And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
When the Lord saw ... This statement is of great importance in the progressive development of the covenant. It is not to be considered as made by the sacred historian merely in the style of Scripture, which ascribes all ordinary events to the agency of God; but purposely to show that in the third, as in the earlier stages, the Israelite nation originated not from nature but from grace.
Leah was hated - i:e., not loved so much as she ought to have been. Her becoming a mother ensured her rising in the estimation both of her husband and of society.