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Many think that Jacob loved Rachael because she was beautiful, beauty only attracts a man to a woman but what determines his true love for a woman goes beyond beauty. Rachael was not just beautiful, she was industrious per excellent.
Why do we have a lot of beautiful ladies today yet no husband? Because beauty without value and virtue is like a smoke. What impressed and attracted Jacob to Rachael was her industriousness. While her brothers and elder sister Leah were at home, Rachael singlehandedly brought her father's flock to the well. That was where Jacob met her for the first time. No sensible man can resist a woman who is beautiful and industrious.
What made a man work for 7 years for the woman he loved and yet felt like he just worked for 7 days? Value!
Come to think of this, My man doesn't respect me, might be because I am not a Value-Added-Woman (VAW).
Do you realize that Jacob did not pay Leah's bride price? They gave him Leah as bonus. Because she had no value. This was why Jacob had no respect for her and her children, hence he set them as first entourage when he was going to meet his angry brother. If you force yourself on a man, he may never respect you. If he got you cheaply, he will never respect you. If you are not adding value to his life, he will never respect you.
Even after marriage, Leah was begging and buying the attention of her own husband. Rachael was practically in control of Jacob.
Rachael was a shepherd in the midst of her siblings, a profession meant for men. She was in control of her father's business. This was what glued Jacob to her.
Gen 29:9 Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd.
How can boys be in the house and a girl (last daughter of the house) be the one to tend her father's flock and family business? Industriousness!
After Jacob slept with Leah, he still went for Rachael. Sex can't keep a man, value does.
Leah had 5 children, Rachael had none, yet Jacob still loved Rachael more than Leah. Having children is good but adding value is better.Don't ever think you can pin a man down with children. If you like give him a nation, if you are not adding value to his life, he will walk away someday.
I'm pleading with our parents, especially Mothers not to raise their daughters in a way that they will be liabilities to their men/spouses. Make your daughter a shepherd before her Jacob arrives. Give her a source of livelihood before marriage. If you want her husband to respect her, give her quality education and a hopeful future. Don't train her merely because of the bride price you want to collect on her head. Laban wasted the bride price he took for his daughter. But he lived on the flock kept by his daughter even after she was married out.