For Jacob the last seven years of exile were a burden, and yet, these were also the most fruitful years. In them, Jacob will father 11 of the 12 children who will become the ancestors of God´s people.

 This section constitutes the center of Jacob´s story (Gen. 25:19-35:26), and it begins and ends with the key phrase God “opened her womb,” referring to Leah (Gen. 29:31) and to Rachel (Gen. 30:22). Each time this statement is followed by births, the evidence is that these births are the result of God´s miraculous action.

 Read Genesis 29:31-30:22. How are we, today, to understand the meaning of what takes place here?

 God opened Leah´s womb, and she had a son Reuben, whose name contains the verb ra´ah, which means to “see.” Because God “saw” that she was unloved by Jacob (Gen. 29:31), this child was compensation for her in her pain and suffering.

 In addition, she gives the name of Simeon, which contains the verb shama‘, “heard,” to her second son, because God had “heard” (shama‘) the depth and the humiliation of her pain and, thus, had pity on her just as He had heard Hagar´s affliction (Gen. 29:33).

 Leah´s son “Simeon” will also resonate with the name of Hagar´s son “Ishmael,” which means “God will hear” (see Gen. 16:11). When Leah gives birth to her last son, she calls him Judah, which means “praise.” Leah does not refer to her pain or even her blessing anymore. She just focuses on God and praises Him for His grace.

 Strangely, it is only when Leah cannot give birth again that God “remembers” Rachel and opens Rachel´s womb (Gen. 30:22). Rachel, the loved wife, had to wait seven years after her marriage, and 14 years after her betrothal with Jacob, to have her first son (Gen. 29:18, 27; compare with Gen. 30:25). She gave him the name of “Joseph” to signify that God had “taken away [´asaf] my reproach” and “shall add [yasaf] to me another son” (Gen. 30:23, 24, NKJV). However wrong some of these actions were, God was still able to use these actions, even if He didn´t condone them, in order to create a nation from the seed of Abraham.