#bilhah

*earlier that day*

Possibly (in terms of history) bilhah and zilpah were incorporated into the story to explain how the tribe of Gad et al became part of the Israelite confederation , as old Moabite stones sometimes distinguish between the tribe of Gad and the Israelites and they may have become part of the people later. But when one approaches the text as a story about people rather than populations, one can reckon with it as a patriarchal myth or one can project into the characters and try to interpret their motives.

Part of what is interesting about the four wives of Jacob is that the historical tradition that makes all four into wives also creates an equivalence between the experiences of wives and slaves, one which was pretty obvious I think to ancient people and is obvious to many feminist readers today. The position of Leah and Rachel is equivalent to enslavement bc their dad literally sold them in exchange for labor from Jacob. It is also notable that early rabbinical commentaries decided that bilhah and zilpah were in fact also daughters of Laban and were half sisters or sisters of Rachel and Leah, though this isn’t commonly recognized in modernity. Additionally, the story that comes immediately after this narrative presents the stories of Joseph (sold into slavery by his own family and sexually harassed by his master’s wife) and Tamar (the wife of Judah’s sons who tries to have Judah’s child after they die so she can avoid the status of a childless widow). The way those next stories are presented side by side also presents a parallel between slavery and being a bride.

As a result the baby craziness of the Bible in that part reads to me as each sister struggling to establish a protected place in this new family in order to survive and ensure their future in a strange land far away from their family—which to me doesn’t sound like a great loving thing and they never talk about Rachel loving Jacob only Jacob loving Rachel.

So I appreciated john darnielles reading of the primary relationship between people in Genesis 30:3 as being about the relationship between Rachel and Bilhah.Because there’s no indication the women had any agency in choosing their husband unlike Rebecca had with choosing Isaac —they might have not loved Jacob and I would feel more conflicted if the song was about Rachel and Jacob. But in reading it as being about these two women who both want a child and about Rachel regarding Bilhah’s kids as her own kids in a parental way like, Really is powerful to me. One can definitely look at this story and say that it is patriarchal and it is but if one is going to try to read into it and read personalities and love and emotion into the women of the Bible alternate readings like this that don’t validate any of the actions of the men and which look for another way to make sense of the text are deeply moving.

Similarly there are women rabbis who argue that eve should be seen as the first rabbi and use the existing text to support that —the idea that seeking to know god carries with it the risk of driving oneself farther away from god but you still have to try and that eves questions and search for knowledge are what prompted the start of a human striving to be better and to create a better world . The text has a history that is misogynistic but if one regards it as a body that one can read into and extrapolate on it becomes more of a living thing and a useful thing.

Jacob and Esau were brothers, twin brothers at that, but they were as different as hot and cold. One area in which they were different was in their choice of marriage partners. Jacob married the daughters of his uncle, Leah and Rachel. Later, he was also given their servants, Bilhah and Zilpah, as partners. Genesis 26:34 tells us that Esau married Judith and Basemath. Judith was the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath was the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

Jacob's wives were pleasing to his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. But Esau's wives were not. Genesis 26:35 says that Judith and Basemath "were a source of grief" to them. Talk about a classic case of in-law discord. They were such a grief that in Genesis 27:46 Rebekah said, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women." She was so disgusted with them that she didn't want Jacob to follow his older brother, Esau, and marry one of them. Rebekah would not have considered her life worth living if both her sons married Hittite women. This is one reason why Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob away to Laban. They didn't only send him away to keep him safe from Esau's wrath. They also sent him away to keep him from marrying a Hittite woman or any Canaanite woman for that matter. Before Jacob left home, Isaac explicitly told him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother."

It should be noted that Esau later married another woman. When he saw that Judith and Basemath did not please his parents, he wed Mahalath. She was the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth. There's no word on how she fared with Isaac and Rebekah. But back to the women at hand: What did Judith and Basemath do to cause such grief to their in-laws? We aren't told. But we can learn from them to live in such a way that we are a joy, not a grief, to those around us.

Rachel’s Children by Bilhah

1 Rachel saw that she was not giving Jacob any children. She became jealous of her sister Leah. So Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die!”

2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “I am not God. He is the one who has caused you to not have children.”

3 Then Rachel said, “You can have my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will have a child for me. Then I can be a mother through her.”

4 So Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband Jacob. He had sexual relations with Bilhah. 5 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob.

6 Rachel said, “God has listened to my prayer. He decided to give me a son.” So she named this son Dan.

7 Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, “I have fought hard to compete with my sister, and I have won.” So she named that son Naphtali.

9 Leah saw that she could have no more children. So she gave her slave girl Zilpah to Jacob. 10 Then Zilpah had a son. 11 Leah said, “I am lucky.” So she named the son Gad. 12 Zilpah gave birth to another son. 13 Leah said, “I am very happy! Now women will call me happy.” So she named that son Asher.

14 During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found some special flowers. He brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s flowers.”

15 Leah answered, “You have already taken away my husband. Now you are trying to take away my son’s flowers.”

But Rachel answered, “If you will give me your son’s flowers, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.”

16 Jacob came in from the fields that night. Leah saw him and went out to meet him. She said, “You will sleep with me tonight. I have paid for you with my son’s flowers.” So Jacob slept with Leah that night.

17 Then God allowed Leah to become pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son. 18 She said, “God has given me a reward because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named her son Issachar.

19 Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. 20 She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will accept me, because I have given him six sons.” So she named this son Zebulun.

21 Later, Leah gave birth to a daughter. She named her Dinah.

22 Then God heard Rachel’s prayer and made it possible for Rachel to have children. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24 Rachel named the son Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.” — Genesis 30:1-24 | Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) The Holy Bible, Easy-to-Read Version Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International. Cross References: Genesis 16:2-3; Genesis 20:18; Genesis 29:31; Genesis 34:1; Genesis 34:12; Genesis 35:17; Genesis 35:23-24; Genesis 35:26; Genesis 46:25; Genesis 49:16; Genesis 49:20; Exodus 22:17; Numbers 1:24; Numbers 2:29; Song of Solomon 7:13; Luke 1:25; Luke 1:48; Acts 7:8

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“She is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Genesis 29:29 describes her as Laban's handmaiden, who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. When Rachel failed to have children, Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob like a wife to bear him children. Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. Genesis 35:22 expressly calls Bilhah Jacob's concubine, a pilegesh. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob like a wife to bear him children as well.”