Desperate Housewives

After witnessing these two incidents first-hand, I turned to the best resource life has to offer, the Bible, to look for answers and for stories centering around this topic. Women like Eve and Delilah were known for convincing their partners to do things that were in the woman’s best interest. Women like Leah, Rachel, Sarah, Hagar, Hannah and Peninnah were part of love triangles and were in constant competition with their husbands’ other spouse. Not only do I think we could categorize these women as desperate housewives, but looking at these examples, I think we can learn from these women as well.

In the story of Leah and Rachel, there’s one lesson that is clearly apparent – you can’t make someone love you. In the 29th chapter of Genesis, the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah unfolds. Genesis 29:16‑20 recounts part of the story: “16Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful and lovely. 18 Jacob loved Rachel; and he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." 19 Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me." 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Through deception on the part of Laban, Jacob ends up marrying Leah instead of Rachel. As the story unfolds, he does eventually marry her as well. What I find interesting is that although Leah ends up having many children by Jacob and Rachel only two, Jacob’s heart still stayed with Rachel.

Another thing I’ve learned from these examples is that scheming eventually doesn’t work; it just delays the inevitable. Reading the story of Peninnah shows us this; she was in a similar situation as Leah. Her narrative is recounted in the 1st Chapter of I Samuel. She longed for the affection of her husband Elkanah, but his heart was with his other wife Hannah, who was initially barren. Peninnah waved her fertility in Hannah’s face and did all sorts of things to make Hannah miserable, but that never changed the fact that Elkanah loved Hannah. As a matter of fact, once Hannah’s focus changed and she talked to God about her troubles, the Lord honored her request and she became a mother.