Beloved Leah

This book was simply amazing! The way Cynthia writes it's hard to put her books down!

I am a pastor's wife and when I first started reading Beloved Leah I thought "oh my, this may be a little too steamy for me" but that was only the first few pages. I highly recommend this book. After reading the Bible through many times, many Bible studies, 43 years of Sunday School, and thousands of sermons... I had to keep getting my Bible out to find out if Cynthia Davis was adding to the scriptural account ~ she wasn't. Leah will never be the same to me. Her life (only after reading this book) says to me that God has a plan for every life. Even when you feel like your life is a mess, when you feel rejected, when you feel things are unfair, when you feel unloved... God has a plan! Leah was the mother of Judah, of the lineage of Christ ~ Jacob may not have chosen her first but God did. Jacob did choose her last though. I was amazed that I had never noticed before "Beloved Leah" that Jacob chose her in the end (I won't tell you how... I don't want to spoil the book for you). I LOVED IT!

Leah was not the "pretty" one, but Jacob confided in her and she bore his children. Leah was a strong woman in inner strength and in her love for Jacob. This account written in novel form is eye opening not only to the complexities in sharing a husband, but also in the life a woman lived years ago. You end the book feeling thankful that you have modern opportunities, yet sad that the book couldn't continue forever. It is written to capture your attention and that, it does. I would have never read The Red Tent if it hadn't been for the superior writing in this book. It created an interest for learning about the women of the Bible and the lives they led. Our ancestors held much womanly wisdom in dealing with our husbands, children but most importantly other women. We tend to view other women as competition now. Back then, women held a sisterly bond for one another. This book is excellent. Be prepared to have your mind expanded and your interest sparked.

This is the story of Leah, who was married to Jacob(who was in love with Rachel, Leah's Sister) a trick set up by her father. This story tells of Leah's dealing with the situation as being the unloved wife (by her sister) and her faith in the Lord, showing her strength to help her family in the hard times.

To expand a few chapters in the Book of Genesis into a novel about Leah, the first wife of Jacob, would not be easy, but Cynthia Davis does so in a way that breathes human emotions into the many characters of the story. The account is well-known to Old Testament readers: Jacob, son of Isaac, arrives in Haran to visit kin. He is smitten with Rachel, the youngest daughter of Laban, yet Leah, the eldest, must be married first. Unfortunately for her, "Leah was dull-eyed, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful." In return for marrying Rachel, Jacob agrees to work seven years for Laban, but on the wedding night the wiley father subsitutes Leah. Another seven years to get Rachel! Told mostly from Leah's point of view, Davis is adept at showing the strains and jealousies in the growing nomadic household: seven children are born to Leah, two to Rachel and four others to the women's two slaves. Description and dialogue fill in the starkness of the Genesis account, which takes us through to the reunion with Joseph in Egypt and Jacob's final realization of the dying Leah's devotion. "You are my faithful Leah...the strength of my family." Albert Noyer/The Getorius and Arcadia Mysteries

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to bring the bible to life. I loved this book so much that I could not put it down. It really makes you think how lucky you really are and how lucky we are as women today to have choices!! I learned a lot from this book not only about patience and endurance, but also the meaning to love and to be a mother. I recommend this book to women of all ages!