Rachel, Leah, and Matt. 2:18

Maybe in the past my eyes just glassed over at all the child bearing of Jacob’s wives and their servants, but I was struck today by the fact that although Rachel’s name springs more readily to mind, it was Leah who was the mother of Judah and Levi, so she was the ancestor of Jesus and of Mose, Aaron, and the Levitical priests. Realizing this made we wonder about the verse quoted in the account of Herod’s slaughter of the children around Bethlehem. Why was Rachel mentioned rather than Leah? The verse Matthew quoted, Jer. 31:15, refers to the exile, but the application to the Christmas story seems to be a matter of Rachel having been buried in the general vicinity of Bethlehem (though apparently on the other side of Jerusalem).


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