id you know that Tina Turner hated the song “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” She balked at recording it. It’s an “anti-love song,” yet, it hit a sore spot in her experience.

Throughout her marriage to Ike Turner he exercised tyrannical control over her life and work. He beat and raped her, broke her nose more than once, threw hot coffee in her face, and used her body to snuff his cigarettes. In 1968, Tina tried to escape the abuse by swallowing close to a hundred sleeping pills, but she found no lasting relief until 1976 when, with less than a dollar in her pocket, she snuck out while Ike slept.

What is crazy is that so many people in the world have given up on love. It just seems easier to settle for the illusion of love than actually trying to find true love. And for people who have been hurt, for people who have been heartbroken, they are singing along with Tina, “what’s love got to do with it? What’s love but a secondary emotion?”

“Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren,” (Genesis 29:31–33, NASB*).

In your mind’s eye I want you to see Leah, the less than pretty sister of Rachel who is doing everything in her power to get her husband to love her. The Bible says that the Lord saw that Leah was unloved.

Now, that is a word. The Lord saw that Leah was unloved. Now that might not leap off the pages of scripture at you as it does me, but let me remind you of how messed up Jacob and Leah’s marriage was and then maybe you will see the sheer awesomeness of a God who saw that Leah was unloved.

You remember that Jacob and his mother Rebekah had conspired to steal the blessing that was supposed to go to Jacob’s twin brother Esau. And Esau after learning of the deception is determined to kill Jacob. Now Rebekah in order to save her favorite son Jacob’s life, proposes to her husband Isaac that they send Jacob away so that he does not take a wife from the surrounding nations.

Leah didn’t have to be terrible looking, but she certainly lived in Rachel’s shadow on this point. Leah has probably heard this all her life. “Look at how cute Rachel is.” On the first day when Leah had to take her sister to kindergarten, every one remarked on how cute Rachel looked in her uniform. When mom bought them matching outfits to go to church, everyone would talk about how cute Rachel looked in her dress and a few would throw in that Leah looked nice, too. And so it was no wonder to Leah that when Jacob sees Rachel, it is practically love at first sight.

And so when Uncle Laban asks Jacob what will be his wages for working for him. Jacob wants to marry Rachel. Jacob agrees to work for his Uncle Laban for seven years.

“Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may go in to her.” Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her,” (Genesis 29:21-23).

Now here is the question: why would Leah go along with her daddy’s deception? I know we could talk about the fact that women were not allowed to have their own opinions. We could talk about the fact that she was considered more property than a person, and all of that would be true. But there is no way that she does not know that Jacob is in love with her sister. Why would she allow her herself to be called by another woman’s name during her first intimate encounter.

Why is she willing to settle for a piece of a marriage, for a piece of a man?

We can only imagine what was on Leah’s mind when daddy told her to go slip into Jacob’s bed that night. But when Jacob woke up in the morning, we don’t have to imagine because the Bible tells us what happens:

“So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?” (Genesis 25:29)

The bible says “behold,” which is the Bible’s way of adding drama to the text and then there’s that exclamation point. It was Leah. I would have torn up the place. I would have been knocking down tents trying to find Rachel. Where the H-E-double hockey sticks is my woman? Somebody’s going home with a black eye.

After I have worked for seven years for my girl Rachel, and I think that Rachel and I are consummating our love which we have talked about for seven years, we are finally going to eat chocolate cake together. And I find out in the morning that I ate chocolate cake with the wrong person.

“So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.” Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren” Genesis 29:30–31.

Now I love the way the Bible exposes the rawness of life. Indeed Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Duh! Of course he loved Rachel more than Leah. Every day of the next seven years, he’s looking at Leah: you could have said something.

But watch this, Jacob can’t leave Leah alone. And I want you to see this from Leah’s perspective: a man is eating chocolate cake with her but doesn’t love her. He is so focused on the betrayal that he doesn’t realize how his soul has become knit to hers. He is so angry with her and he thinks that he hates her and maybe even tells her so, but he keeps coming back for more chocolate cake.

And she is asking herself, what it is going to take to get this man to realize that the betrayal aside, our cake may not be her cake but our cake is still special?

And here is the kicker in verse 31 where it says that the Lord saw that Leah was unloved. This is one of the most amazing passages in all of the Bible. Of course she is unloved. It’s her fault that she is unloved. Nobody told her to eat chocolate cake and pretend to be her sister. She has created this problem.

I am so glad that God is not like me or most of us. If I had been God, I would have said “you made your bed, now you got to lie in it.” I would have said if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. I would have said if you do the crime you got to do the time.

But is there anybody grateful that the Lord saw that Leah was unloved? Is there anybody who can praise God that though your marriage got off to a rough start, He looked beyond your faults and saw your needs?

God saw that Leah was unloved. Let me repeat that, God saw that Leah was unloved. Don’t tell me that God is punishing you for the choices you made in life. Not true. Don’t tell me that you have so screwed up your life that you can sing with Tina, “what’s love got to do with it?” God cares about you and sees what you are going through.

God saw that Leah was unloved, and that Rachel was barren. Leah wants Jacob to look at her the way he looks at Rachel, but Rachel is barren. Even though Jacob spends more nights with Rachel than he does with Leah, Rachel is barren.

And so Leah starts thinking well you might like her cake more than mine, but I can give you, Jacob, something that pretty Rachel can’t. And now Leah is praying every time Jacob comes to eat chocolate cake that she’ll put on a few pounds. (Don’t worry I used to be slow, too . . .that she’ll get pregnant.)

“Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon” Genesis 29:32–33.

And it works. Leah has a son, Reuben (which means “behold a son”). And they eat more cake, and a second son is born. And she names him Simeon. Simeon means “heard.” Don’t miss this, God has seen her affliction, and God has heard her silent tears and therefore gives her a second son whom she names Simeon.

But watch this—you can’t make someone love you. I want you to watch the shift in Leah’s desires after two sons don’t cause Jacob to love her.

“She conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore he was named Levi” (Genesis 29:32–33.

Levi means attached or joined to. Notice that Leah has downgraded her desires. If Jacob won’t love her, at least let him become attached to her. On one hand attached can mean, well, eating chocolate cake with someone. But, attach can also relate to something borrowed or lent. Leah has come to the conclusion that Jacob might never forgive her; that Jacob may never love her. And so now she is willing to borrow Jacob to have her needs met.

After giving him three sons, surely now he will come back for more, especially that her sister is barren. She is no longer looking for love, she just wants the illusion of love. She is singing with full voice, “what’s love got to do with it, got to do with it, who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

Photo by FreeBibleImages.com

When Jacob comes to see her this time, I want you to see this change in Leah’s attitude and perspective.

“And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing,” Genesis 29:35.

Judah means celebrated or praised. And when Leah changed her attitude—when Leah stopped depending on Jacob to make her happy—look at what God did.

The kings of Israel were not going to come through Rachel but through Leah.

The greatest king of Israel, David, came from the tribe of Judah.

The wisest and riches king of Israel came from the tribe of Judah.

And when John the revelator, in vision, wept because there was no one worthy to open the book or to break its seals, it was the lion of the tribe of Judah who could do it!

A relationship that should have never been produced the Messiah.

A relationship that started off so bad, produced the rose of Sharon, the bright and morning star. A relationship that had so much turmoil and disappointment produced the Savior of the world.

Don’t tell me that your relationship is too messed up. Don’t tell me that you’ve made too many mistakes. Our God is able!

What’s love got to do with it? Everything because God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. What’s love got to do with it? Everything because there is a lover named Jesus. What’s love got to do with it? Everything because God saw that Leah was unloved.

PETE PALMER, a former teacher, school principal, is President of the Allegheny East Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.