Leah gave birth to six of the 12 tribes of Israel-Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. (Perhaps she had dull or pale-colored irises instead of striking dark ones?) Whatever the case was, Leah was unattractive, so Jacob preferred to marry her (beautiful) sister Rachel.īy the way, let me point out that, through elaborate scheming of Laban, these sisters’ father, Jacob ended up marrying both women (Leah and Rachel were also Jacob’s first-cousins).
Unlike her younger sister Rachel, Leah was ordinary looking, what we might call a “plain Jane.” There were no striking features about Leah’s face or appearance, with particular emphasis on her eyes. The conjunction “but” in the middle of this verse actually provides us with context clues to grasp the meaning of “tender eyed.” Rachel is said to be “beautiful and well favoured.” “But”-opposite of Rachel’s appearance-Leah is “tender eyed.” That is, Leah had eyes that were not special looking. Exactly what was wrong with Leah’s eyes?Īs a general rule of thumb, friend, whenever we struggle with a particular Bible word or phrase, we should scan the surrounding words and/or verses. Even some translators have confessed trouble with this expression. English Bible readers have wondered if this is another way of saying her eyes were deformed (cross-eyed, lazy-eyed, or the like). The Bible says in Genesis 29:17: “Leah was tender eyed but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.” What does Scripture mean that Leah was “tender eyed?” It is a difficult verse at first glance.
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