Jacob’s Children
Jacob’s Children
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Unloved
Yahweh saw that Leah was unloved, so he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren.
Leah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben. “Yahweh has seen my misery. Now my husband will love me!”
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son. “Yahweh heard that I am unloved, and he has given me this one as well.” So she named him Simeon.
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son. “This time, my husband will unite with me because I have given him three sons!” So the child was named Levi.
Again she conceived and gave birth to a son. “This time, I will praise Yahweh” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay
The years following Jacob’s double marriage were characterized by two major themes: the toxic family dynamic created by his forced polygamy and the fulfillment of God’s blessing despite it. Jacob’s first eleven sons were all born within seven or eight years. During this time, Jacob fades into the background as the narrative focuses on his bickering wives, who each had what the other wanted most. Rachel had Jacob’s love, but Leah had Jacob’s children.
Seeing Leah’s pain because Jacob didn’t love her, Yahweh opened her womb and gave her four sons in quick succession. Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel all struggled with barrenness, but Leah had no trouble conceiving.1 The names of Leah’s first three children reflect her hope that bearing sons would earn her Jacob’s love. Reuben (reʾuven) means “Look! A son!” and sounds like raʾah beʿonyi (“he has seen my misery”). Simeon (shimʿon) sounds like shamaʿ (“he heard”). And Levi (lewi) sounds like the verb lawah (“to join, unite”).
But even three sons didn’t change Jacob’s attitude toward Leah. By the time she gave birth to her fourth son, she had given up hope. Her husband didn’t care about her, but Yahweh had proven he did. She would praise him this time. Judah (yehudah) sounds like the verb yadah (“to praise”). After Judah, Leah stopped having children for a time.
Bilhah’s Sons
When Rachel realized she couldn’t give Jacob children, she grew jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, “Give me children! If not, I may as well die!”
Then Jacob grew angry with Rachel. “Can I take God’s place? He’s the one who has prevented you from having children!”
“Then sleep with my servant Bilhah! She can have children for me so our family can grow through her!”
So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife. Jacob slept with her, and Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son. Then Rachel said, “God has exonerated me! He listened to me and gave me a son.” So she named him Dan.
Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Then Rachel said, “I have struggled mightily against my sister, and I have won!” So she named him Naphtali.
The ease with which Leah conceived increased the tension between her and her barren sister. In a jealous rage, Rachel lashed out against Jacob, demanding he give her children too. Of course, Jacob didn’t have the power to heal her womb, so this made him angry. But he correctly pointed Rachel to the only one who could help. Her barrenness was not Jacob’s fault. Nor was it Leah’s. Rachel needed to take her problem to God.
She didn’t listen. Instead of turning to God, Rachel took matters into her own hands. She pressured Jacob to marry her servant Bilhah, just as Sarah had pressured Abraham to marry Hagar.2 Rachel would adopt Bilhah’s children as her own. Jacob acquiesced, and Bilhah gave birth to two sons. Unlike Sarah, Rachel rejoiced when her plan succeeded.3
The names of both boys reflect their role in Rachel’s imagined battle with her sister. She felt the birth of Bilhah’s first son exonerated her from the cruel lies often aimed at barren women. Dan sounds like the verb din (“to judge, exonerate”), which often refers to executing justice in favor of the innocent. With the birth of Bilhah’s second son, Rachel declared victory in her struggle. Naphtali sounds like naphtulim (“struggles”).
Zilpah’s Sons
When Leah realized she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as his wife. Zilpah also gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “What luck!” So she named him Gad.
Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “What happiness for me! The women consider me happy.” So she named him Asher.
While Rachel rejoiced over the birth of Bilhah’s sons, Leah had stopped having children. Her rival was catching up with her. So Leah decided to give Jacob a fourth wife, her servant Zilpah. Leah would claim Zilpah’s children as Rachel claimed Bilhah’s. Childbearing had become a bitter game of one-upmanship.
Like Bilhah, Zilpah gave birth to two sons. The names Leah gave them indicate she had given up trying to earn Jacob’s love and instead found joy in her children, including these two through Zilpah. Gad means “luck, fortune,” and Asher (ʾasher) sounds like ʾosher (“happiness”).
Mandrakes
During the wheat harvest, Reuben found some mandrakes out in the field. He brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel asked Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
“Is it not enough you stole my husband? Now you want my son’s mandrakes too!”
“Fine then!” replied Rachel. “He can sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
When Jacob returned from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must come with me. I have hired you in exchange for my son’s mandrakes.” So that night Jacob slept with her.
God heard Leah, so she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son. “God has compensated me for giving my servant to my husband,” she said. So she named him Issachar.
Again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. “God has given me a wonderful gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons!” So she named him Zebulun. Later, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
Image by Erik Llerena from Pixabay
One day while the family was in the fields harvesting wheat, Leah’s son Reuben ran across some mandrakes and took them to his mother. Long believed to have magical properties, including the ability to heal infertility, this narcotic plant rarely grows in Mesopotamia.4 Little Reuben had found a valuable treasure.
Rachel coveted these plants because she thought they could give her the children she longed for. So she politely asked her sister to share the mandrakes. In anger, Leah blamed Rachel for “stealing” Jacob from her. Though technically Jacob’s first wife, Leah probably didn’t spend much time with her husband. Jacob now had four wives, and he certainly prioritized trying to get his beloved Rachel pregnant. Leah’s children were the only advantage she held over Rachel, and she refused to give that up.
Undaunted, Rachel proposed a deal. In exchange for the mandrakes, Leah could have what she really wanted—a night with Jacob. Once again, Rachel took matters into her own hands. Instead of trusting God, she trusted a superstition. But this time, her plan failed miserably. She received nothing but some worthless plants that could not open her womb. Instead, God reopened Leah’s. By giving up the mandrakes, Leah received both a night with her husband and a fifth son.
Leah named her son Issachar (yissakar), which sounds like sakar (“wages, compensation”). But she viewed Issachar as compensation for giving Zilpah to Jacob, not for giving the mandrakes to Rachel. She then gave birth to her sixth son. Zebulun (zevulun) is a wordplay on both zavad (“to gift”) and zaval (“to honor”). Finally, she gave birth to a daughter named Dinah.
Joseph
Then God remembered Rachel. He heard her and opened her womb, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. So she named him Joseph. “May Yahweh give me another son.”
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
For more than six years, Rachel watched as Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah gave Jacob ten sons. But despite all her scheming, she failed to have children of her own—until God remembered her.5 God heard her cries of despair and knew it was time to act.
The reversal of Rachel’s situation may indicate she had finally turned to Yahweh for the solution to her problem. At least, she recognized that neither Bilhah nor Reuben’s mandrakes had removed the shame of her barrenness. But God did. She credited Yahweh for her first son and asked him for another. She expressed this wish in the name of her son. Joseph (yoseph) means “may he add” and sounds like ʾasaph (“to remove”).
- Genesis 11:30; 25:21.
- See Hagar.
- See Pride and Jealousy.
- Koops, Plants and Trees, 5.2.3 Mandrake (“love apple”); Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 30:14–15.
- See Remembered.