Easter Story For Children and Youth

A LONG STORY ABOUT EASTER AND TEMPLES

(A 15-minute talk given in my home ward; feel free to use)

Long before Jesus was born, God told His people in Jerusalem to build him a house where they could worship Him and He could visit them. God told them how to build this temple and they wrote down every single instruction and put it in their scriptures. It would be a place where heaven and earth would meet. The people would give God gifts at the House of God and God would give them gifts as well. You can read about all of them in The Book of Leviticus in the Bible.

The House of God was amazing! It had a big courtyard around it for people to gather. It was very, very tall–10 stories tall or more, like a small skyscraper. It had gold on the front of it and beautiful carvings. It had colors of the sunset, like blue and purple and red, to remind people that this was where heaven and earth meet. And it had a very small room with golden things to remind them of how God had helped them in the past and what Jesus Christ would someday do to save them. This small but tall room had a heavy veil or curtain instead of a door. This was the Holy of Holies where God could come. Only the high priest could go in there, and he could only go in on one day of the year, The Day of Atonement. For ten days before that day, the people would repent of all the things they did wrong. They would bring their gifts to the temple. Then the high priest would pray to God for them to be forgiven. They would make covenants with God. A covenant is a special promise that brings you close together.

God told the people that coming to the temple would make them rejoice! And it did! It was a place of happiness! 

But after a while the people began to get lazy and selfish and they weren’t obeying God’s commandments. So God sent prophets to tell them what they were doing wrong so they could change. These people got very angry! They didn’t want to change! So God told one of the prophets, named Lehi, to take his family and get away from Jerusalem because the people were doing so many bad things that God wasn’t going to protect Jerusalem anymore. 

We can read their story in The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a collection of stories written by different people in ancient America over hundreds of years. They were all put together by a prophet named Mormon and that’s why it’s called The Book of Mormon. It’s really “The Books Collected by Mormon.”

The first book in the Book of Mormon tells about what God told Lehi in visions and how he had to buy tents and leave Jerusalem with his family and go camping in the wilderness and then go back to get the Brass Plates (which were the scriptures) and get another family to come with them and then travel to the beach and live there for a while and then build a ship and sail across the huge ocean to America. In America they got married and had a bunch of kids and grandkids and they were farmers and they also had fights. This book was written by Lehi’s son Nephi. After writing the story of their travels, he copied down all his favorite scriptures.

He still had more to write but he didn’t write it here. He started a Second Book of Nephi. Why a whole new book?

The first thing that Nephi wrote in his second book was that God showed Lehi that Jerusalem actually was destroyed (2 Nephi 1:1-4). Another country, Babylon, sent their armies and all the people who lived in Jerusalem were killed or pushed out and forced to live in all different places so the people who won the war could live in Jerusalem instead. The temple, the House of God, was completely destroyed. 

Everything was different now. There was no House of God on the whole earth. There was no church of God in Jerusalem. The biggest group of God’s people was in America. 

Remember: Lehi’s family had brought their scriptures with them, the Brass Plates. The scriptures had all the instructions for building a temple and worshipping God in the temple. So they built a new House of God in their land. The second book of Nephi is about how these people enter a closer relationship with God and learn more about Jesus Christ because they have a temple where heaven and earth meet. Now, Nephi wrote, “[They] lived after the manner of happiness” (2 Nephi 5:27) because of their covenants.

Back in Jerusalem, there is another war because the King of Persia wants Jerusalem. But as he moves to Jerusalem, the king finds a copy of the scriptures. He reads what God told the prophets to write in the scriptures and he reads a prophesy about himself there, taking over Jerusalem! And he also reads a prophecy that God’s people will come back to Jerusalem. This makes him decide to let any of those people  move back if they want to and he decides to rebuild their temple. It sounds pretty cool to him. 

Hundreds of years later, Mary and Joseph took Baby Jesus to this temple to give gifts to God for their baby. They had to travel to get there because they didn’t live in Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary worshipped at the temple as often as they could, probably every time they had a new baby, for example. (They had at least seven other kids.) On one of these trips, when Jesus was 12 years old, he sat in the courtyard teaching the priests! He didn’t even notice that all his relatives had gone home. They had to come back and find him.

When Jesus grew up, he started teaching everyone God’s commandments: how they should be baptized and they should love each other and that God should be the most important thing in their lives so that they could be happy. 

He told the temple priests he was God’s Son! It was the best news in the world! 

But the temple priests did not want to believe he was God’s Son. They did not want to change. They liked being in charge, being rich, being important.

They finally convinced the leaders of the city to kill Jesus. They found Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, just outside the city. He was praying and crying and he was feeling more sad than anyone in the world had ever been, because He loved everyone so much, even the people who did bad things! And they took him and put him on a cross on a small hill behind Jerusalem. As Jesus hung on the cross, he could turn his head and see the back wall of the beautiful temple.

Because Jesus was the Son of God, no one could kill him, but he could choose to die.  It was the most painful thing in the world to be hung on a cross, but somehow his pain on the cross and before that in the Garden of Gethsemane made it possible for him to bring anyone who died back to life some day. And it also gave him the power to help people when they had troubles or made mistakes. Even us. 

Then Jesus told Heavenly Father that he was done, and he let his spirit leave his body and go up to heaven.

As he left the earth, the earth began to shake, and because of the earthquake, the thick, heavy veil of the temple holy place ripped into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. It was as if to show everyone that because of what Jesus Christ did, they could now walk right through the veil and be with God! 

There were also earthquakes in America. The people there had been getting selfish and wicked, too. They hated each other and they fought and they stole things. They said that Jesus wasn’t real and he wasn’t going to come to earth and they didn’t need him anyway. They said anybody can do whatever they want. They hated the people who still believed in Jesus. They didn’t care about the House of God. Their prophet, Nephi the 3rd, tried to teach them to repent, but only a few people listened. 

With the earthquake, buildings crashed down. Lots of people were killed. Everyone who was still alive was crying. The air was black with some kind of volcanic smoke and they couldn't even see. 

But the temple was not destroyed and the people gathered there. And while they were there, at the place where heaven meets earth, the sky opened up and Jesus Christ came down to visit them! He didn’t just visit the high priest on the other side of a heavy veil, but He met all of them out in the courtyard, even the little children! He taught them his gospel just as he taught it in Jerusalem. He told them he had finished his sad and painful work, the Atonement, and he had saved the world. He brought angels with him and they blessed the children. He changed their temple worship to help them remember Him and what He did. And he said this was the greatest joy he had ever felt. Nephi the 3rd wrote down everything he taught them except for the very sacred heavenly parts. And then he told his future readers, us, to not do bad things and not hate people, but to repent and get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and join the covenant people. And that’s the end of that story.

Then he started a new book called the 4th Book of Nephi. This book was the story of how people who made new temple covenants with Jesus Christ Himself at the House of God lived. Nephi the 3rd wrote, “And they were blessed [with the many, many promises] which the Lord had made unto them [in the temple]” (4 Nephi 1:11). “And there was no [fighting] in the land, because of the love of God which did [live] in the hearts of the people” (4 Nephi 1:15). “And surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God..[and] they were in one [like one loving family], the children of Christ, and [were promised] the kingdom of God” (4 Nephi 1:16,17). The covenant people loved everyone, even the weird ones. And they shared all their stuff so no one was poor. And they watched over each other so no one was left out.

And listen up, kids: It was the one time on earth that life was fair! And it lasted for 200 years! 

Today we have Houses of God all over the world with many of the same things the temple in Jerusalem had, but they are used differently since Jesus did His mighty work. We no longer wait outside while the temple priest makes the covenants for all the people. If we keep our baptismal covenants, we can each go in and make more covenants ourselves. As we do, we get pulled closer and closer to Jesus Christ, as Elder Bradley Wilcox taught us in October 2024 General Conference. Our temples have veils, but now they are plain and white and lightweight and they are made in two pieces! They are made for walking through!

Sometimes hard things will happen in our lives. We might feel like we are suddenly on the other side of the world in a brand new place where everything is different, like Lehi’s family. We might even feel like we’ve been through an earthquake. Some things in our lives will break in ways that we can’t fix. But if we become covenant people with Christ, we can start new stories, better ones. We can feel more of His love and receive more of His help as we come closer to Him in our temples, where heaven meets earth. We can promise to share our money and our time and our stuff to bring others to him. And as we share his love with others, we will get it all over ourselves. And then we also will live “after the manner of happiness.”

Genesis 42-50

Follow this link to my previous post on this section of scripture.

Genesis 37-41 -- Joseph

Latter-day Saint Donny Osmond as Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," which played on Broadway in New York City beginning in 1982. Image from Latter-day Saint Musicians.

A neighbor of mine shared some very interesting research she had done with our scripture study group that has application to this week's lesson on Joseph, so I will share that here and then I will link my post on Joseph.

When Adam and Eve realized that they were naked (inadequate, vulnerable), they hid from God. When He asked them why they hid and who told them they were naked, they told Him they had learned this from Satan. God's response to them was not to shame them or punish them. Instead, He clothed them in garments of skin (Genesis 3:21). The Hebrew word translated here as "garment" is kethoneth or ketonet.

Bible Hub describes kethoneth or ketonet as "a long, shirt–like garment that served as the basic article of clothing for both men and women in ancient Israel. It was normally woven from wool or linen, extending to the knees or ankles, with or without sleeves. While an ordinary tunic was common apparel, Scripture records several specialized ketonot whose design, fabrication, or use conveyed covenantal and theological truths."

The word kethoneth is used in the Old Testament in this specialized context very few times. This is the first and it refers to a tunic or inner garment worn next to the skin. 

“Yahweh [Jehovah] made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). The first mention of ketonet follows mankind’s fall and sheds light on God’s initiative in providing a covering secured through the shedding of blood. This act foreshadows substitutionary atonement and establishes the biblical pattern that sin requires a divinely provided covering" (Bible Hub).

The second is to describe Joseph's coat of many colors (Gen. 37:3). In this case it is an outer robe, a long tunic. It signified a person of authority, priestly or royal, because it was a garment not practical for manual labor. It was made of finer cloth: wool, linen, cotton, or silk. 

"Jacob’s preferential love for Joseph is displayed through “a richly ornamented robe” (Genesis 37:3). The ketonet here is distinguished by length and embroidery, marking Joseph for blessing and leadership. Its blood-stained presentation to Jacob (Genesis 37:31–33) dramatizes deception and anticipated deliverance. Later, Joseph’s divinely orchestrated exaltation confirms that God’s purposes overcome human malice" (ibid.).

The third time is in reference to the temple priesthood clothing made for Aaron and his sons to wear in the tabernacle (Exodus 28:4). 

The New International Version reads, 

"These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests."

The New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek equivalent of kethoneth (chiton) is used to describe the specialized luxury clothing item that Jesus Christ wore to the cross, the seamless garment for which the Roman soldiers cast lots (John 19:24). (See also Psalm 22:18.) 

"In the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament], ketonet is rendered chitōn, the very word John uses when recording that soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ seamless tunic (John 19:23–24). The High Priest’s linen ketonet, the favored son’s multi-colored ketonet, and the sin-covering ketonet of Eden all converge in the crucified Messiah whose unseamed garment affirms His perfect righteousness and singular priesthood" (ibid.).

The New International Version translates John 19:23 as follows: 

"When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom."

The significance of innner and outer priestly clothing should not be lost to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As covenant temple worshipers, we have the opportunity to receive and wear our own version of kethoneth, temple clothing next to our skin, as well as kethoneth passim, outer clothing worn during temple worship. As Adam and Eve, Aaron and his sons, and Joseph, we are covered by Christ's mercy and that covering is symbolized in our temple garments. Jesus Christ wore His inner garment to the very end of His life, and so should we. (See https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/temple-garment-faq?lang=eng.)

And now here is the link to my previous post on Joseph.

Genesis 24-33 -- Isaac, Leah, and Rachel

ISAAC'S QUEST FOR A COVENANT MARRIAGE

The overriding theme of the stories of Chapters 24-28 is that it is not easy to come by a covenant marriage, but that when we put forth the tremendous effort required, the Lord will assist and blessings will ensue.  Here are some incidents that teach these lessons:

Gen. 24--Abraham's servant was given the overwhelming responsibility of traveling back to the homeland to find a worthy wife for Abraham's birthright son, Isaac.  He brought great riches with him as gifts, requiring ten camels for transport (vs. 10).  The task was overwhelming, requiring divine guidance.  The servant asked in prayer for a sign that the future wife of his master would be one who would offer him water, and additionally offer the ten camels water.  This would certainly single out the woman, because, although offering water to a male traveler was fairly normal ettiquette, offering to water the camels was well beyond the call of duty.  One camel could drink up to 30 gallons!  It was an extraordinary young woman who would offer this service, perhaps it was even unheard of.  But when the caravan arrived at the well, not only did Rebekah volunteer the service, but she "hasted" and she "ran" to complete it (v. 19-20).  When the servant discovered that she was a cousin, and therefore met the requirement set forth by Abraham, he knew his prayer was answered (v. 23-27). 

Rebekah's family wanted to have a little time with her before she left them to marry Isaac (v. 55), but the servant wanted to obey the Lord immediately, since the Lord had answered his prayer so immediately (v. 56).  Rebekah concurred, and went with the servant, never to see her family again.  Upon their arrival at Isaac's property, she saw a man cutting through the field to meet them (v. 64-65), and was told it was her future husband.  The closing words of this episode of the story are beautiful:  "and she became his wife; and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (v. 67).  Loving each other, and comforting each other are elements of a covenant marriage.

Gen. 25--While Isaac's brother Ishmael was blessed with a dozen sons, Rebekah was left childless.  (It's interesting how many righteous women in the Old Testament struggle with fertility issues.)  Finally, she was blessed with twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  An interesting description is given of Jacob in the footnote to vs. 27:  Jacob was "whole, complete, perfect, simple, plain."  Jacob valued the birthright, and bought it from his brother (v. 31-33).  Esau, like so many people, was overtaken by the physical desire of the moment, in his case hunger, and lost perspective of eternity. Unfortunately, many saints today do the same, selling their spiritual privileges for fleeting passions.

Gen. 26--Because Isaac continued in righteousness, the covenant promised to his father was restated in his behalf (vs. 2-5).  The same can be true for each one of us, as covenant children, particularly as we receive our patriarchal blessing.  Like his father, everywhere that Isaac went, he built an altar and called upon the Lord (v. 25).

Meanwhile Esau sold his birthright again, marrying outside the covenant and against his parents' wishes (v. 34-35) while  Jacob remained unmarried until age 40, presumably because no covenant wife was available where they lived.

A little note of explanation: Both Abraham and Isaac, when they moved to a new land, ended up telling the local royalty that their wives were their sisters. Both wives were cousins, so this was true, "sister" and "brother" being general terms for relations. Why hide the fact that they were wives? Camille Fronk Olson explains that if a king desired the wife of another man, he would kill the husband [Women of the Old Testament, p. 32-33]. This deception, therefore, saved the lives of Abraham and Isaac. In both cases, the king, upon discovering that the object of his affection was already married, returned the wife to her husband, and promised protection for the husband from others who might desire the wife. So why did the deception have to occur in the first place? One idea: Perhaps the kings needed to personally get to know the people involved, and gain an appreciation for their integrity, before they would extend this highly unusual offer.

REBEKAH'S LEADERSHIP

"Rebekah is one of the greatest patterns in all the revelations of what a woman can do to influence a family in righteousness...Women are appointed, Rebekahlike, to be guides and lights in righteousness in the family unit and to engineer and arrange so that things are done in the way that will result in the salvation of more of our Father's children" (Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign, Jan. 1979, p. 62, 63).

Gen. 27--Isaac planned to bless his son Esau with the birthright, despite Esau's unworthiness.  This would have been a grave error, and Rebekah saw that.  She conspired with Jacob to put him in the right place at the right time to receive the birthright blessing.  This is an example of a wife who kept her covenant to obey the Lord "in righteousness."  In this case, she would have been wrong to obey her husband, because in a matter of eternal importance, he was following convention and personal preference, rather than the Spirit.  Rebekah, however, had received a revelation before the twins were born that the younger was to be the leader of the family (Gen. 25:23), and besides, Esau had given up his birthright twice, definitely demonstrating that he did not have the integrity or foresight to be the patriarch of the family. 

When Isaac realized which son had received the blessing, he knew it was right.  What a prophet binds on earth is bound in heaven, but also what he looses on earth is loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19).  Isaac had the power to revoke the blessing, but he let it stand (v. 33), because he knew his wife was right.  The Lord could easily have caused Jacob to be born before Esau, therefore preventing this problem from arising, but instead He chose to teach a lesson for many generations to come:  Righteousness is more important than circumstance, and revelation is more important than tradition.  When Isaac afterwards blessed Esau, he restated through revelation the same truth that had been revealed to Rebekah years before, that he would be subservient to his younger brother.  Despite the outward confusion, the blessings were given correctly through the Spirit, as the Apostle Paul stated, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come" (Heb. 11:20).

Esau was so angry at being tricked, he plotted to kill his brother after his father's death (v.41).  This was told to Rebekah and she sent Isaac away to stay with relatives, saying that otherwise she would lose both her sons in one day: one to murder, and the other to execution (v. 45; see Gen. 9:6).  To Isaac, she stated the reason for sending him away to be the need for Jacob to find a wife among the covenant people, which was definitely necessary.  Of course, this was the Lord's plan as well.

It is worth noting that later Esau took a covenant wife (Gen. 28:6-9), and that when Jacob returned to Canaan many years later,  "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept" (Gen. 33:4).

THE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

Gen. 28--As Jacob went on his journey, he was granted a remarkable dream. 

"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, [Jehovah] stood above it, and said, I am [Jehovah,] God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west , and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (vs. 12-14). (Note: The word LORD in all capitals in the Old Testament is a substitution for the name "Jehovah," which the Jews do not speak aloud; therefore the translators substitute LORD in deference. Latter-day Saints believe Jehovah to be the pre-existent Jesus Christ.)

David E. Bokovoy, a doctor of Hebrew Bible studies, recommends circling "the place" or "this place" anytime it is found in the Old Testament, because it almost always refers to a temple place (Know Your Religion Lecture, Feb. 15, 2002, Logan, Utah). Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.  And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!  this is none other but the house of god, and this is the gate of heaven...And he called the name of that place Beth-el" (v. 16-19).  "Beth-el is [short for] Beth-Elohim, which means literally 'The House of the Lord.'" Even more interesting is to note a couple of additions which Joseph Smith made to verse 22 in his translation. (These additions are not among the excerpts that were included in the LDS Bible footnotes, but can be found in the complete book, Joseph Smith's New Translation of The Bible.) The added words are in italics:  And the place of this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be the place of God's house.  (How could Joseph Smith have known that this small change made the passage even more temple-like?)

Jacob possibly received an endowment from the Lord in this temple experience. Some have considered that the message of his dream is that the covenants Jacob made with the Lord were as rungs of a ladder to heaven. He would have to climb the rungs of the ladder God provided (covenants and commandments) in order to obtain the promised blessings that would allow him to enter into heaven with the Lord (Pres. Marion G. Romney, "Temples--The Gates to Heaven," Ensign, Mar. 1971, p. 16)  

By the way, the Hebrew word translated as "ladder" could also be translated as "stairway" or "ramp."  Most Bible translations use the word "ladder" which provides us with a good symbol of the effort and time required to make our way to heaven. Many translations use the word "stairway," which is more beautiful. And if you ever listened to American popular radio, it will remind you of the extremely popular 1970s Led Zeppelin hit--one of the greatest rock songs of all time and banned in most guitar stores because beginner guitarists are not worthy of playing it in public and store owners are sick of hearing it slaughtered. Its enigmatic lyrics, by Robert Plant, have intrigued listeners for decades: the story of a woman who thinks she can buy her way into heaven.

Image from https://www.detik.com/pop/music/d-7251796/semua-tentang-kita-bisa-senasib-stairway-to-heaven-di-toko-musik
 

But I definitely digress!

We as Latter-day Saints, must learn to believe that it is through the merits of Jesus Christ that we are saved, even though He requires us to move at least our feet and possibly also our hands to climb the ladder--or stairway--of covenants. We can't "buy" our way into heaven with our works anymore than the woman in the mystic lyrics can buy her way into heaven with gold. We must work, but we must rely upon Christ to save us. This is the common Latter-day Saint interpretation of the stairway to heaven metaphor. 

But look at the scripture again: in the dream, it is the angels who are ascending and descending the ladder, not the humans! Author Kirsten Burningham points out a new idea:

"In this dream, Jacob isn’t commanded to do anything; he is blessed, and the land is blessed. 'I am with thee,' God says, 'and I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until l have done that which I have spoken to thee of' (Gen. 28:15). It seems that Jacob’s dream is less about the covenants Jacob will keep by climbing a ladder and more about God, the kinds of promises God makes, and how God will keep those promises: he will be with Jacob always, it seems to say, wherever he finds himself" (Kirsten Burningham, "Ladders to Heaven," Wayfare Magazine, online, June 29, 2025). 

I absolutely love it when a scriptural passage we all assumed was one way is presented in an entirely different light by someone's fresh eyes. And yes! the dream demonstrates, even more simply and clearly than the cryptic covenant metaphor, that God is continuously sending His angels down from Heaven and back up from earth to assist His children in whatever rocky wilderness place they may be. He can make their place of darkness and trial into a temple. And if they see it, they will say, as did Jacob, "Surely [my Savior] is in this place; and I knew it not" (Gen. 28:16). And as they accept His constant covenantal love, they will desire to enter into a covenant with Him to become more like Him until they are one with Him.

Once Jacob understood God's loyalty to him, God's unceasing effort to help him, He "vowed a vow, saying, [Since] God [is so willing to] be with me, and will keep me [and watch over me] in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall [Jehovah] be my God. [I will worship Him alone.] And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee" (Gen. 28:20-22, emphasis added). Jacob offers his covenant in return, the promise to pay his tithing. He enters into a relationship with God. At the beginning of his statement, Jacob refers to Jehovah in the third person, but at the end, he switches to the second person. This is a Hebrew poetic effect which shows that the relationship has become more intimate. Rather than talking about God, Isaac has turned to face God directly and interact with Him in person. Isn't that beautiful? 

JACOB'S QUEST FOR A COVENANT MARRIAGE

Gen. 29--Interestingly, Jacob met his wife, Rachel, at a well, just as his father's servant had met his mother at a well.  In this case, however, it was Jacob who served Rachel, by rolling away the stone covering, and drawing the water for the flock.  Typically it was the woman's job to water the sheep, however in this instance it seems that a tremendous effort was required to open the well, since the shepherds were waiting for all to be gathered together in order to do it (v. 8).  It was "a prodigious feat for one person--a measure of Jacob's elation at seeing [Rachel]" (Harper-Collins Study Bible, p. 44)  Both of these covenant marriage relationships began with an act of great service: another lesson for us to follow throughout our marriages.

In an ironic twist, Jacob's father-in-law Laban and Rachel's older sister Leah tricked him into marrying Leah first, a similar act to the deception that Jacob and his mother worked in order to procure the birthright blessing.  Of course, in keeping with social convention, the older daughter should be married first, and in all the seven years of labor, there was apparently no other suitor.  Since parents always arranged their children's marriages, and the father had supreme rule over the family, it was not so strange for Laban to control the marriages of his daughters (Sidney B. Sperry, "Hebrew Manners and Customs," Ensign, May 1972). It certainly would have been nicer, though, if it could have been done honestly, as this method set up a conflict and competition in the family at the outset: Leah was "unloved" (another translation for the word used as "hated" in v. 31), while Rachel was cherished (v. 20).

BEING "LOVED" OR "UNLOVED"

The people of the Old Testament times lived in an imperfect society with flawed families.  Plural marriage was particularly plagued with feelings of competitiveness and unfairness, so much so that the problems of "loved" versus "hated" wives were actually recognized and addressed in the Law (Deut. 21:15-17). We today still live in a fallen world with imperfect people and troubled relationships. We may encounter discrimination, negligence, or abuse from others when we expected love and kindness. But God Himself is perfect, and His love is extended towards all. In the lives of Leah and Rachel, as in the lives of Sarah and Hagar, we see the impartial kindliness of the Lord. In both cases, both women found solace in their relationships with God. In both cases, the Lord blessed the less-loved wife with the compensatory joy of motherhood immediately, and allowed the favored wife to wait a while. This infertility, though, was followed by the delight of a son who had the birthright, or earned it through his righteousness. In all cases, the Lord communicated his care and concern to the woman in her individual trial (Sarah in Gen. 21:1, 6; Hagar in Gen. 21:17; Leah in Gen. 29:31-32; Rachel in Gen. 30:22). 

God is always inviting, comforting, and encouraging, and is no respecter of persons. The scriptures show repeatedly that His love is offered to all:  "He layeth down his own life that he may draw all men [humans] unto him" (2 Ne. 26:24); "Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price" (2 Ne. 26:25); "All men are privileged [to partake of God's goodness] the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden" (2 Ne. 26:28); "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men" (Alma 5:33); "Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Ne. 12:6).

In our times of affliction or our situations of injustice, we can have confidence that the love of God will find us and compensate. As another Jacob testified, "I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever" (Jacob 3:1-2).

 
COVENANT MARRIAGES BRING BLESSINGS FOR GENERATIONS
 

 

(This is my own photograph of the Salt Lake City Temple.

I hold the copyright, but you are welcome to use it.)

 

Despite the imperfections of the partners involved, covenants and covenant marriages bring us ever closer to heaven.  Both Leah and Rachel developed great faith through their marriage and child-bearing trials, which carried them through other trials. For example, when their prophet-husband received the command of the Lord to uproot the family and move back to his birthplace, where the threat of being murdered by Esau weighed heavily on his mind, he consulted both women, and both responded, "Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do" (31:14). Jacob did, and was joyously surprised by the heartfelt welcome of his now repentant brother Esau (Gen. 33).  

Generations afterward, when Boaz married Ruth, the blessing of the members of the wedding party to Ruth was that God would make her as great as Leah and Rachel. Together, these two women, with their two handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, and their husband, bore and built the House of Israel, and their names are honored forever. Today, regardless of our circumstances, we similarly play a part in building our own branch of the House of Israel, and we can also leave a great legacy of faith as we make and remain true to our covenants with God. Whether we are "loved" or "unloved," whether we are married happily or unhappily, whether we are divorced or still single, our God's covenantal love will carry us through life with the greatest amount of joy if we remain bound to Him.

Genesis 18-23 Sarah, Hagar and Abraham

 Please follow this link to my previously-posted lesson on Sarah, Hagar and Abraham.

Genesis 12-18; Abraham 1-2 -- The Abrahamic Covenant

 Please follow this link for my previously posted lesson. 

Genesis 6-11; Moses 8 -- Noah

 Please follow this link to my previously-posted lesson on Noah.