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Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. [3] 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.
In the Book of Genesis, Zilpah (Hebrew: זִלְפָּה Zīlpā, meaning uncertain) [1] was Leah's handmaid [2] whom Leah gave to Jacob like a wife to bear him children (Genesis 30:9). Zilpah gave birth to two sons, whom Leah claimed as her own and named Gad and Asher ( Genesis 30:10–13 ).
From what is known of Jacob, he had two wives, sisters Leah and Rachel, and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. The twelve sons form the basis for the twelve tribes of Israel, listed in the order from oldest to youngest: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.
Jacob and Leah share a passionate bridal night. The next morning, he pretends to be upset, informs Laban of the trick, and demands the right to marry Rachel, now upping the stakes by claiming Bilhah and Zilpah as compensation. Over the next several years, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah give birth to several sons.
The word was that the only kingdom prospering was Egypt. In the second year of this great famine, [54] when Israel (Jacob) was about 130 years old, [55] he told his 10 sons of Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah, to go to Egypt and buy grain. Israel's youngest son Benjamin, born from Rachel, stayed behind by his father's order to keep him safe.
The tribes were through his twelve sons through his wives, Leah and Rachel, and his concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. In modern scholarship, there is skepticism as to whether there ever were twelve Israelite tribes, with the use of the number 12 thought more likely to signify a symbolic tradition as part of a national founding myth.
Leah is depicted as capable but testy, Rachel as something of a belle, but kind and creative, Zilpah as eccentric and spiritual, and Bilhah as the gentle and quiet one of the quartet. Dinah remembers sitting in the red tent with her mother and aunts, gossiping about local events and taking care of domestic duties between visits to Jacob, the ...
As for why Zilpah and Bilhah's children were considered Jewish despite their mothers having unspecified ancestry, rabbinic sources posit that Zilpah and Bilhah were actually the half-sisters of Leah and Rachel. [38] Alternatively, as Zilpah and Bilhah were maidservants, their children were considered to belong to their mistresses Leah and ...