July 2, 1400 B.C.
Dear Diary,
Leah here again. I’m so frustrated. Jacob, my husband, still
will not pay attention to me. I mean I get it, he really wanted to marry
Rachel. He even worked for our dad fourteen years before he could marry her. It
just sucks. I wish he had never come to our house in Bethuel looking for her. I
wish father had never promised her to him if he worked for seven years. Or at
least I wish I had found someone else to marry before the seven years were up!
The tradition is the WORST. Now, I’m stuck married to this man who is really in
love with my sister, who is also now his wife, all because there’s some weird
rule that I had to get married first. Why couldn’t I just wait to marry someone
who loved me? Why does he still have to hate me, even after I’ve given him FOUR
sons at this point. How kids has Rachel had? Like, none herself until she finally
made her handmaiden sleep with him. It’s so annoying! I don’t know what to do!
 |
| Jacob talking to Laban, the father, with Leah and Rachel present Image from Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster (1897) |
October 22, 1401 B.C.
Dear Diary,
I can’t believe Rachel! She is seriously so selfish. Reuben
has literally been in the fields for so long and came back with some beautiful
mandrakes. Once she saw them, she started begging for them and wouldn’t leave
me alone. I don’t know why she wanted them so badly. I guess, because they’re
considered “love plants”. But, why does she even need love plants? She already
has all of Jacob’s love. He is always kind to me but it’s obvious he’d rather
be with Rachel. Anyways, I let her have the mandrakes because she promised that
I could stay with Jacob tonight. I really need to talk to him about our
relationship because I cannot be treated this way for much longer. I want to go
see the counselor in town. That way, I could have a safe place to tell him how
I really feel and hopefully they would back me up. It’s just not right and I
need Jacob to see that. Especially as our children get older! I want them to
grow up happy and with a great father, but right now he’s just so distant.
January 28, 1401 B.C.
Dear Diary,
It’s official, I’m pregnant again. This will be our fifth son
together. He was conceived the night that Jacob agreed to start going to
counseling, so about three months ago. I’m really hoping that the counseling
combined with our fifth child will show Jacob how much I care about him and how
much I want this relationship with him. So far, its not really working but I
guess a girl can dream. The counselor says to take baby steps and not expect a
change all at once. I just don’t know if I have enough patience! I’m praying to
God though that it works out. He obviously favors me since I am so blessed with
all of these sons, so I guess I will just wait and see.
 |
| (Leah, by Michelangelo) |
March 6, 1404 B.C.
Dear Diary,
It’s been a long time since I’ve written! I didn’t realize
so much time had passed. I’ve just been so busy raising these children that I
hardly have any time for myself. We have six sons now and a beautiful daughter named
Dinah. She is such a delight and my little saving grace in this world full of
boys. I can’t wait for her to grow up so that I can have someone to talk to and
share things with. Another update, I gave up on the counseling and have decided
to just be content with my life. I have all of my children and a great house
and people to take care of us, so I guess I don’t need any more. Rachel finally
had a son of her own, so Jacob will forever be hers. That might sound sad, but
I’m okay with it. I should have known since he worked seven years for father
before marrying me, and then another seven to marry her. He was devoted to her
from the start. I can only hope that, one day, my sons will have great wives
that they cherish and that Dinah will have a great husband that loves her as
deeply as Jacob loves Rachel. For now, I am going to live my life in
contentment with the LORD as my love. HE is all I need. Until next time!
Author's Note
In this writing, I am retelling the story of Rachel, Leah, and Jacob from the Bible Women unit. In the original, Jacob traveled to Bethuel to his mother's brother's house to find a wife. While he was sitting by a well, he saw Rachel coming to water her father's sheep along with the other herds. She was very beautiful to him and he kissed her at the well. Rachel ran back to tell her father, and once he found out that Jacob was his sister's son, he was very welcoming to him. Jacob told the father that he wanted to marry Rachel, so they worked out a deal that Jacob would work for the father for seven years and then could marry her. Once the seven years were up, Jacob asked for his wife and the father gave him what he believed to be Rachel. However, the next morning, Jacob woke up and realized it was actually Leah who had been given to him. He was very angered by this, but when he confronted the father he told him that he had to follow the tradition that his oldest daughter must be married first. So, they worked out a deal that Jacob would work another seven years and then could finally marry Rachel. Once they were married, the LORD could tell that Leah was hated so he opened her womb and left Rachel barren. Overall, Jacob had six sons and a daughter with Leah. Rachel could only give him sons through her handmaiden until the LORD finally took favor upon her and opened her womb after Leah had many many sons.
For this storytelling, I wanted to tell the story with more of the woman's perspective written in. The Bible would mention the women, but did not develop them as characters enough for any insight into their personalities or thoughts. I thought a great way to do this would be to phrase the writing like it was a diary entry from Leah, explaining how she felt and the frustration she was experiencing. In addition, the storytelling randomizer gave me the idea of including a counselor for the troubled couples in the story. Therefore, I decided to include that as well. Lastly, the version I read was a King James version of the bible, which is very old fashioned and difficult to read. Following how a diary entry would be, I used very relaxed and common language- the exact opposite of the Bible.
Note: I chose the month and dates for the journal entries at random. I got the year by looking up the general time that Genesis in the Bible was believed to be written. You can see my source for this information here.
Bibliography
This was such a creative way to write a story! I like how you said in your authors note that this part of the bible is often confusing and hard to read, but your story was very easy to understand. I like your attention to detail in this story. You used specific events that happened in the original story and put them into your diaries. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI really love how you put a modern twist on the story! It made it easy to read and understand what was going on in the story. You did a really good job of showing Leah’s frustration in her marriage. I can’t imagine how it would feel being in Leah’s position… it would be so awkward being married to someone who clearly loves your sister more than you. I don’t think I would be as patient and understanding as she was! I was so shocked to hear that she had another child with Jacob, having 6 children would be overwhelming. I wonder if they’ll end up having more together or if they’ll stop after having Dinah. I also thought it was creative how you looked up the general timeframe that Genesis was written so you could put dates on each diary entry. I enjoyed this style for storytelling and plan on using it for one of my stories in the future!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story and loved how modern you made it! The individual diary posts help split up the plot and made it so much easier to understand! It a smart way to tell a story that spans of many years and it helps give readers a definite start and end to what has happened and when. I also love how you incorporated a modern twist to it. Certain word choices such as the line "Like, none herself until she finally made her handmaiden sleep with him. It’s so annoying! I don’t know what to do!" The commonly overused word by girls, "like", is definitely helps me invasion this in a modern day setting. This was very impressive and such a fun story to read! It makes me want to attempt to use the "Dear Diary" format for one of my own stories! I look forward to reading more of your work this semester!
ReplyDeletePoor girl, Leah. That did not sound like a very enjoyable situation she was in, but she sounded happier at the end. Six children for a man who is in love with her sister? thats crazy.
ReplyDeleteI like how you set this up as diary entries! I feel like most diaries are probably full of women complaining about their siblings and boys, so this was perfect for your story! And how you put dates on them so we could keep up with what was going on and when! It had a good uplifting ending!