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The Bible doesn't give us much to work with when it comes to the life of Leah, first wife of Jacob, but there are definitely tidbits to be gleaned. As one of the most relatable women in the Bible, I think it's important we look at her story and try to understand it from all angles.
Many people assume Leah was ugly because when she is introduced, she is contrasted to her sister's beauty.
Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.
There are actually several reasons the author could have made this contrast, some of which don't end with Leah being "ugly." In fact, it might not even be a contrast! Below are some thoughts and research on this particular verse.
Have you ever been in an interview where they ask you to describe yourself? Or better yet, they ask you how your friends would describe you? Think of someone you know well; what is the first word that pops in to your head to describe them? Now, thinking more broadly, if you did this exercise for everyone you know, how many times would beautiful be the first word that came to mind? Just because that isn't the descriptor that first comes to mind doesn't mean the person is ugly; it simply means other adjectives are more prominent. Even for someone as high profile as Beyoncé, this first thought that pops in to my head is not beautiful (it's along the lines of her dedication to putting on a high quality show). What we can say for a fact is that the most distinguishing feature for Rachel was beauty, but something else shined brighter for Leah.
Speaking of Beyoncé, can you imagine being Solange? I could definitely see someone penning a sentence like "Beyonce was beautiful, but Solange was deep." Both women are beautiful and perhaps both women are deep, but Solange is known more for her sound than her looks. Most people are average looking (that's the definition of average after all). Each of us would be the Solange to Beyoncé, but that doesn't mean we're ugly. Fortunately, most of us aren't surrounded by models, which means it's not as obvious how average we are.
Granted, a lot of speculation hinges on just what Leah's descriptor means. There's no ambiguity in the description of Rachel as beautiful, but what does it mean to be "tender eyed" (KJV)? Some translations render this as "weak eyes" (NIV, NASB). One translation actually says "Leah had lovely eyes" (Good News Translation). So what does that actually mean?
Weak eyes sounds like someone with vision trouble to me. Someone in my Sabbath school kept saying she had a lazy eye (I'm not sure where the person deciphered that). Tender eyed makes me think of someone who is gentle and meek being contrasted with someone who is more "in your face." Of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't suggest we go straight to the source!
The Hebrew text uses two words to describe Leah: רַךְ and עַיִן.
רַךְ can mean anything from tender to fainthearted. The official definition says that it means tender or soft, which by implication means weak.[1] Note that this isn't weak in the sense of failing, but weak in the sense of gentle. The same word is used in Deuteronomy 28:56 to describe dainty women and in 2 Samuel 3:39 to describe David as vulnerable. Another example is in Proverbs 15:1: the word rendered "soft" is the same in Hebrew.
The second word (עַיִן) is usually translated as "eye" but it is also translated as face, color, or presence in some places—sometimes it's even translated as fountain or well The phrase could mean anything from she had a soft presence to she had poor sight (or a lazy eye).
What's more is that using Hebrew grammar and the use of the letter "waw" to join the clauses, an argument can be made to translate the verse to use the disjunctive "but" or the connective "and." Given the latter, the text would read, "Lead was tender eyed and Rachel was beautiful."[3] Combining that with the ambiguity of the original text, it could actually read "Leah was of soft presence and Rachel was beautiful." We really don't know...
There are several theories about what this phrase actually means, and some of them include a belief that Leah was also beautiful.[4]
One of the biggest mysteries in the Bible (in my opinion) is how Leah ended up married to Jacob in the first place. There are so many questions: