Jacob Loved Rachel

Jacob Loved Rachel
Author: Mark V. Markov

Genesis 29 verse 30 says
Jacob loved Rachel,
Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
Because Leah was not as beautiful to him
But He remained faithful to her,
All his life also.

To have more than one wife
Was never adultery
As long as
They were properly married.
David had seven wives,
He loved them equally.
A man after the Lord's own heart,
Before God it was never adultery.

Solomon had seven hundred wives,
Three hundred concubines.
And he was the one
Who wrote about adultery
Saying that adultery was wrong.

Adultery is when a person
Commits an affair
Outside of marriage
With someone
That he is not married to.

Never in the Bible it said
That a woman had more than one husband.
But it was allowed by God
For a man to have more than one wife.
Woman is an angel, a suitable helper.
To have more than one wife,
Was never considered as sin.

Other marriages in the Old Testament.
Like David for example.
It never said
That he loved one wife more than the other.

He had seven wives
And concubines
Some names of David's wives
Mentioned in the Bible.
Bathsheba,
Abigail,
Ahinoam of Jezreel,
Michal,
Maacah,
Abital,
Eglah.

Jacob loved Rachel,
Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
Because Leah was not as beautiful to him
But He remained faithful to her,
All his life also...


Genesis 2:18 (ESV)

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Proverbs 18:22 (ESV)

22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing
    and obtains favor from the Lord.

Genesis 29:18 (ESV)

18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."

1 Samuel 25:42-43 (ESV)

42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

2 Samuel 5:13 (ESV)
And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.


Genesis 29:15-30 (ESV)

15 Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing?
Tell me, what shall your wages be?"

16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

17 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.

18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."

19 Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me."

20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”

22 So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.

23 But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.

24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)

25 And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”

26 Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.

27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”

28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)

30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.



1 Kings 11:1-13
English Standard Version

1Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.

7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.

8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

The Lord Raises Adversaries

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice

10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.

12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.

13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”


Solomon's sin was not too many wives,
He just was not supposed to take them from the nations that practiced idolatry.
His main sin before God was
That he started practicing
What some of them
Were practicing.


Exodus 20:1-6
English Standard Version

The Ten Commandments

1  And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.



1 Kings 3:1-15 ESV

1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.

2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.

4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”

6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.

9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

11 And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,

12 behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.

13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.

14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

15 And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

2 Chronicles 1:6-13 ESV

6 And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

Solomon Prays for Wisdom

7 In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.”

8 And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place.

9 O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?”

11 God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king,

12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”

13 So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.


2 Chronicles 1:6-7 ESV

6 And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.

7 In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.”


Just to notice that God appreciates when people sacrifice before God.

Notice verse 6 says that Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings.
And verse  7 says that God appeared to him after he made the sacrifices.

When we show through action,
To the best of our ability,
Our love for God.
God appreciates it by blessing us.


1 Samuel 25:1-43 (ESV)

1 Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah.

David and Abigail

Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite.

4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

5 So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.

6 And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

7 I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.

8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

9 When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.

10 And Nabal answered David's servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.

11 Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”

12 So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this.

13 And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them.

15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them.

16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

17 Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

19 And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good.

22 God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”

23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.

24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.

25 Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

26 Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.

27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.

29 If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel,

31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!

34 For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”

35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

38 And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”

41 And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

In the New Testament some positions in the church require that the husband should have one wife.But that is only for those positions in the church, such as an Overseer,Deacon,or an Elder. Notice it is a requirement.That means other positions don't require that the man should be married to only one wife.
As long as they are married properly before God.

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

1 Timothy 3:12 ESV
Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

1 Timothy 3
English Standard Version
Qualifications for Overseers

1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,
5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Qualifications for Deacons
8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,c not addicted to much wine, not greedy for