Cornelius a Lapide

Genesis XXIX


Table of Contents


Synopsis of the Chapter

Jacob arrives in Haran to Laban. Second, verse 18, he serves him 14 years for Rachel and Leah. Third, verse 32, Leah bears Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.


Vulgate Text: Genesis 29:1-35

1. Setting out therefore, Jacob came into the land of the East. 2. And he saw a well in a field, and three flocks of sheep lying beside it: for from it the flocks were watered, and its mouth was closed with a great stone. 3. And the custom was that when all the sheep were gathered together, they would roll away the stone, and when the flocks had been watered, they would place it again over the mouth of the well. 4. And he said to the shepherds: Brothers, where are you from? They answered: From Haran. 5. Questioning them further he said: Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? They said: We know him. 6. Is he well? he asked. He is well, they said: and behold Rachel his daughter comes with her flock. 7. And Jacob said: There is still much daylight remaining, nor is it time for the flocks to be led back to the folds: give the sheep water first, and then lead them back to pasture. 8. They answered: We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together, and we remove the stone from the mouth of the well, to water the flocks. 9. They were still speaking, and behold Rachel came with the sheep of her father: for she herself pastured the flock. 10. When Jacob saw her, and knew she was his cousin, and the sheep of Laban his uncle: he removed the stone by which the well was closed. 11. And when the flock was watered, he kissed her: and lifting up his voice, he wept, 12. and told her that he was a brother of her father, and the son of Rebecca; and she hurrying, told her father. 13. Who when he heard that Jacob, the son of his sister, had come, ran to meet him: and embracing him, and rushing into kisses, led him into his house. And when he heard the reasons for his journey, 14. he answered: You are my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were completed, 15. he said to him: Because you are my brother, shall you serve me for nothing? Tell me what wages you would receive. 16. Now he had two daughters, the name of the elder was Leah: and the younger was called Rachel. 17. But Leah had weak eyes. Rachel was beautiful of face and of lovely appearance. 18. Loving her, Jacob said: I will serve you for Rachel your younger daughter, for seven years. 19. Laban answered: It is better that I give her to you than to another man; stay with me. 20. So Jacob served for Rachel seven years; and they seemed to him but a few days because of the greatness of his love. 21. And he said to Laban: Give me my wife, for the time is now fulfilled, that I may go in to her. 22. He, having invited a great crowd of friends to the feast, made a wedding. 23. And in the evening he brought in Leah his daughter to him, 24. giving a handmaid to his daughter, named Zelpha. And when Jacob had gone in to her according to custom, in the morning he saw Leah: 25. and he said to his father-in-law: What is it that you meant to do? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me? 26. Laban answered: It is not the custom in our place to give the younger in marriage before the elder. 27. Complete the week of days of this union: and I will give you this one also for the service with which you shall serve me for another seven years. 28. He agreed to the terms: and when the week was over, he took Rachel as wife, 29. to whom her father had given Bilhah as a servant. 30. And having at last obtained the desired marriage, he preferred the love of the latter to the former, serving with him for another seven years. 31. And the Lord, seeing that he despised Leah, opened her womb, while her sister remained barren. 32. She conceived and bore a son, and called his name Reuben, saying: The Lord has seen my humiliation, now my husband will love me. 33. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said: Because the Lord heard that I was held in contempt, He gave me this one also, and she called his name Simeon. 34. And she conceived a third time, and bore another son; and said: Now also my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons: and therefore she called his name Levi. 35. She conceived a fourth time, and bore a son, and said: Now I will praise the Lord, and for this reason she called him Judah, and she ceased bearing.


Verse 1: Setting Out Therefore

1. SETTING OUT THEREFORE. -- In Hebrew, he lifted up his feet, as if to say: Jacob, strengthened by the vision of God leaning upon the ladder, and by his vow, aroused and eager, journeyed to Haran, not doubting that God, according to His promises, would be his guide on the way, and likewise would bring him back.

Josephus here and elsewhere occasionally narrates the sacred history not faithfully enough; for he says Jacob had many companions on the journey, whereas Jacob himself asserts that he made this journey relying not on companions, but on his one staff alone, Genesis 32:10.

INTO THE LAND OF THE EAST -- into Mesopotamia, which lies to the east of Palestine.


Verse 3: It Was the Custom

3. IT WAS THE CUSTOM. -- The reason for closing this well was the scarcity of water in those places, says Abulensis, and so that no one would contaminate or dirty the water; therefore the shepherds, coming together to it with their flocks, would remove the great stone by which it was closed, and thus would water their flocks together, and then rolling the stone back, would stop up the mouth of the well with it.


Verse 4: Brothers

4. BROTHERS -- that is, companions, friends: as a shepherd addresses fellow shepherds.


Verse 5: The Son of Nahor

5. THE SON OF NAHOR -- the grandson of Nahor; for Laban was the son of Bethuel, the son of Nahor. Nahor is therefore named here because he was the head and patriarch of the family. Whence also Haran is called the city of Nahor, chapter 24, verse 10.


Verse 9: Behold Rachel

9. BEHOLD RACHEL. -- Note the modesty and simplicity of that ancient age: behold Rachel, a beautiful, wealthy, and marriageable girl, moves among the shepherds without danger to her chastity and without sinister suspicion, and pastures sheep (for Rachel in Hebrew means sheep).


Verse 10: He Removed the Stone

10. AND HE KNEW -- from the words of the shepherds, verse 6. HE REMOVED THE STONE. -- What many shepherds together could not do, Jacob alone accomplished; whence it appears that he was of enormous natural strength, which he had increased through continual temperance and chastity. Jacob did this out of love for Rachel, his cousin and future wife.


Verse 11: He Kissed Her

11. HE KISSED HER. -- This was a kiss of friendship, by which brothers and relatives departing or returning are accustomed to kiss one another, and to greet or bid farewell with a kiss. So St. Augustine, Question 87.

HE WEPT -- as relatives are accustomed to weep from joy when they meet relatives whom they tenderly love and whom they have not seen for a long time.

The Hebrews and Lyranus think Jacob wept because he had no gold and silver to offer to Rachel: for, they say, Eliphaz the son of Esau, who was hostile to Jacob on account of the birthright snatched from his father, had robbed Jacob of these, having pursued and caught him on the journey. But these are Jewish fables.


Verse 12: A Brother of Her Father

12. THAT HE WAS A BROTHER OF HER FATHER. -- "Brother," that is, nephew; for Jacob was the son of Rebecca, who was the sister of Laban, who was the father of Rachel. Laban therefore was the uncle of Jacob, and consequently Jacob was the nephew of Laban through his sister: Rachel and Jacob were cousins.

AND WHEN HE HEARD THE REASONS FOR HIS JOURNEY. -- The Hebrew has, and Jacob told Laban all these words, namely, how he himself fleeing from his brother Esau, was sent by his parents to Laban, that he might seek a wife from there, and how he came upon Rachel at the well.


Verse 14: You Are My Bone and My Flesh

14. YOU ARE MY BONE AND MY FLESH -- you are my nephew and blood relative. See chapter 2, verse 23. Since you have fled to me, as to your uncle, both for protection and for the sake of marriage, I can refuse nothing to you as my nephew: put aside your fear, O nephew! Stay with me, so that you may be safe, and choose a wife from my family; my house shall be your house. Some think that Laban by this phrase was referring to what most ancient philosophers taught, namely that bones are generated from the male seed in the embryo, while from the maternal reproductive material surrounding the male, the flesh itself is formed.

AFTER THEY WERE COMPLETED -- after the passing of a month, during which Jacob had served Laban without pay: for Jacob did not wish to live idle in the house of his uncle, and to eat bread without working; and so he immediately applied himself to domestic tasks and the care of the sheep. Whence Laban soon placed him in charge of all the sheep, says Josephus.


Verse 15: Brother

15. BROTHER -- that is, relative.


Verse 17: Leah Had Weak Eyes

17. SHE HAD WEAK EYES. -- In Hebrew it is, the eyes of Leah were raccot, that is, tender, weak, and infirm, as the Septuagint translates. Therefore the Chaldean wrongly interprets tender as elegant, as if Leah were beautiful and elegant only in her eyes, while Rachel was so in her whole face.

Second, others add an aleph, and instead of raccot, read aruchot, that is, long, as if Leah had long, and therefore misshapen, eyes; but these alter and corrupt the text by adding a letter.

Third, others think Leah suffered from blearedness properly so called: for this is what our Interpreter seems to mean. Fourth and best, the weakness of Leah's eyes seems to have been merely a softness, tenderness, and delicacy of the eyes, by which they cannot be fixed long upon any object, but are restless and prone to tears, so that the pupils seem to swim, as it were, in their sockets; for this is what the Hebrew raccot signifies.

Tropologically, St. Gregory, Part 1 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 11: The bleary-eyed, he says, is one whose eye, that is, the sharpness of his intellect, is obscured by moisture, that is, by earthly affections and works.

Note that, although in seeking a wife, virtue and character should be considered first, nevertheless beauty can secondarily be considered in a wife, both so that conjugal love as well as desire may rest in her and not stray to others; and so that from a beautiful wife, more vigorous and more beautiful offspring may be produced. So Abulensis. And this is what St. Thomas means when he teaches that it is not lawful to marry a wife solely for the sake of beauty, namely that beauty alone should call you from celibacy to marriage; but yet, given that you wish to marry, it is lawful to choose a beautiful one over an ugly one, and this for a more pleasant life together and a more constant love.


Verse 18: I Will Serve You

18. I WILL SERVE YOU. -- Note: Jacob by this service, so long and hard, purchased for himself, according to the ancient custom, both Leah and Rachel as his wives. For it was the custom among the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews that men would buy a wife for themselves by giving a price. Thus David purchased Michal with a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, 1 Samuel 18:25, and 2 Samuel 3:14. I shall say more about this purchasing of wives at Exodus 4:25.


Verse 20: The Days Seemed But Few

20. THE DAYS SEEMED TO HIM BUT FEW BECAUSE OF THE GREATNESS OF HIS LOVE. -- You will say: Love is impatient of delay, and considers a few days to be very many.

I respond that this is true effectively, not appreciatively: for as regards the affection and desire of possessing Rachel, the days of service seemed to Jacob to be very many; but appreciatively, that is, for so beautiful a prize, the price of this service seemed to him small, and the days of such long labor seemed to be few and slight, that is, his labor seemed to him small compared with so great a reward. The days therefore are put here for the labor of those days, by metonymy. So St. Jerome and St. Augustine.


Verse 22: He Made a Wedding

22. HE MADE A WEDDING -- a wedding feast. For this is the Hebrew mishte. From that time therefore, feasts were celebrated at weddings, but by the pious with the fear of God, as is clear from Tobit, chapter 9. Athenaeus gives the reason, book 5: by customs and laws it is established that a banquet be held at weddings, both so that we may honor the nuptial gods, and so that it may serve as a testimony to the guests that the married couple are pleased with their marriage; but these feasts gradually grew into great luxury and abuse, as St. Chrysostom shows here at length.


Verse 23: In the Evening

23. AND IN THE EVENING. -- For when virgins married, for the sake of modesty, they would enter the husband's chamber in darkness, and among the Spartans Lycurgus established this by enacted law, as Plutarch attests.


Verse 24: In the Morning He Saw Leah

24. IN THE MORNING HE SAW LEAH. -- Leah sinned by obeying her parent; for she consented to fornication, indeed adultery and incest: for she knew that Jacob was not her husband, but the husband of her sister Rachel. Yet Laban sinned more gravely, who induced her to the deed by his authority and counsel. Jacob is excused by his ignorance, by which in good faith he thought it was Rachel, not Leah.


Symbolic: Rachel and Leah as Contemplation and Action

Symbolically, Richard of St. Victor, in his book On the Twelve Patriarchs, explains these things thus: But how Leah is substituted while Rachel is hoped for, those easily recognize who have learned how often this happens, not so much by hearing as by experiencing. For what else do we call Sacred Scripture but the chamber of Rachel: in which we do not doubt that divine wisdom lies hidden under a fitting veil of allegories? In such a chamber Rachel is sought as often as spiritual understanding is pursued in sacred reading. But as long as we are not yet sufficient to penetrate sublime things, we have not yet found the Rachel long desired and diligently sought: we begin therefore to groan, to sigh, not only to lament but also to blush at our blindness; and then let us not doubt that in the chamber of Rachel we have found not her, but Leah. For just as it belongs to Rachel to understand, to meditate, to contemplate: so surely it belongs to Leah to weep, to groan, to sigh.


Verse 27: Complete the Week

27. COMPLETE THE WEEK OF DAYS OF THIS UNION -- during which you are joined to Leah in matrimony and marital affection: for the first union was adulterous, not marital. Laban therefore wanted Jacob, having discovered the error, to take Leah, whom he had known, as his wife; and Jacob did this to protect the modesty and honor of Leah.

The sense therefore is, as if Laban said: Let the seven festive days of this Leah pass, O Jacob, during which her wedding is celebrated according to custom: when these are completed, I will also give you Rachel, on this condition however, that you serve me another seven years for her: for it would be shameful and disgraceful to Leah if within the days of her wedding, you were to bring in her sister as a wife. From this it appears that the wedding feast and banquet at that time was customarily celebrated for seven days, as now it is for three. The same is indicated in Judges 14:12.


Verse 28: He Took Rachel as Wife

28. WHEN THE WEEK HAD PASSED, HE TOOK RACHEL AS HIS WIFE. -- Therefore Josephus errs when he asserts that Jacob married Rachel after the second seven years of service, that is, after fourteen years from Jacob's flight and arrival in Haran, during which he served Laban; for from this passage and what follows it is clear that Jacob married Rachel after the completion of seven days from the marriage to Leah, and afterwards served another seven years for her. The same is clear from the rivalry of the barren Rachel with the fertile and child-bearing Leah, verse 31. So St. Jerome, Augustine, Alcuin, and others.


Tropological: Rachel and Leah as the Contemplative and Active Lives

Tropologically, Rachel and Leah as sisters signify the twofold life, namely the contemplative and the active. First, Leah must be married, that is, the laborious one (for this is what Leah means in Hebrew) and the bleary-eyed: because attentive to earthly things and anxious and variously distracted, the active life; then Rachel, that is, the sheep, namely the quiet of contemplation, which, being beautiful, we ought to pursue with as much love as Jacob loved Rachel. See St. Gregory, book 6 of the Moralia, chapter 28, and St. Augustine, book 22 Against Faustus, chapter 52.

And St. Bernard, in the book On the Way of Living Well, addressed to his sister, chapter 53: The active life, he says, serves God in the labors of this world, by feeding the poor, receiving them, clothing them, visiting them, consoling them, burying them, and bestowing on them the other works of mercy. And yet Leah is fruitful in children, because there are many who are active, and few who are contemplative. Rachel indeed is interpreted as sheep, or seeing the beginning (so that Rachel is said to be as it were raa chel, that is, she saw the beginning), because contemplatives are simple and innocent like sheep, and alien from all the tumult of the world, so that adhering to divine contemplation alone, they may see Him who says: I am the beginning, who also speaks to you.

And shortly before: So that it is no longer pleasing to do anything, but having despised all the cares of the world, the soul burns to see the face of its Creator: so that it now knows how to bear with sorrow the weight of corruptible flesh, and with all its desires wishes to be present among the hymn-singing choirs of angels, longs to mingle with the heavenly citizens, to rejoice in eternal incorruption in the sight of God.

And further on: Just as the active life is the tomb of the worldly life, so the contemplative life is the monument of the active life. For those ascending to it are buried in the quiet of contemplation. This Mary Magdalene chose, to whom accordingly it was said by Christ: Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken from her. Therefore as one dead, separate yourself from the love of the present life, as though buried in a tomb, have no care for the world.

And St. Thomas, II-II, Question 182, article 1, teaches that Rachel excels Leah, that is, contemplation excels action, and proves this with eight reasons. The first is, because the contemplative life befits man according to that which is best in him, that is, according to the intellect, and with respect to its proper intelligible objects. Second, because it can be more continuous than the active life. Third, because it brings more holy delight. For, as St. Augustine says, Sermon 26 On the Words of the Lord: Martha was troubled, Mary was feasting. Fourth, because in the contemplative life man is more self-sufficient, since he needs fewer things. Fifth, because the contemplative life is loved for its own sake, while the active is ordered to something else. Sixth, because it consists in rest. Seventh, because the contemplative life is occupied with divine things, the active with human things. Eighth, because it is according to that which is more proper to man, namely according to the intellect.

It is therefore better to embrace the contemplative life, while obedience and charity permit, than to pursue the active life. This is what St. Augustine taught, book 19 of the City of God, chapter 19: Holy leisure, he says, is sought by the love of truth: just occupation is undertaken by the necessity of charity; but if no one imposes this burden, one should be free for perceiving and contemplating the truth. Happy the house, says St. Bernard, Sermon 3 On the Assumption, and ever blessed the congregation, where Martha complains about Mary, that is, where the contemplation of divine things so prevails and dominates that the external activity, as it were, complains about it. Unhappy is the congregation in which Mary complains about Martha: because no time is given to Mary, that is, to contemplation, and everything is spent on external affairs.

Symbolically, Richard of St. Victor, book 2 of On the Twelve Patriarchs, which is titled Benjamin Minor: Rachel, he says, is the pursuit of wisdom, Leah the desire for justice; but we know that Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the greatness of his love. Why do you wonder? According to the greatness of her beauty was the greatness of his love. For what is possessed more sweetly, loved more ardently, than wisdom? Her beauty surpasses all comeliness, her sweetness exceeds all delight. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and compared with the light of every arrangement of the stars, she is found to be prior. Hence we must ask why all so greatly abhor marriage with Leah, who sigh only for the embrace of Rachel. Perfect justice commands us to love our enemies, to leave behind parents and all our possessions, to bear patiently wrongs inflicted, to decline everywhere the glory offered. But what is considered more foolish, more laborious by the lovers of this world? Hence it is that from them Leah is considered bleary-eyed and thought laborious.

Second, the same author further on explains these two wives of Jacob symbolically in another way: To every rational spirit, he says, that is, to Jacob, a twofold power has been given: one is reason, the other is affection: reason by which we discern, affection by which we love. These are the twin wives of the rational spirit, from whom noble offspring are born. From reason come spiritual insights; from the other, rightly ordered affections. It should therefore be known that affection truly begins to be Leah when it strives to compose itself according to the norm of justice; and reason is without doubt declared to be Rachel when it is illuminated by the light of true wisdom. But who does not know how laborious the one is, and how pleasant the other? Certainly not without great effort is the affection of the soul restrained from unlawful things to lawful ones, and rightly is such a wife called Leah, that is, laborious. But what is more pleasant than to raise the eye of the mind to the contemplation of the highest wisdom? When reason is expanded for contemplating this, it is deservedly honored with the name of Rachel; for Rachel is interpreted as seeing the beginning.

In a similar way our Pineda, book 1 on Solomon, chapter 4: Jacob and Rachel, he says, are symbols of the wise man and of wisdom; hence just as Jacob loved Rachel, so Solomon loved wisdom: which he beautifully demonstrates and develops through nineteen parallels.


Verse 31: He Despised Leah

31. THAT HE DESPISED LEAH. -- The Hebrew, Chaldean, and Greek have, that he hated Leah, that is, that he loved Leah less than Rachel, so that Jacob seemed to hate Leah compared to Rachel. This hatred therefore was not positive, but negative, that is, a deficiency of love, arising from the fact that Leah was bleary-eyed and homely, and that she had substituted herself for Rachel by fraud. Similar Hebraisms and hyperboles are found in Matthew 10:37; John 12:25, and elsewhere.

HE OPENED HER WOMB -- He made her fruitful by giving her offspring: conversely, to close or shut the womb is to make barren.

Note here how God distributes His gifts, so that He gives some things to all, but all things to none. Thus to Rachel He gave beauty, but not fertility: to Leah He denied beauty, but gave what is greater, namely fertility, and that from her line, namely from Judah, Christ was born. Again, note here that fertility is a special gift of God.


Verse 32: Reuben

32. REUBEN. -- In Hebrew reuben, that is, see a son, whom namely God gave me, looking upon me with the eyes of His mercy, when I was despised by my husband. For this is what Leah adds: The Lord has seen my humiliation, in Hebrew onii, that is, my abasement and affliction. To this the Blessed Virgin referred when she sang: He has regarded the humility (tapeinosin, that is, the lowliness, insignificance, abasement) of His handmaid; because He gave me a son, not Reuben, but Jesus Christ. She does not therefore proclaim the virtue of her humility: for that would have been pride; but she acknowledges and confesses her own lowliness: which was in fact an act of humility, which God loves, regards, and exalts.

Whence: "The devil hates nothing more than one who is humble and loves God," says St. Antony, as recorded by Athanasius. The same saint in a vision saw the world full of the snares of demons, and asked: "Who will escape them, Lord?" The Lord answered: "Humility."

Let mothers note and imitate the piety and gratitude of Leah, who established a perpetual memorial of the benefit given to her by God, namely her offspring, in the name of the offspring itself, so that as often as she saw and named her child, she would remember and give thanks for the divine beneficence toward her; and the child itself, having reached the age of reason, would do the same. Thus Hannah offered and dedicated her Samuel to God, and called him Samuel, that is, asked for and obtained from God, 1 Samuel 1:26. Thus the Blessed Virgin offered her Son, and called Him Jesus. Thus the mother of St. Bernard offered him when newly born, and placed him on the altar of the church. The same St. Elizabeth, daughter of the King of Hungary, was accustomed to do with each of her children when newly born: whence they all turned out to be pious and holy, as her Life relates. Thus the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Dominic, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernardine, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Elzear the Count, St. Francis of Paola, and others, offered to God at their very birth by their parents, were illustrious for their sanctity and miracles.


Verse 33: Simeon

33. TO BE HELD IN CONTEMPT. -- The Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint have, that I am hated, that is, less loved, as I said at verse 31.

SIMEON. -- "Simeon" means the same as hearing, or hearkening, from the root shama, that is, he heard, he hearkened, namely God heard my affliction and my prayer.


Verse 34: Levi

34. LEVI. -- He is the ancestor of all the Levites. Note, "Levi" means the same as joining, cohesion, addition, attachment, as if to say: I have now added by bearing three sons for my husband; therefore henceforth he will be joined and attached to me with greater love.


Verse 35: Judah

35. JUDAH. -- "Judah" in Hebrew means the same as confession, or praise.


Chronology of Jacob's Years

Note here the sequence of the years of Jacob: Jacob, fleeing from Esau, came to Laban in Haran in the 77th year of his age, as I said at chapter 27; at the beginning, after the seven years during which he served Laban, he marries Leah and Rachel, namely in the 84th year of his age; then soon from the fertile Leah, in the first year after the marriage, as it seems, namely in the 85th year of Jacob's life, Reuben is born to him, then Simeon in the year 86, soon Levi in the year 87, and finally Judah in the year 88. Here observe the remarkable example of chastity in Jacob, who lived celibate until the 84th year of his age, and only then first took a wife.


Allegorical: The Twelve Patriarchs as the Twelve Apostles

Allegorically, the twelve Patriarchs were figures of the twelve Apostles. Second, Jacob had many sons, but not from one wife; so also Christ had many sons, but not from one people or region. Third, Jacob has wives, both free women and handmaids, from whom he receives sons; so also Christ has true shepherds and hirelings: and He tolerates them, so that they may bear children for Him. Fourth, the wives of Jacob competed with one another over who would bear more sons to Jacob: so likewise pastors eagerly strive to bear children for Christ. Fifth, Bilhah and Zilpah bear sons to Jacob, but they themselves remain handmaids: so mercenaries preach good things to others, but they themselves remain mercenaries, and are often wicked. Sixth, Jacob admitted to his inheritance even those born from the handmaids: and Christ receives all who are converted to Him, whatever kind of life preceded, John 6: Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me: and him who comes to Me, I will not cast out. And Matthew 8: Many will come from the East, etc., and will recline with Abraham, etc. Seventh, Jacob had two wives, one beautiful, the other plain: and Christ's bride is internally indeed beautiful like Rachel, on account of the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit, but externally she is plain, on account of the cross and adversities. Eighth, Leah's plainness did not harm her, but she was all the more fruitful because of it: so adversity benefits the Church, and she bears the most fruit precisely when she is most oppressed.