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Zilpah was given to Leah as a handmaid by Leah's father, Laban, upon Leah's marriage to Jacob (see Genesis 29:24, 46:18). According to the early rabbinical commentary Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, Zilpah and Bilhah, the handmaids of Leah and Rachel, respectively, were actually daughters of Laban and one or more of his concubines. [3]
Genesis 29:29 describes her as Laban's handmaiden (שִׁפְחָה), 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. [2] Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. [3]
Leah responded by offering her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, and named and raised the two sons (Gad and Asher) that Zilpah gave birth to. According to some commentaries, Bilhah and Zilpah are actually half-sisters of Leah and Rachel. [17] One day, Leah's firstborn son Reuben returned from the field with mandrakes for his mother.
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 ...
Gad is a son of Jacob and Zilpah. Dan is a son of Jacob and Bilhah. Featured. Zebulun is the sixth son of Jacob and Leah. Asher is a son of Jacob and Zilpah. Naphtali is a son of Jacob and Bilhah. Rachel is a wife of Jacob, the younger sister of Leah, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Zilpah is a handmaid to Leah, who gave her as a ...
Rachel, fearing the consummation of the marriage, switches places with her sister at the wedding. 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.
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.
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 ...