Who was Bilhah in the Bible?

Handmaid of Rachel, and mother of Dan and Naphtali. Gen. 29:29; Gen. 30:3-7; Gen. 35:22, 25; Gen. 37:2; Gen. 46:25.

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, that the children of Bilhah, her handmaid, would be hers. When a boy was born (vs.5-6), Rachel said that God had given her a son, and she named him Dan, meaning "judge." Bilhah also had a second son whom Rachel named Naphthali, 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, which only stirs up the evil passions of our hearts, rather than subduing them, as we attempt to do. At first sight it may that people would not discern any spiritual significance of a history like this, and might wonder why the Lord has gone to such pains to record all the details of this. But all scripture is of vital consequence to every believer.

"And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, [Am] I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold, my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I may also be built up by her. And she gave him Bilhah her bondmaid as wife; and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and also heard my voice, and given me a son: therefore she called his name Dan (Judge). And Bilhah Rachel's bondmaid again conceived and bore Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, Wrestlings of God have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali (my Wrestling). When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear, she took Zilpah her bondmaid, and gave her to Jacob as wife. And Zilpah Leah's bondmaid bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, What fortune! and she called his name Gad (Fortune). And Zilpah Leah's bondmaid bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, With my happiness; for the daughters will call me happy! and she called his name Asher (Happy)" (Gen. 30:1-13).

One understands too well, too sadly, why Rachel should view her own childlessness and her sister rich in children with chagrin. Self wrought and blinded her to her sister's lack of Jacob's heart of which she had the monopoly. It was envy, that base feeling which cannot endure another, even a sister's, having what she had not; and this broke out in unreasonable and impious repining to her husband, as if her barrenness were his fault. No wonder that his anger resented her unworthy state in his rejoinder, Am I in God's stead Who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? But he yielded to her proposal, and takes Bilhah that she might obtain children by her maid. Had not honoured Sarah done the like? Yes, but through Ishmael its fruit did it not issue in the expulsion of both Hagar and her son? Was this encouraging? How different from Hannah the sorrowful under Peninnah's provocations, or even the high-priest's misjudgment! She broke out into no unseemly murmurs against her husband, but wept and prayed and vowed to Jehovah, and was heard of the God of Israel.

In blessing his sons, Jacob first addresses the sons of Leah, putting Zebulun before Issachar. Then follow the sons of the maids, of whom Naphtali is the one mentioned last. Both sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid, are given a place between the two sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. Finally, we have Joseph and Benjamin — the two. sons of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob loved more than Leah and for whom he served his father-in-law Laban a further seven years.

This order agrees with the rules of the birthright as they were set down by Moses later on (Deuteronomy 21:15-17). For the son of the loved wife could not be favoured at the expense of the first-born, who was the son of the unloved. The fact that Reuben did forfeit his birthright was entirely his own fault. He had gone up to his father's bed and committed adultery with Bilhah, his father's concubine and therefore he was deprived of his privileges (Genesis 35:22; Genesis 49:3-4; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2). The position linked with the birthright went to Judah, the fourth son of Leah (Simeon and Levi were passed over because of their violence against the inhabitants of Schechem: Genesis 34). The wealth linked with it, however — the first-born was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance — went to Joseph, the first son of Rachel, the loved one. Or rather it went to Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's sons, whom Jacob had blessed previously and more or less adopted as his own sons (Genesis 48). Thus Ephraim and Manasseh obtained a place of their own among the tribes of Israel (Deuteronomy 33:17). So we see that both Judah and Joseph are given a prominent place in the blessings of Jacob, Judah receiving the position of a ruler, and Joseph the wealth laid up for the first-born.

I must not take the time to follow Jacob through all his most interesting history. The stony pillow where the sun set, with more than twenty years of hard labour before we read of daybreak once again, and all the sufferings in Haran, are clearly fruit of his sin against his father and brother. Nor may we forget that Jacob has two wives, and two concubines, a very different condition to either his father or his grandfather. While yet in Haran we see Reuben his first-born, still a child, being made a party to merchandise, where love alone should enter. Little wonder that this same son in later life manifests his lack of respect for these holy matters by lying with Bilhah, his father's concubine. That single act cost Reuben his birthright, but more, it cost Jacob the most bitter grief. In Genesis 49:4-5 near the end of his life, the horror of this wicked and unclean act seems to be more real and terrible to him than in those earlier days, when Jacob followed afar off, instead of walking with God, as he seems to have done during the closing years of his life. And in one sense this is as it should be. True, the sins are forgiven, they are all covered, we are justified: and when it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? "The Accuser of the brethren" is only too eager to cast up these old sins against us, and to remind us of them: but thank God, we have One for us, Who is ever ready to say: "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord … rebuke thee; is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" (Zechariah 3:2). And yet, for all that, the horror of those old sins should become greater, as we better know what they cost our Redeemer.

The general teaching here seems plain enough, while the details are difficult to follow. The names of wives and children too bear witness to the subjective character of the line of truth which presents itself to us. Rachel, "sheep," seems significant of the meekness and patience of true discipleship, the very opposite of Jacob's hitherto self-willed and unrestrained temper. But her he must obtain by means of undesired Leah, whose name, "wearied," suggests the "tribulation" by which "patience" is wrought out. And even then, before Rachel is fruitful, and in despair of her fruitfulness, the bondmaids are received, Bilhah, "terror," and Zilpah, a "dropping" (as of tears).

Fifth son of Jacob, and first of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. Gen. 30:6, etc. Little is recorded of him personally: only one son is mentioned in Gen. 46:23. The tribe of Dan was, however, numerous: at the Exodus there were 62,700 fighting men, exceeding all the tribes except Judah; and at the second numbering they had increased to 64,400. Num. 1:39; Num. 26:42-43. Yet when in the land the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley. Judges 1:34. This showed great want of faith in the DANITES (as they are called in Judges 13:2; Judges 18:1, 11; 1 Chr. 12:35); and Deborah in her song said, 'Why did Dan remain in ships,' when the Lord's enemies were being destroyed?

Fifth son of Jacob, and second of Bilhah. The name also often includes his descendants, and the territory which they possessed. Naphtali and his four sons entered Egypt with Jacob, and nothing further is recorded of him personally. At the two numberings of the tribes Naphtali amounted to 53,400 and 45,400. When Jacob prophetically announced to the tribes that which should befall them in the last days, he said, "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words," Gen. 49:21; it is the remnant of Israel as the vessel of testimony. Moses said, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord: possess thou the west and the south." Deut. 33:23. It is the full blessing of the remnant as Jehovah's people.

But of old God permitted what was far from His mind, as we see here, till He makes all things new. Jacob was not Jesus, nor was any other He, though a man of faith. Jesus is Himself, not a man only, though this He was completely and perfectly, but true God no less than the Father.

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. Leah was drawn into the snare and through Zilpah would equal that advantage. And the names she gave Zilpah's sons, Gad and Asher, though not reflecting the contention which governed Rachel's spirit, by no means rose to the level of faith she had shown in naming her own sons. But it is the prerogative of God, while every wrong has its effect among men and its judgment before Himself, to cause all things to work together for good to them that love Him, the called according to purpose. He at least is good and does good, whatever man has to mourn.

Now experiences are admirable in their own way as a school for the heart in the soul's finding its way to God; but experiences completely melt away in the presence of God. This and the grace known there in Him who died and rose again alone can give fully either the end of self or communion with God. Experiences may be needed and wholesome; but they are chiefly wholesome as a part of the road while on our way to Him. Before what God is to us in Christ they disappear — I do not mean the results, but the processes. So we shall find it was with Jacob. He is a man evidently cared for by God. He shows us much that was exceeding sweet and lovely. No doubt he had often to suffer from Laban's deceit; but was there not a memorial here of the deceit in which he had acted himself? He is deceived about his wife, deceived about his wages, deceived about everything; but how had he dealt with his father, not to speak of his brother? Deceit must meet with deceit under the retributive hands of God. Wonder not overmuch at the tale of Jacob; but bless with all your heart the God who shows Himself caring for His servant, and, after he had suffered awhile, giving him although slowly yet surely to prosper. At his setting out he was by no means a young man, being somewhere about eighty years of age when he reached Laban. There he receives, not willingly, two wives instead of one. Leah he did not want, Rachel he did. But in his chequered course, as we know, their maids were given as concubines, with many a child and many a sorrow.* And spite of Laban abundance was his in herds and flocks. (Gen. 30)

*Can it be doubted that this part of Genesis is typical like what goes before and after? Surely Jacob's love for Rachel first, for whom nevertheless he must wait and fulfil the week afresh after Leah had been given him, is not without evident bearing on the Lord's relation to Israel first loved, for whom meanwhile the slighted Gentile has been substituted with rich results in His grace. Rachel is at length remembered by God, who takes away her reproach by adding to her a son (Joseph) — type of One glorified among the Gentiles and delivering His Jewish brethren after suffering among both Jews and Gentiles. So her history closes in the death of her Benoni and Jacob's Benjamin son of the mother's sorrow and of the father's right hand, as the people of God will prove in the end. I take this opportunity of noticing the beauty of Scripture in the use of the divine names in these chapters, the best answer to the superficial folly which attributes them to different writers and documents. In the case of Leah (Gen. 29), who was hated compared with Rachel, Jehovah as such interposed with His special regard to her sorrow, and this was expressed in the name of her first-born son, Reuben; and His hearing in her second, Simeon. At Levi's birth she does not go farther than the hope of her husband's being joined to her; but Jehovah has praise when she bore Judah. In Rachael's case (Gen. 30) there is no such expression at first of confidence in Jehovah's compassionate interest; but in disappointment of heart she gives Jacob her maid; and, when Dan was born, she accepts it as the judgment of Elohim, and at Naphtali's birth speaks of His wrestlings. Leah, following her example, gains through Zilpah Gad and Asher, 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, and in Zebulun on the pledge of her husband's dwelling with her. In the same power did Elohim remember Rachael, who not only confesses that the God of creation had taken away her reproach, but calls her son Joseph saying, Jehovah shall add to me another son. This is the more striking because it is an instance of the combined use of these names admirably illustrating both sides of the truth, and irreconcilable with the double-document hypothesis. Rachel rose from the thought of His power to the recognition of His ways with His own. And even Laban (verse 39) is obliged to confess that Jacob enjoyed the blessing of One who was in special relationship with him — of Jehovah.