And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
Rachel had Jacob's love but no children, and her sister's family kept growing. Her demand to Jacob opens a chapter of family rivalry and raises a hard question: what does a believer do when God holds back the one thing the heart wants most?
The verse names Rachel's envy before it reports her words. One writer traces what that envy did to her.
It is easy to see, and sad to see, why Rachel looked at her own childlessness and her sister's many children with bitterness. Self was at work. It blinded her to one thing: her sister did not have Jacob's heart, and she alone held it. It was envy — that low feeling which cannot bear another person, even a sister, having what it lacks. And it broke out in unreasonable and irreverent complaining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault.
Her words are passionate, but God is nowhere in them. One writer weighs that silence against how her story ended.
Her passionate cry for children shows no recognition at all of the will of God (Gen. 30:1). It does not compare well with Hannah's submissive spirit and humble prayer to the Lord. And it prepares us for the despair that overwhelmed her later. The thing she dreamed would be a spring of happiness turned out to be a bitter and deadly drink of sorrow.
One writer fills in the picture of Hannah.
How different Hannah was! She was sorrowful under Peninnah's taunts, and under the high priest's wrong judgment of her too. She did not break out into unfitting complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made a vow to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
Readers may wonder why a squabble between two sisters is in the Bible at all. One writer answers that Scripture shows people as they really are.
Revelation about God, and from God, is the essential difference between Scripture and all other writings. Yet there is much more in it of the greatest value. We have man as he is, as nowhere else. Scripture tells us the truth so that we may know ourselves as well as God. So it matters, and it is deeply interesting, that God gives inspired light on what the proud selfishness of man's mind tends to despise as mere domestic squabbles.
Another writer sees the whole chapter as a fall from the fathers before Jacob, and watches how Rachel speaks of God.
How terribly everything has fallen, in moral terms, from Abraham's time, and even Isaac's. This is not barrenness of the flesh with God stepping in, in promise and power. Instead — oh, what a scene of selfishness, jealousy, and scheming! Only one patch of green is in it — Rachel, the barren one, is heard. Even in her special circumstances Rachel has no thought of Jehovah's ways here. It is "God has judged me," and so it goes on all through, until grace softens her heart. Then she says, in faith, "Jehovah will add."
One writer turns Rachel's demand into a warning for every Christian who sees no results.
We may see a serious lesson in Rachel's words, "Give me children, or I shall die!" If we do not see clear fruit, we have a tendency to give up. The exercise of soul that desires true godliness may in effect die. Many Christians have their proper growth stunted by this very thing.
The same writer looks at Jacob's angry reply in the next verse.
On the other hand, Jacob's anger does not help the situation. If Christ is not the Object of our lives, our efforts to make ourselves more spiritual will always bring in the principles of jealousy, anger and discouragement. These work against the very result we seek.
The story does not end with the demand. One writer follows Rachel to the point where God answered her.
Rachel at last becomes a refreshment to the heart, through the thoughtful tenderness of God's ways. She was humbled for a long time because of her unworthy self-seeking. Then God was pleased to pity her and give her the son she had wanted so much. Then she said, God has taken away my reproach. Despite her proud bearing, she knew she had been under God's discipline. The name she gave her firstborn is striking, for Joseph means He will add.
- Envy blinds. Rachel could not see that she alone held Jacob's heart, because her eyes stayed on what her sister had.
- Envy misfires. Her complaint landed on her husband, as though her barrenness were his doing.
- Envy substitutes. She demanded from Jacob what Hannah asked from God, and Jacob's anger only added to the damage.
- Envy stunts. When no fruit shows, the desire for godliness can die, and many Christians stay stunted because of it.
- Grace outlasts envy. God pitied the woman who had demanded, took away her reproach, and gave her Joseph — a name meaning "He will add."
And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God's stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
Rachel has her husband's love, but her sister has the children. Her demand to Jacob turns a private grief into a charge against him. His sharp reply puts the question back where it belongs: God closed her womb, not her husband.
Commentators trace Rachel's outburst to the sight of what Leah had.
One understands too well, too sadly, why Rachel should look at her own childlessness and her sister's many children with bitterness. Self worked in her and blinded her to what her sister lacked: Jacob's heart, which she alone had. It was envy, that low feeling which cannot bear another person — even a sister — having what she does not have. It broke out in unreasonable and irreverent complaining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault. No wonder his anger resented her unworthy state in his reply: "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"
Jacob's reply was true, but his anger helped nothing.
On the other hand, Jacob's anger does not help the situation. If Christ is not the Object of our lives, our efforts to make ourselves more spiritual will always involve jealousy, anger and discouragement. These work against the very result we want.
Jacob names God as the One who closed her womb. From this verse on, the story uses a different name for God. One writer says the change is deliberate, not a sign of different authors patched together.
The name is Jehovah in Genesis 29 and Elohim in Genesis 30:2-23. Yet in the very next verse (24) Rachel says not Elohim but Jehovah, and it is the same in verses 27 and 30. The idea of different writers is pure imagination. It explains nothing, and it blocks any proper enquiry into God's own reason for the change of name. God, or Elohim, is the name that stands in contrast with man; Jehovah is His name of relationship.
That change of name matches Rachel's own heart. She speaks of God as a distant judge, until grace works in her.
Rachel here, even in her special circumstances, has no thought of Jehovah's ways. It is "Elohim has judged me," and so it goes on, until grace softens her heart. Then she says, in faith, "Jehovah will add."
Rachel's words carry more than a wife's grief. They picture a collapse familiar to any believer who sees no results.
The fruitfulness of Leah moved Rachel to jealousy, then her demand to Jacob for children moves him to anger (vv. 1-2). We may see a serious lesson in Rachel's words, "Give me children or else I die." If we do not see clear fruit, we tend to give up. The work in the soul that longs for true godliness may all but die. This very thing stunts the proper growth of many Christians.
What follows in the chapter shows the next step down. Instead of waiting, Rachel borrows a plan from Sarah, Abraham's wife — a plan that had not worked before.
Then we too often turn to a substitute of our own making, as Rachel did in verse 3. Sarah had done the same when she gave Abraham her servant to have a child by her. Rachel ought to have known that this did not work out as Sarah planned. But she thought, like Sarah, that the children of Bilhah, her servant, would be hers.
Later in the chapter Rachel stops scheming and prays. One writer marks the turn.
When we reach verse 22, we find God begins to act, and we leave behind the scheming of the two wives, though it is still Rachel who gives the name Joseph. Yet here is a son born as the fruit of God acting in answer to Rachel's prayers. The story rises to a higher level.
Kelly sets Rachel beside Hannah, another wife who had no children.
How different she was from Hannah! Peninnah's taunts made her sorrowful, and even the high priest misjudged her. Yet Hannah made no unworthy complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made vows to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
- Envy. Rachel had her husband's whole heart. Still she could not bear that Leah had children. Envy cannot stand to see another hold what it lacks.
- Blame. She aimed her complaint at Jacob, but her barrenness was never his doing. His angry reply only added a second wrong to the first.
- God's hand. Jacob's question puts the closed womb in God's hands. From this verse on, the change in the divine name follows Rachel's own distance from Him.
- Collapse. "Or else I die" is the voice of a soul that sees no fruit. It gives up, or grabs a substitute — as Rachel did with Bilhah, though Sarah's plan had not worked.
- Prayer. God acts in verse 22. Joseph comes as the fruit of Rachel's prayers. Hannah shows the same path: tears and vows to God instead of complaints against a husband.
And she said, Behold, there is my maid, Bilhah go in to her, in order that she may bear on my knees, and I may also be built up by her.
Rachel cannot have children. She hands her servant Bilhah to Jacob and asks for the child as her own. Two sons come of it — but commentators ask whether a woman may reach for God's blessing by a plan of her own, and what such a plan costs a home.
Writers set Rachel's request inside a custom of the time. Families prized children above almost everything else.
David proclaimed, "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward." Psalm 127:3. Women in the East had a great desire for children. You can see it in Sarah, Rachel, and Leah giving their handmaids to their husbands so that they might have children by them. This always marked the women of Israel afterwards.
Rachel's plan was not new. Abraham's household had tried it, and the family knew how it ended. Kelly traces the chain: envy of her sister, unreasonable complaining to her husband, Jacob's sharp reply, then this plan.
It was envy — that base feeling which cannot bear to see another, even a sister, have what she had not. It broke out in unreasonable and irreverent complaining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault. No wonder his anger resented her unworthy state. He replied, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" But he gave in to her proposal, and takes Bilhah so that she might have children by her maid. Had not honoured Sarah done the same? Yes, but through Ishmael did its fruit not end in the expulsion of both Hagar and her son? Was this encouraging?
Rachel's answer was a substitute of her own making. One writer sees the same pattern in believers today.
Then we too often resort to a humanly conceived substitution, as Rachel did in verse 3. Sarah had done the same in giving Abraham her handmaid by whom to have a child. Rachel ought to have known that this did not work out as Sarah planned. But she thought, as Sarah did, that the children of Bilhah, her handmaid, would be hers... All of this struggle is a picture of the struggle in Romans 7. We try to subdue the evil passions of our hearts, but the effort only stirs them up.
A second woman in the house did not settle the rivalry. Bellett sets Jacob's home beside Abraham's, and traces where the trouble came from and what removes it.
The house of Abraham was such a scene. There Hagar and Sarah lived together for a time, but in sad discord and strife. Again, the family of Jacob showed the same. Leah and Rachel, the two wives, lived together, but between them there was the same disturbance, reproach and envy... Unbelief brought the trouble in, and only strengthening the freewoman could remove it. So it was Sarah's unbelief that brought Hagar into the family. She could have waited in the patience of faith for the Lord's time. Then she would never have given her maid to Abraham, and Hagar and Ishmael would not have cost her fourteen years of sorrow.
Commentators say plainly that this was never God's design for marriage. Yet He did not disown the children it produced.
All this shows what God's institution of marriage was: one man and one woman, the two and only two, becoming one. What is more than this is not of God... Jacob's two wives gave their handmaids to their husband, and so he had four wives. God counted the twelve sons of these four women all alike as sons of Jacob, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. One might have thought that God would not bless the children of these unions, but He did.
The names Rachel gave Bilhah's sons say what was in her heart. Yet the story does not end there.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her attitude toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not tell us of grace, but of satisfaction in winning points of strife on her own part... Every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Him. But God alone has the right to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose.
- Envy starts it. Rachel could not bear that her sister had what she lacked, and blamed her husband for what God had withheld.
- The substitute follows. She borrows Sarah's plan and puts her servant in her place, forgetting how it ended for Sarah.
- Sorrow answers it. Unbelief brought a second woman into Abraham's house and into Jacob's. Both filled with discord and reproach.
- The order was known. Marriage from the start was one man and one woman; more than that is not from God.
- Grace outlasts it. God still counted all twelve sons as Jacob's and made them heads of the tribes. He works all things together for good to those who love Him.
And she gave him Bilhah her maidservant as wife, and Jacob went in to her.
Rachel, unable to have children, hands her servant Bilhah to Jacob, and Jacob agrees. It reads like a private family decision. Yet two of Israel's tribes came from it, and it raises a question: why does Scripture record such things?
These chapters read like family quarrels. One writer explains their value.
What sets Scripture apart from all other writings is that it reveals God and comes from God. But there is much more of the greatest value in it. We have man as he is, as nowhere else: the truth is told us so that we may know ourselves as well as God. That is why inspired light on these things is so interesting and important. Man's proud selfishness tends to dismiss them as mere family quarrels. To the believer they are full of healthy instruction, and they point to God's own concern and compassion... No one will boast before God. It is good and wise to learn that now, so that, as Scripture says, the one who boasts should boast in the Lord.
Jacob does not refuse. He gives in to a suggestion born of Rachel's envy — and one with an unhappy precedent already in his own family history.
It was envy — that low feeling that cannot bear another, even a sister, having what she has not. It broke out in unreasonable and irreverent complaining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault. No wonder his anger resented her unworthy state. He replied: "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" But he gave in to her plan, and took Bilhah so that Rachel might get children through her maid. Had not honoured Sarah done the same? Yes — but its fruit through Ishmael ended with Hagar and her son driven out. Was that encouraging?
Another childless woman in Scripture faced the same grief and a rival's taunts. She handled it differently.
How different from Hannah! She grieved under Peninnah's taunts, and even under the high priest's misjudgment. She made no improper complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made a vow to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
One writer sees Rachel's move as a pattern we all repeat.
Then we too often resort to a humanly devised substitution, as Rachel did in verse 3. Sarah had done the same in giving Abraham her handmaid to have a child by her. Rachel ought to have known that this did not work out as Sarah planned. But she thought, like Sarah, that the children of Bilhah, her handmaid, would be hers... All of this struggle is a picture of the struggle of Romans 7. That struggle only stirs up the evil passions of our hearts instead of subduing them, as we try to do.
The verse calls Bilhah a wife, and this left Jacob with four wives. That was never God's design — yet God did not disown the children.
All this shows that God's institution of marriage was the union of one man and one woman, the two and only two, becoming one. Anything more than this is not of God, but of human lust... Long after this, Scripture records wives who wanted children so much that they gave their maidservants to their husbands. We would now judge that as most unnatural in a wife... Jacob's two wives gave their handmaids to their husband, and so he had four wives. God counted the twelve sons of these four women equally as Jacob's own, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. It might have been thought that God would not bless the offspring of these unions, but He did.
God's patience here had an end in view.
But in old times God permitted what was far from His mind, as we see here, until He makes all things new. Jacob was not Jesus, and neither was any other man, though a man of faith.
Rachel named Bilhah's two sons, and the names carry the rivalry behind them.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her attitude toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not speak of grace, but of satisfaction at scoring points of strife on her own part... Every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Himself. But it is God's prerogative to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn over.
- Envy starts it. Rachel could not bear her sister having what she lacked, and blamed her husband for what God had withheld.
- Substitution continues it. Handing over Bilhah was a human device to produce what only God gives. Sarah had tried it already, with painful results.
- Prayer was the road not taken. Hannah, in the same sorrow, wept, prayed and made a vow to God — and God heard her.
- God permitted what He never designed. Marriage was one man and one woman; God bore with departures from it until He makes all things new.
- Grace outlasts the mess. Dan and Naphtali record strife, not grace. Yet God counted these sons as Jacob's own, made them tribal heads, and works all things together for good.
And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.
Rachel had no children, and she envied her sister, so she gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob to bear a child for her. This verse records the result, and the names that follow reveal both Rachel's heart and God's grace.
Rachel's plan came from a feeling she could not control. It also copied something that had already failed once.
It is all too sad to see why Rachel resented her own childlessness while her sister had many children. Self was at work in her. It blinded her to what her sister lacked: Jacob's heart, which Rachel alone had. It was envy, that low feeling which cannot bear another — even a sister — having what she had not... But he gave in to her proposal, and takes Bilhah so that she might have children through her maid. Had not Sarah, honoured as she was, done the same? Yes — but through Ishmael, did it not end with both Hagar and her son being driven out?
Handing a servant to her husband broke God's original design for marriage. Yet God did not write off the children.
All this shows what God set up marriage to be: the union of one man and one woman. The two, and only two, become one. What is more than this is not of God, but is of human lust... Jacob's two wives gave their handmaids to their husband, and so he had four wives. God counted the twelve sons of these four women as Jacob's sons, all alike, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. It might have been thought that God would not have blessed the issue of these unions, but He did.
The next verse gives this boy his name. One writer links Rachel's method to a habit we still fall into.
Then we too often resort to a humanly devised substitute, as Rachel did in verse 3... When a boy was born (vv. 5-6), Rachel said that God had given her a son, and she named him Dan, meaning "judge."... All of this struggle is a picture of the struggle in Romans 7. We try to subdue the evil passions of our hearts, but this only stirs them up.
Here two things stand side by side: what Rachel's choices reveal, and what God does with them anyway.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not tell us of grace, but of satisfaction in gaining points of strife on her own part... But God keeps His own right. Every wrong has its effect among men, and it comes under His judgment. Even so, He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the ones called according to His purpose.
Rachel gives God the credit for this birth. Which name she uses for Him matters.
How dreadfully everything has sunk morally since Abraham's time, and even Isaac's. This is not barrenness of the flesh, with God stepping in with promise and power. Instead, oh, what a scene of selfishness, jealousies, and scheming... So Rachel here, even in her special circumstances, has no thought of Jehovah's ways. She says, "God has judged me." It stays that way all the way through, until grace softens her heart. Then she says, in faith, "Jehovah will add."
This son becomes a whole tribe. Its future holds a dark chapter, and then blessing.
Dan was the first son of Rachel's maid Bilhah... Looking ahead, this brings us to the time when Israel governs itself again... It seems likely the antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan, since Revelation 7 leaves Dan out of the 144,000... Yet even so, Dan will have his place in the blessing of the millennium.
- Envy starts it. Rachel could not bear that her sister had what she lacked. Envy, not faith, drove the plan behind this birth.
- Copying fails. Rachel copied Sarah's substitute plan. Sarah's ended with Hagar and Ishmael driven out.
- Naming exposes. "Dan" means "judge"; the names Rachel chose speak of points won in a quarrel, not of grace.
- God still reckons. Jacob's family broke God's order for marriage. Even so, God counted all twelve sons as Jacob's and made them heads of the tribes.
- Grace outlasts strife. Rachel says "God" while her heart is hard. Grace softens her, and then she says "Jehovah." All the while God works everything together for good to those who love Him.
And Rachel said, God has done me justice, and has also heard my voice, and given me a son; therefore she called his name Dan.
Rachel is childless while her sister gives Jacob son after son, so she hands her servant Bilhah to him. When the boy is born, she names him Dan and calls it a verdict in her favour — but was God taking her side?
The child was not Rachel's own, and the plan behind him was not new.
Then we too often turn to a substitute of our own devising, as Rachel did. Sarah had done the same when she gave Abraham her servant to have a child by her. Rachel ought to have known that this did not work out as Sarah planned. But she thought, as Sarah did, that the children of Bilhah, her servant, would be hers. When a boy was born, Rachel said that God had given her a son, and she named him Dan, meaning "judge."
One writer names the feeling behind Rachel's demand, and sets her beside Hannah, another childless woman who took a different road.
It was envy. That low feeling cannot bear another person — even a sister — having what she did not have. It broke out in unreasonable and irreverent complaining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault... But he gave in to her proposal, and took Bilhah so that she might have children through her maid. Had not Sarah, who was honoured, done the same? Yes, but through Ishmael did it not end with both Hagar and her son being sent away?... How different from Hannah, sorrowful under Peninnah's taunts... She broke out into no improper complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made a vow to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
The names in this chapter tell us what was in the mother's heart. God still works good out of it.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah showed the state of her soul, and her feeling toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not speak of grace. They speak of her satisfaction at scoring points in the quarrel... But it is God's own right to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. Every wrong still has its effect among men and its judgment before Him. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn.
Rachel says "God" — Elohim — and not "Jehovah," the name the ESV prints as "the LORD." One writer weighs what her choice shows.
How far everything has sunk, morally, from Abraham's time, and even Isaac's. This is not the barrenness of the flesh, with God stepping in with promise and power. Oh, what a scene of selfishness, jealousy and cunning! There is only one green spot in it — Rachel, the barren one, is heard... So Rachel here, even in her special circumstances, has no thought of Jehovah's ways. She says, "Elohim has judged me," and it is like that all the way through, until grace softens her heart. Then she says, in faith, "Jehovah will add."
The mothers name these sons; Jacob has no say. One writer traces that silence to Jacob's own state at the time.
It is worth noting that in each case the mother gave the name, and it grew out of her own circumstances and feelings. Jacob does not appear to have had any say in the matter. In this up-and-down stretch of his life there is no record of his having an altar for sacrifice and fellowship with God. Being out of touch, he had no guidance about the names of his children.
The name given in a rivalry became a whole tribe's calling — and its warning.
Dan's place among the tribes stands for judgment, and that is an honourable place. Yet his later history contradicted the truth of that position. Dan was the first tribe to bring in idolatry openly. What a solemn lesson for us! When we are given the place of judging for God, we may take that authority for ourselves until it amounts to idolatry.
Yet the failure of the tribe did not cancel what its name promised.
Still, such is the grace of God that in Ezekiel's prophecy of the restoration of the tribes, Dan is the first named and provided for — the worst sinner of all. There the question is not one of service but of mercy... Then at last Jacob's promise comes true, the promise even their wickedness could not cancel: "Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel."
- Judge. Dan means "judge," and Rachel gave the name because she read the birth as a ruling in her favour against her sister.
- Copied. Rachel took the plan from Sarah and Hagar, and it had already ended badly once.
- Elohim. She says "God has judged me," not "Jehovah" — that name comes only later, when grace has softened her.
- Silent. Jacob has no altar and no fellowship with God at this stage, so he has no voice in naming these sons.
- Overruled. A name born in strife became a tribe that fell into idolatry — yet mercy still keeps Dan's place among the tribes.
And Bilhah Rachel's maidservant again conceived, and bore Jacob a second son.
In Genesis 30, Bilhah has a second son. She was Rachel's servant, given to Jacob because Rachel could not have children. One line of family record holds an impatient plan, two rival sisters, and a name a whole tribe would carry. Why did God write it down?
Rachel could not bear children, so she arranged a substitute. One writer points out that she was copying a plan already tried in the family — a plan that had failed.
We too often resort to a humanly conceived substitution, as Rachel did in verse 3. Sarah had done the same in giving Abraham her handmaid by whom to have a child. Rachel ought to have known that this did not work out as Sarah planned, but she thought, as Sarah did, that the children of Bilhah, her handmaid, would be hers... Bilhah also had a second son, whom Rachel named Naphtali, meaning "my wrestling," because of Rachel's wrestling with her sister Leah. All of this struggle is a picture of the struggle of Romans 7. That struggle only stirs up the evil passions of our hearts, instead of subduing them, as we try to do.
The second birth settled nothing. One writer names the feeling behind Rachel's plan, then sets her beside Hannah, who met her own trouble at home in a different spirit.
One understands too well, too sadly, why Rachel should view her own childlessness and her sister rich in children with resentment. Self worked in her. It blinded her to this: her sister did not have Jacob's heart, and Rachel alone had it. It was envy — that base feeling which cannot endure another, even a sister, having what she had not... How different from Hannah! She was sorrowful under Peninnah's taunts, and even under the high priest's wrong judgment of her. She made no ugly complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made a vow to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
The names Rachel chose show what was going on inside her. But the same writer does not leave the story with her.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her attitude toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not tell us of grace, but of satisfaction in winning points of strife on her own part... Every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Himself. But it is God's right to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn.
Commentators differ over the name. One hears only Rachel's rivalry in it. Another asks whose strength a wrestler leans on.
Naphtali means "a wrestler." In a spiritual sense he is no longer a carnal wrestler trusting in his own power, but a mighty wrestler for God. That is what he is in the mind of God, and in the sense of his sonship as belonging to God. He represents that spirit of power of man with God, the weak with the mighty One.
Bilhah bore the child, but she did not name him. One writer notes this, and what became of the tribes that came from the two servants.
Here we have the origins of the tribes in these sons, and Leah and Rachel named them. The handmaids did not name their own sons, and the four tribes descended from these do not appear to have made any particular mark in the nation's later history.
A verse like this can look like family bookkeeping. One writer explains why God kept it in Scripture.
We have man as he is, as nowhere else: the truth is told us that we may know ourselves as well as God. So it matters that inspired light falls on what man's proud selfishness looks down on as mere family quarrels. To the believer these accounts are full of healthy instruction. They also carry a witness of God's concern and compassion.
- Wrestling begins. Rachel had no children, and that turned into envy. Envy produced a human plan instead of a prayer — the same shortcut Sarah took before her.
- Wrestling names. Rachel called Bilhah's second son "my wrestling." The names she chose record her struggle with her sister, not her confidence in God.
- Wrestling exposed. God kept the story so we can see ourselves. Scripture shows man as he is, and shows God's compassion inside what looks like a mere family quarrel.
- Wrestling redirected. Another writer reads the same word as strength drawn from God, not from self: not a wrestler trusting his own power, but a weak man mighty with the mighty One.
- Wrestling overruled. Every wrong has its effect and its judgment. Yet God works all things together for good to those who love Him. Out of this tangled household came the tribes of Israel.
And Rachel said, Wrestlings of God have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali.
Rachel has no children of her own, so she gives Jacob her servant Bilhah. She then names Bilhah's second son from her fight with her sister — a fight she claims to have won, and calls God's.
One commentator sees Rachel repeating a mistake Sarah had already made, and reads the whole scene as a picture of an inner struggle:
Sarah had done the same, giving Abraham her servant to have a child by her. Rachel ought to have known that this did not work out as Sarah planned, but she thought, as Sarah did, that the children of Bilhah, her servant, would be hers. Bilhah had a second son whom Rachel named Naphtali, meaning "my wrestling," because of Rachel's wrestling with her sister Leah. All of this struggle is a picture of the struggle of Romans 7. That struggle only stirs up the evil passions of our hearts, instead of subduing them as we try to do.
Rachel had Jacob's love; Leah had the children. Rachel turned on her husband — the opposite of Hannah, who took her rival's taunts to God in prayer:
It is easy to understand, and sad, why Rachel looked at her own childlessness and her sister's many children with bitterness. Self worked in her and blinded her to her sister's lack of Jacob's heart, which she alone had. It was envy, that low feeling which cannot bear another — even a sister — having what she had not. It broke out in unreasonable and irreverent complaining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault... How different from Hannah! She was sorrowful under Peninnah's taunts, and the high priest misjudged her too. She made no improper complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made a vow to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
The ESV reads "mighty wrestlings." Older translations give Rachel's phrase as "wrestlings of God," and the name she uses there is Elohim. Leah had used the name Jehovah when she named her sons. One writer reads the shift of divine names in these two chapters as deliberate:
Notice the beauty of Scripture in the use of the divine names in these chapters. In the case of Leah (Genesis 29), who was hated compared with Rachel, Jehovah as such stepped in with His special regard for her sorrow. She expressed this in the name of her firstborn son, Reuben, and His hearing of her in her second, Simeon... but Jehovah has praise when she bore Judah. In Rachel's case (Genesis 30) there is no such expression at first of confidence in Jehovah's compassionate interest. In disappointment of heart she gives Jacob her maid. When Dan was born, she accepts it as the judgment of Elohim, and at Naphtali's birth she speaks of His wrestlings.
Rachel says she has prevailed. The same commentator weighs what her sons' names really record, and what God does with the whole story:
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her feeling toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not tell us of grace, but of satisfaction at winning points in a quarrel... But every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Him. And it is God's prerogative to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn over.
The same name can carry a very different meaning. One writer takes Naphtali the wrestler in another direction:
Naphtali is the next one, representing the mighty man of vigour and of valour. Naphtali means "a wrestler" — and in a spiritual sense he is no longer a merely human wrestler, trusting in his own power, but a mighty wrestler for God. That is what he is in the mind of God, and in the awareness of his sonship as belonging to God. He represents that spirit of the power of man with God, the weak with the mighty One.
- Wrestling named. Naphtali means "my wrestling." The boy's name records his mother's contest with her own sister.
- Wrestling motivated. Envy drove it. Rachel could not bear her sister having what she lacked, and she blamed Jacob for what only God could give.
- Wrestling misnamed. Rachel claimed God for her fight. Leah had spoken of Jehovah's compassion; Rachel's words show no such confidence.
- Wrestling exposed. These names speak not of grace but of satisfaction at winning points in a quarrel. The fight stirred up the heart's passions instead of subduing them.
- Wrestling redeemed. God still makes all things work together for good. The same wrestler's name can stand for a mighty wrestler for God — the weak leaning on the mighty One.
And when Leah saw that she had ceased to bear, she took Zilpah her maidservant and gave her to Jacob as wife.
Leah had stopped having children, so she did what Rachel had just done and gave her servant to Jacob. Why does a woman who once broke out in praise now copy her sister's scheme, and what does God do with a family run on rivalry?
Rachel had used this move first, giving Bilhah to Jacob. One writer weighs the names Leah now chooses against the ones she had given before.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her feelings toward her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not tell us of grace, but of satisfaction at scoring points in a quarrel of her own making. The same snare caught Leah, and through Zilpah she would match that advantage. She named Zilpah's sons Gad and Asher. Those names do not reflect the contention that governed Rachel's spirit. Even so, they in no way rise to the level of faith she had shown in naming her own sons. Every wrong has its effect among men, and its judgment before Him. But God has the right to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn.
The drop shows when you set these names beside the one she gave her fourth son.
He never fails. Again she bore a son, and said, "This time I will praise the LORD"; so she called his name Judah. Never do we hear of her soul rising so high. The sorrow-stricken woman breaks out into praise of the LORD, and her fourth son carries that praise in the name she gave him that day. Yes, from Judah came, according to the flesh, the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. How much His grace rises above our praise!
Zilpah bore two sons, and Leah gave them names that say what she settled for.
When Leah had no more children, she used the same tactics as Rachel. She gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob. Zilpah bore him a son, and Leah named him Gad. Then came another son, whom she named Asher. Gad means "a troop" and Asher means "happy." So we find human support (a troop), and we try to make ourselves happy as we are, without reaching the state we long for. But Leah is not satisfied with this… So neither of them was content: the struggle continues.
Another writer finds the mood of this whole stage of Jacob's life in what the women's names mean.
Rachel means "sheep." Her name seems to stand for the meekness and patience of true discipleship. That is the exact opposite of Jacob's self-willed, unrestrained temper up to now. But he must get her by way of unwanted Leah. Leah's name means "wearied," and it suggests the tribulation that works patience out. Even then, before Rachel is fruitful, and while there is no hope of her fruitfulness, Jacob receives the servant women: Bilhah, "terror," and Zilpah, "a dropping" (as of tears).
Jacob now has four wives. One writer weighs that against God's design for marriage, and then against what God did with the children.
All this shows that God's institution of marriage was the union of one man and one woman — the two, and only two, becoming one. Anything beyond this is not of God, but comes from human lust… Jacob's two wives gave their handmaids to their husband, and so he had four wives. God reckoned the twelve sons of these four women equally as sons of Jacob, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. It might have been thought that God would not bless the offspring of such unions, but He did.
Another writer points out how little we hear later of the tribes that came from the servant women.
Here we have the origin of the tribes in these sons. Leah and Rachel named them. The handmaids did not name their own sons. The four tribes that came from them do not seem to have made any particular mark in the nation's later history.
- Snare — Rachel set the pattern of scoring points off her sister, and the same snare caught Leah. Rivalry spreads faster than anyone means it to.
- Descent — In naming Judah she had climbed to praise, and Christ came from that line. Here she drops back to matching her sister.
- Substitute — "A troop" and "happy" name what we grab when we won't wait: human backup and self-made cheerfulness. Neither ends the struggle.
- Judgment — Marriage is one man and one woman. What goes beyond that is not from God. Every wrong leaves its mark among people, and God judges it.
- Grace — Yet God counted all twelve sons as Jacob's and made them heads of the tribes. He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.
And Zilpah Leah's maidservant bore Jacob a son.
Leah has stopped having children, so she hands her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife, and Zilpah has a son. One sister arranged this birth to compete with the other — so what does God do with a family built on rivalry and human schemes?
Rachel had already given her maid Bilhah to Jacob. Leah now copies the move, and one writer traces where that copying leads for both women.
When Leah had no more children, she used the same tactics as Rachel had. She gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob, and by her he had a son, whom Leah named Gad... Gad means "a troop"... So we find human support (a troop), and try to make ourselves happy as we are, without reaching the state we want. But Leah is not satisfied with this... So neither of them was content: the struggle continues.
The device was not new in this family. Jacob had taken Bilhah on Rachel's suggestion. One writer asks whether Sarah's earlier attempt was any recommendation, and sets beside it a woman who took a different road.
He gave in to her proposal and took Bilhah, so that Rachel might have children through her maid. Had not Sarah, that honoured woman, done the same? Yes — but did it not bear fruit in Ishmael, and end with both Hagar and her son driven out? Was that encouraging? How different Hannah was, grieving under Peninnah's taunts! She did not break out in improper complaints against her husband. She wept and prayed and made a vow to Jehovah, and the God of Israel heard her.
Hagar was Sarah's Egyptian servant, given to Abraham when Sarah had no child. Hannah was a wife with no children, taunted by Peninnah, her husband's other wife. She prayed instead of scheming.
Scripture records this arrangement without a word of approval.
But of old God permitted what was far from His mind, as we see here, until He makes all things new.
One writer reads the women's names in this chapter as a quiet commentary on what Jacob was going through. Zilpah's name belongs to that picture.
The names of the wives and children also point to the inward, personal character of the line of truth set before us here. Rachel means "sheep." Her name seems to stand for the meekness and patience of true discipleship, the very opposite of Jacob's self-willed and unruly temper up to this point. But he could only win her through Leah, whom he did not want. Leah's name means "wearied," and it suggests the "tribulation" that works out "patience." And even then, before Rachel has a child, and in despair of ever having one, the servant women come in: Bilhah, "terror," and Zilpah, "a dropping" (as of tears).
These were not Jacob's best years. Yet these very years produced the sons of a nation.
God's hidden providence has blessed Jacob and kept him safe all this time. Yet it was a time of failure: a spirit of cunning instead of confidence in God. It was the time when he was an outcast and rejected, and in this he is a picture of Israel. Yet this was really the time when his children were born, "for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the Lord."
In Abraham's household, God shut a servant's son out of the inheritance. Jacob's household turns out differently.
Something else is remarkable here. Unlike Ishmael in the story of Abraham, the sons of the servant women do not take a separate or lower place. They are blessed along with the other sons of Jacob. Of Ishmael God said that the son of the servant woman would never be an heir with the son of the free woman... Jacob's twelve sons give a complete picture of God's earthly people. God's government blesses them together, because in Scripture the number twelve is always connected with God's rule over His people.
Another writer notes a difference, though — one that shows up in who named the boys.
Here we have the origins of the tribes in these sons, and Leah and Rachel named them. The servant women did not name their own sons, and the four tribes descended from them do not appear to have made any particular mark in the later history of the nation.
- Plotting — Leah copies her sister's move and hands over Zilpah. The copying leaves neither woman satisfied.
- Precedent — the same plan in Abraham's house produced Ishmael and ended in expulsion. Hannah's tears and prayers were the better way.
- Permission — God allowed in that age what was far from His mind, so the record is history, not approval.
- Providence — Jacob's years of cunning and exile were still the years God used to give a nation its children.
- Parity — the servant's son is not shut out like Ishmael. The twelve are blessed together under God's rule, though the servant women never named them and their tribes stayed obscure.
And Leah said, Fortunately! and she called his name Gad.
Leah had stopped having children, so she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob. Zilpah bore a son, and Leah greeted him with a word about luck, not a word about God. The name she chose, Gad, would travel far — into a tribe of fighters, and even into Israel's later drift from the LORD.
Scripture gives only the barest facts about Gad himself — his place in Jacob's family, and his own sons.
The seventh son of Jacob, and the first of Zilpah, Leah's maid. Very little is recorded of Gad, except that he had seven sons. Gen. 30:11; Gen. 46:16; 1 Chr. 5:11.
Older Bibles translate Leah's cry "A troop comes." Newer ones read "Good fortune has come." The word carries both senses, and the second one has a dark history. In Isaiah's day the same name stood for something Israel turned to after leaving the LORD.
God cannot forget the state of departure and sin that marked the people in Isaiah's day. They had forsaken the LORD; they had forsaken His holy mountain, where His temple stood. And what had they turned to? The rest of the verse reveals it, though the translation is rather unclear. Darby's New Translation puts "Gad" in place of "that troop," and "Meni" in place of "that number." Its footnotes explain that the first word means "Fortune, or the planet Jupiter," and the second means "Number, or Fate, or the planet Venus."
One commentator tracks which name for God appears at each birth.
Jehovah stepped in with His special regard for Leah's sorrow. The name of her first-born son, Reuben, expressed that, and the name of her second, Simeon, expressed His hearing. Jehovah has praise when she bore Judah. Leah, following Rachel's example, gains Gad and Asher through Zilpah, but makes no acknowledgment of the divine name in either form. After this comes the incident of using mandrakes for hire, when Elohim acts for Leah in sovereign power and she owns Him as such when Issachar was born.
This name falls below her earlier ones. Even so, it does not stop God's purpose.
Leah gave Zilpah's sons the names Gad and Asher. These names do not reflect the rivalry that governed Rachel's spirit. Even so, they fell far short of the faith she had shown in naming her own sons. But this is God's prerogative: to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose. Every wrong still has its effect among men, and it faces judgment before God Himself.
Rachel had already given her servant to Jacob. Leah copies her, and one writer reads both names as a picture of leaning on human help.
When Leah had no more children, she used the same tactics as Rachel. She gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob, and Zilpah bore him a son. Leah named him Gad, and named a second son Asher. Gad means "a troop" and Asher means "happy." So we find human support (a troop), and we try to make ourselves happy as we are, without reaching the state we want. But Leah is not satisfied with this.
Leah spoke better than she knew. The word she blurted out turned out to describe the tribe's whole character — growth, and a fight to go with it.
Gad lies next to Reuben. Gad is the type of spiritual increase, and of a fighting condition too. Leah's exclamation, "A troop comes," holds both things. In a world like this, spiritual increase rarely comes without conflict. In David's time the men of Gad were famous as warriors.
Leah's word outlived her. The same name shows up in a prophecy about the tribe's last days.
Gad was the first son of Zilpah, Leah's maid. His name means "a troop." This name appears in the prophecy that a troop — the armies of enemy nations — would trample Gad underfoot, with Gad standing for Israel. The tribulation period will bring this to pass. But the same prophecy says Gad will in the end overcome the troop. God will give Israel the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Cause — Leah copies Rachel's plan. She reaches for "human support (a troop)," and it leaves her unsatisfied.
- Gap — Her earlier sons' names owned God. This one makes "no acknowledgment of the divine name in either form."
- Warning — In Isaiah's day the same word stood for "Fortune," and people who had forsaken the LORD turned to it.
- Grace — Her weaker faith does not stop God. It is His prerogative "to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him."
- Result — Her careless cry came true. Gad stood for increase, and increase "rarely comes without conflict" — trampled first, and overcoming in the end.
And Zilpah Leah's maidservant bore Jacob a second son.
Genesis 30 records a painful contest between two sisters over sons. This verse records the fourth son born to a servant, which raises a question: what does God do with children born into a home at war with itself?
These births come out of competition, not faith. The women who bore the children had no say in what followed.
Genesis 30:1-21 tells the sordid story of Jacob's children. It tells how both Rachel and Leah plotted to gain sons and so secure themselves in his favour. Here we have the origin of the tribes in these sons, and Leah and Rachel named them. The servant women did not name their own sons. The four tribes that came from them do not appear to have made any particular mark in the nation's later history.
Rachel had already given her servant to Jacob. Leah answered with a move of her own. The names she chose for Zilpah's two sons tell us where her heart now stood.
Leah fell into the same trap, and through Zilpah she would match that advantage. She named Zilpah's sons Gad and Asher. Those names do not reflect the contention that governed Rachel's spirit, but they by no means rose to the level of faith she had shown in naming her own sons. Every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Himself. Yet it is God's right to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn.
Leah now had a fourth son through her servant. The meanings of the boys' names show what she was reaching for.
When Leah had no more children, she used the same tactics as Rachel. She gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob, and he had a son by her. Leah named him Gad, and she named the next son Asher (vv. 9-13). Gad means "a troop" and Asher means "happy." So we find human support (a troop), and we try to make ourselves happy as we are. We never reach the state we want, and Leah is not satisfied with this… So neither of them was really content: the struggle goes on.
This arrangement fell far short of what God set up at the beginning. Yet the son born here was not treated as second class.
All this shows that God set up marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The two, and only two, become one. Anything more than this is not of God, but is of human lust… Jacob's two wives gave their servants to their husband, and so he had four wives. God reckoned the twelve sons of these four women equally as sons of Jacob, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. It might have been thought that God would not have blessed the fruit of these unions, but He did.
All this took place during Jacob's twenty years away from home. Family growth and hard service ran side by side.
During his twenty years of exile, Jacob enjoys no further such revelations of His presence. In the meantime, God deals with him as one for whom He has purposes of blessing. He can only reach that blessing through painful discipline. God multiplies him mainly through unwelcome Leah and the servant women, while he serves long and with hard labour for wives and flocks. Like his descendants, he is multiplied as the dust, while trampled into it.
Centuries later Israel's story had collapsed. Yet a small faithful group still waited for Christ, and one of them came from the tribe descended from this child.
The blessing of Asher in Deut. 33:24-25 ends with these lovely words: "as your days, so shall your strength be." Yet all went to ruin, as the history of Israel unfolds. Yet at the first coming of Christ, the godly remnant of the people were "waiting for the consolation of Israel." Among them we find one of that same tribe: "a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher"… And the Lord Christ Himself became identified with that obscure remnant. She was one of them.
- Rivalry. Rachel's scheme became Leah's scheme. Each sister used her servant to outdo the other, and neither was content.
- Silence. The servants bore the sons but did not name them. The rival wives chose the names, and those names fell short of faith.
- Mercy. What was far below God's own pattern for marriage did not stop Him blessing the children born from it.
- Discipline. God multiplied Jacob's family in his hardest years, while hard service trampled him like dust.
- Harvest. This birth began a tribe that made little mark in Israel. Yet Anna came from it, still waiting for Christ when He came.
And Leah said, Happy am I; for the daughters will call me blessed! and she called his name Asher.
Two sisters are competing for Jacob, and Leah's servant Zilpah has just borne a second son. Leah names him Asher, which means "happy" — but commentators ask whether that happiness was real, and where God is in her words.
Leah is copying Rachel, who had already given her servant to Jacob to gain sons. One writer reads the two names Leah gives Zilpah's boys as a picture of what people grab for when they cannot get what they really want.
When Leah had no more children, she used the same tactics as Rachel. She gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob, and he had a son by her. Leah named him Gad, and named a second son Asher (vv. 9-13). Gad means "a troop" and Asher means "happy." So we find human support (a troop), and we try to make ourselves happy as we are, without reaching the state we desire. But Leah is not satisfied with this... Neither of them was actually content: the struggle continues.
Earlier, Leah had put God into the names of her own sons. Reuben and Simeon confessed that the Lord saw and heard her; Judah was pure praise. With Zilpah's sons, that thread drops. One writer traces the divine names through these chapters and notices the gap exactly here.
Leah was hated compared with Rachel (Gen. 29). Jehovah, under that name, stepped in with His special regard for her sorrow. She put this into the name of her first-born son, Reuben, and His hearing into her second, Simeon... but Jehovah has praise when she bore Judah... Leah, following Rachel's example, gains through Zilpah Gad and Asher, but makes no acknowledgment of the divine name in either form.
So Leah announces her happiness without naming God at all. Her measure of blessing is what the women around her will say.
Names in this chapter work like a window. Rachel's choices, Dan and Naphtali, breathe rivalry; Leah's are gentler but thinner. The same writer weighs Gad and Asher against the faith she had reached before, and then lifts the whole scene into God's hands.
The names Rachel gave the sons of Bilhah expressed the state of her soul, and her attitude towards her sister. Dan and Naphtali do not tell us of grace, but of satisfaction in gaining points of strife on her own part. Leah was drawn into the snare and through Zilpah would equal that advantage. The names she gave Zilpah's sons, Gad and Asher, do not reflect the contention that governed Rachel's spirit. Even so, they came nowhere near the faith she had shown in naming her own sons. Every wrong has its effect among men, and its judgment before God Himself. But it is His prerogative to cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him, the called according to purpose.
The Bible does not tidy this household up. It records the manoeuvring plainly, and from it the twelve tribes of Israel come.
Genesis 30:1-21 tells the sordid story of Jacob's children, and of the schemes of both Rachel and Leah. They tried to gain sons and so establish themselves in his favour. Here we have the origins of the tribes in these sons, whom Leah and Rachel named. The handmaids did not name their own sons. The four tribes descended from them do not appear to have made any particular mark in the later history of the nation.
Why does God let such material stand in His book? Because Scripture is meant to show us ourselves as much as it shows us God.
We have man as he is, as nowhere else: the truth is told us so that we may know ourselves as well as God. Hence the interest and importance of inspired light on what the proud selfishness of man's mind is inclined to despise as mere domestic quarrels.
Leah spoke of happiness she had grabbed for herself. God later filled that same word with something she never planned. When Moses blessed the tribes before his death, Asher stands last and stands for joy that lasts.
Asher, meaning "happy," fittingly ends this interesting list. "Asher is most blessed of sons: let him be favoured by his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil" (v. 24). Again, all Israel is represented in the lasting joy that Asher speaks of. "They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isa. 35:10).
The word even left a mark on Israel's songbook. The Psalms that open with "Blessed" carry Asher's name. One writer, quoting verse 13 in an older translation, sorts them by who is called happy.
It is worth noting that these Psalms beginning "blessed" the Jews call Asherite Psalms. Asher was the name of one of Jacob's sons. The mother, delighted with her child, called him Asher — "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed."... First, Psalm 1 is the blessing of someone who has perfectly done God's will. It makes no allowance for any evil — all Christ. Second, Psalm 32 is the blessing of the poor sinner. He has not a shred of righteousness of his own, but is grafted into Christ.
- Happy, claimed. Asher means "happy." Leah's cry names a happiness she arranged for herself through her servant — the same tactic Rachel used.
- Happy, unnamed. She had once put God into her sons' names, right up to praise in Judah. With Gad and Asher she leaves God's name out.
- Happy, unsatisfied. The verse sounds like victory. Yet neither sister was content, and the struggle for Jacob's favour goes straight on.
- Happy, overruled. Every wrong has its effect, and its judgment before God. Yet He still causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.
- Happy, fulfilled. The name outlived the boast. Asher stands for lasting joy in a later blessing on the tribes, and the "blessed" Psalms that carry his name find that happiness in Christ.