Genesis 30.9-13-Leah's Maid Zilpah Gives Birth to Gad and Asher
Thursday July 6, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 30:9-13-Leah’s Maid Zilpah Gives Birth to Gad and Asher
Lesson # 174
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 29:31.
On Sunday morning, we studied Genesis 29:31-35, which contains the record of Leah bearing Jacob four sons whose names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
On Wednesday evening we noted Genesis 30:1-8, which gives us the record of Rachel’s maid Bilhah bearing Jacob two more sons, Dan and Naphtali.
This evening we will study Genesis 30:9-13, which presents the record of Leah’s maid Zilpah bearing two more children for Jacob, namely, Gad and Asher.
Genesis 29:31, “Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”
Genesis 29:32, “Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, ‘Because the LORD has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.’”
Genesis 29:33, “Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.’” So she named him Simeon.”
Genesis 29:34, “She conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore he was named Levi.”
Genesis 29:35, “And she conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘This time I will praise the LORD.’ Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.”
Genesis 30:1, “Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or else I die.’”
“Jealous” is the verb qana (anq) (kaw-naw), and to be “jealous” is to desire to have the same or the same sort of thing for oneself and so therefore, Rachel is jealous of Leah in the sense that she desires to have children just like Leah.
Jealousy is a mental attitude sin directed toward another, which is resentful, intolerant and suspicious of another’s success, possessions or relationships and is vigilant in maintaining or guarding something.
Rachel was jealous of Leah in the sense that she desired to have children like her and was resentful and intolerant and suspicious of Leah and her success having children and she was also guarded over her relationship with Jacob and did not tolerate Leah and considered her a rival.
Jealousy is included in the list of sins produced by the old sin nature in both the believer and unbeliever (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:1).
Rachel’s jealousy of her sister Leah is rooted in her social disgrace as a barren wife.
Gordon J. Wenham, “It was a serious matter for a man to be childless in the ancient world, for it left him without an heir. But it was even more calamitous for a woman: to have a great brood of children was the mark of success as a wife; to have none was ignominious failure” (Word Biblical Commentary series, Genesis 15—50; Waco: Word Books, 1994).
She wants to gain respect and publicly to validate her marriage to Jacob.
Genesis 30:2, “Then Jacob's anger burned against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?’”
Jacob’s anger is not justified and therefore, is not “righteous indignation” as the Lord Jesus Christ displayed with the Pharisees in calling them “hypocrites” and “white washed sepulchers that are filled with dead men’s’ bones” (See Matthew 23:13-29).
Even though Jacob’s response to Rachel’s demands is accurate theologically, it was misapplied and was motivated out of frustration, impatience with her and a lack of compassion for her situation rather than love.
Jacob’s response is a classical example of a believer “not” speaking truth in love to someone.
Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE OF YOU WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.”
His response demonstrates a lack of sensitivity to Rachel’s situation of not having children, which as we noted was calamitous for a woman in the ancient world and brought on public ridicule from other women.
Jacob should have been compassionate towards her by offering words of encouragement and speaking truth to her in love and not in frustration.
Colossians 3:12-13, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
Unlike his father Isaac who interceded in prayer for his wife Rebekah to get pregnant, Jacob does not follow his example demonstrating that he is a spiritual child at this time.
Genesis 30:3, “She said, ‘Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.’”
Just as Sarah resorted to a custom acceptable in her culture, though contrary to God's will, to secure an heir for Abraham (cf. 16:1-2) so Rachel does the same in order to secure a child for Jacob.
On the contrary, Isaac prayed that God would open Rebekah's womb and waited (25:21).
The phrase “that she may bear on my knees” signifies that the child that Bilhah will bear for Jacob will be adopted by Rachel as her child.
Genesis 30:4, “So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.”
Genesis 30:5, “Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.”
Genesis 30:6, “Then Rachel said, ‘God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.’ Therefore she named him Dan.”
The name “Dan” (/D*) (dawn) means, “God has vindicated me.”
On the surface, it appears that Rachel is spiritual by giving credit to God for Bilhah’s pregnancy but in reality Rachel is using the Lord’s name in vain since the use of concubines by God’s people to solve barrenness in contrast to waiting on God is never authorized by God.
She ascribes the success of her plot to God, but in reality God did not give her the child based on her prayer but rather He gave her the child as a result of his permissive will since the directive will of God rules out concubines but the permissive will permitted the birth of this child.
How could God bless the ugly vindication of a jealous woman over her sister?
Rachel must have had very little idea Who she was talking about.
She says that the birth of Dan was an answer to prayer but she is in error since God would never answer a prayer that is against His will and Rachel’s use of a concubine rather than waiting on God to solve her problem of barrenness was against the will of God (See 1 John 5:14; James 4:3).
Genesis 30:7, “Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.”
Genesis 30:8, “So Rachel said, ‘With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.’ And she named him Naphtali.”
The name “Naphtali” (yl!T*p+n^) (naf-taw-lee) means, “my wrestling” indicating that Rachel viewed her relationship with her sister Leah to be like a wrestling match.
“With my wrestlings I have wrestled” in the Hebrew text literally reads “wrestlings with God, I have wrestled (with my sister)” since the Hebrew contains the noun naphtulim, “wrestlings,” which is followed by the noun Elohim, “God” and the verb pathal, “to wrestle.”
Rachel’s statement means that she wrestled in prayer with God to give her a child through Bilhah in order to be victorious over Leah.
Of course, God did not give Bilhah a child based on Rachel’s prayer because it was offered with wrong motivation and was against His will but rather God gave Bilhah a child based upon His permissive will.
The statement made by Rachel on the occasion of the birth of Bilhah’s second son is reflective of her true spiritual state at this time since it appears that she saw herself in a great wrestling match, not with God, but with her sister.
She states that she has triumphed over Leah by Bilhah giving birth to Naphtali.
This is a ridiculous statement by Rachel since how can two adopted sons win out over four of Leah’s sons?
God is neither mentioned nor praised in the birth of these children.
Therefore, Rachel’s statement in Genesis 30:8 indicates that she erroneously believed that God was on her side with the birth of these two boys, Dan and Naphtali and has given her the victory over her sister Leah.
Genesis 30:9, “When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.”
Rachel’s victory is short-lived.
Anything that Rachel does, Leah seeks to do better.
It is tit for tat with these two.
Leah has lowered herself to the level of Rachel.
She is now seeking revenge against Rachel and is therefore sinning and out of fellowship at this point in her life.
The rivalry between Rachel and Leah escalates as Leah gives Jacob her maid Zilpah as a concubine in response to Rachel giving Bilhah as a concubine for Jacob.
There was no need for Leah to do this since she already had four children of her own with Jacob.
There was no need to give her maid Zilpah to Jacob for a wife.
Other than the fact that this was what Rachel had done.
If Rachel can employ her maid in this contest, Leah feels that so can she.
The situation has completely gotten out of hand now.
Jacob could have found an excuse to accept Bilhah from Rachel, but there is none for his taking Zilpah.
He must have known that he was the tool of his wives’ jealousy, but evidently he does not care.
Through Zilpah, Gad and Asher are added to the family.
Leah seems to have given up on God now.
While she praised the Lord at the birth of Judah, she does not ascribe the birth of Gad to divine intervention.
Just as Bilhah was a concubine so is Zilpah.
The people in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s culture regarded a concubine as a secondary wife with some, but not all, of the rights and privileges of the primary wife so in effect Bilhah became Jacob’s concubine.
Not only was using a concubine an option, but in Hurrian culture husbands sometimes required that if their wife could not bear children she had to provide a concubine for him.
This custom helps explain why Jacob was willing to be a part of Rachel’s plan that seems so unusual to us and though using a woman other than one's wife was a custom of the day it was never God's desire (2:24; Matt. 19:4-5).
A concubine was considered in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be a “second-class wife,” acquired without payment of bride-money and possessing fewer legal rights.
In the Old Testament period, a concubine was a legal wife but one of secondary rank and she could be sent away with a small gift.
Therefore, the children of a concubine did not have the same legal rights as the wife and so the inheritance would go to the child of the wife rather than the concubine.
Genesis 30:10, “Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.”
Genesis 30:11, “Then Leah said, ‘How fortunate!’ So she named him Gad.”
The name “Gad” (dG*) (gawd) comes from “What good fortune” and indicates that Leah attributes this child to fortune or good luck rather than God.
Genesis 30:12, “Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.”
Genesis 30:13, “Then Leah said, ‘Happy am I! For women will call me happy.’ So she named him Asher.”
The name “Asher” (rv^a*) (aw-share) is from “women will call me happy” and indicates that Leah thinks she is to be envied by other women.
The name of this child demonstrates that Leah’s happiness is based upon her success over her sister Rachel.
Leah’s speech betrays her here.
Not once is God mentioned.
In the fer¬vent heat of this battle between two wives, little thought is given to the ethics of their actions, only to the expected results.
She who previously had viewed her children as a gift from the Lord now sees these sons as merely good fortune—“How lucky I am,” “How fortunate,” and “How happy am I.”
Devotion to the Lord has been thrown to the wind by Leah.
For anyone keeping score, Leah was ahead of Rachel 4 to 2, but that was not enough.
Now she has added two more points to the scoreboard.
However, in the process of gaining ground on her sis¬ter she has forfeited her fellowship with God she once demonstrated.
The focus of her thinking has shifted from God’s estimation of her actions to the praise she would be given by other women (verse 13).