Boys, boys, boys! That’s all we’ve been hearing about. But now—imagine—a girl with 10 older brothers!
Did I say at the end of the last episode that Leah conceived again? Well, she conceived again, and again, and again! First Issachar, then Zebulun, her sixth son for Jacob. Then one more: “Afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah” (Gen 30:21). How often do we find daughters mentioned in the Old Testament? Job’s daughters are mentioned, proving his double blessing. But it is not often that girls are listed in Hebrew genealogies, since the system was patrilineal. God’s intention was to establish twelve tribes, each with their own territory. If a woman were to inherit a piece of land, then if she married outside of her tribe, her son, recorded in his father’s tribe, would inherit land in the territory of another tribe. Soon it would be a disordered patchwork of land claims, and God didn’t want that. We will later meet the daughters of Zelophehad whose requests regarding their father’s inheritance laid out the precedent cases establishing the occasions when Hebrew daughters could inherit land (which we discover is vital in the days of Mary, Jesus’ mother). Sadly, the daughters are too often mentioned when taken advantage of by men. Such was the case with David taking advantage of Bathsheba, Eliam’s daughter, and then his own daughter, Tamar, being forced by her half-brother, Amnon. Such will also be the case with Dinah (Gen 34). Of course, that isn’t the whole story. Soon after, Rachel herself bears a son named Joseph (meaning “adding”) and what an addition he proved to be! But his story is the other side, although not nearly as often the case. A woman will try to force him into her bed, then accuse him of rape when he refuses, sending him to prison for years. Oh, how we all need a Savior!