob his older daughter Leah in marriage, saying "it is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one." So, Jacob agreed to work an additional seven years for Rachel's hand.

It's a case of what goes around, comes around. After all, Jacob was a master deceiver as he had duped his elderly father Isaac into giving him his blessing over his twin brother Esau, as per Genesis 27: 1-40. After this incident, Jacob ended up fleeing as Esau plotted to kill him.

Answer: False

False. Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, as per Genesis 35:24. According to Genesis 35:23, Leah's sons were Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

Incidentally, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin, as per Genesis 35:18.

Answer: True

True. Genesis 29:31-32, in the NIV Bible, states: "When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, 'It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now'."

It was wishful thinking by Leah that she would be loved by Jacob after giving birth to Reuben. Scripture indicates nothing changed at all.

Genesis 29:33-35 in the NIV Bible, states: "She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, 'Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.' So she named him Simeon. Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, 'Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.' So he was named Levi. She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, 'This time I will praise the LORD.' So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children."

Later she would give birth to two more sons, Issachar and Zebulun, and a daughter, as per Genesis 30:17-21.

Answer: True

Yes, Dinah was a daughter of Leah, as per Genesis 34:1.

Dinah would end up being defiled by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the ruler of that area, as per Genesis 34:2. After she was defiled, a bloody massacre took place with Dinah's brothers killing every male in Shechem's hometown and every woman and child taken captive and every house plundered. The massacre took place after Dinah's brothers convinced the males in Shechem's city they should circumcise themselves. Genesis 34:25, in the NIV Bible, states: "Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male."

Both Simeon and Levi were the sons of Leah.

Answer: False

There is no indication Leah gave any preferential treatment to her children, unlike Rebekah who favored Jacob (Genesis 25:28) or Jacob who favored Joseph (Genesis 37:3). Scripture simply doesn't provide any details about how Leah regarded her children.

Answer: True

True: Genesis 30:9, in the NIV Bible, states: "When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife." According to Genesis 35:26, Zilpah gave birth to two boys -- Gad and Asher.

Answer: True

Yes, Leah's name appears in the fourth chapter of Ruth.

Ruth 4:10-12, in the NIV Bible, provides this account in which begins with a statement by Boaz, the husband of Ruth: "'I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!' Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, 'We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.'"

Answer: False

Leah is not mentioned at all in the New Testament. However, the genealogy of Christ in the first chapter of Matthew and third chapter of Luke does include the names of Leah's husband Jacob and her son Judah.

Meanwhile, Rachel's name appears figuratively in Matthew 2:18 with Leah being outdone one more time by her younger, but more famous sister.