The Mothers of the Children of Israel (4)

Bilhah and Zilpah: the Enslaved Matriarchs

The matriarchs hold a special place in the Hebrew canon and society. They are so much more than “Jacob’s wives” or “the mothers of the Children of Israel.” This post introduces Bilhah and Zilpah as mothers for Jacob’s children and examines the ways that their enslaved bodies are used for procreation at the will of their mistresses, Rachel and Leah.

Who are Bilhah and Zilpah?

The readers are first introduced to Bilhah and Zilpah at Genesis 29:24 and 29. Laban gives Bilhah to Rachel as her slave, and Zilpah to Leah. They are not mentioned again until they are given to Jacob as wives in 30:4 and 9. Each time we meet the women, they are passive characters with no voice of their own being gifted and re-gifted at will.

Most translations soften the language to refer to these women as maid-servants. But, I wholeheartedly agree with Wil Gafney that that language is misleading at best. She writes,

I choose the translation ‘slave’ rather than ‘servant’ … to emphasize that these persons were bought and sold, used for sex, impregnated, and completely subjugated to the power of those called their mistresses and masters. ‘Servitude’ suggests employment, which is not the case for slaves in the biblical corpus.¹

Bilhah and Zilpah are mothers of two sons each. Bilhah is given to Jacob by Rachel after Rachel realizes that she cannot conceive. Zilpah is given by Leah after she realizes that she has stopped bearing children.

Though Bilhah and Zilpah are commonly understood to be concubines of Jacob, the text calls them wives. The word is ishah and is always translated as wife when describing Rachel and Leah. The word for concubine is pilagesh and it does not appear in this section of the text.

Bilhah and Zilpah should be understood as having the same rights as Leah and Rachel since the same word describes all four women in their relationship to Jacob. If it is Jacob’s emotional availability to these women that determines whether they were concubines or wives, then Leah is as much a concubine for Jacob as either of these women since Jacob’s preference lies with Rachel.

Unlike Leah’s pregnancies, the active participation of God is absent. There is no divine intervention on Bilhah or Zilpah’s behalf. Bilhah, by Rachel’s orchestration, conceives first. The text is clear that all four of Bilhah and Zilpah’s children are born to Jacob, not to Rachel or Leah. Still, Leah and Rachel name these four sons also.

Infertility Threatens Rachel’s Security

Genesis 30:1 says, “Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister…” After watching her sister give Jacob son after son, Rachel finally confronts Jacob, demanding children, lest she die.

It is darkly ironic that she views her barrenness as deadly, when she ultimately dies giving birth to Benjamin in 35:16-18, a harrowing reminder of the fragility of life and the dangers of childbirth in the ancient world and, even today.

Jacob becomes angry with Rachel and asks her, quite sharply, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” Jacob denies any responsibility for the situation and shifts the focus to God.

In Rachel’s day and age, it would have been understood as being the woman’s fault if no children were born into a marriage, and, since Jacob has already impregnated Leah four times by this point, there is no textual evidence to suggest that Jacob is sterile. Still, It is quite significant that he does not assume Rachel to be at fault for infertility, believing instead that the power to produce children belongs solely to God.

Bilhah: Rachel’s Womb-Slave

Rachel, however, cannot be content with Jacob’s understanding of God as in control of Rachel’s fertility. As with Sarah in Genesis 16:2, Rachel suggests using Bilhah, her slave woman (or womb-slave, as Wil Gafney aptly describes her), as a surrogate mother. Gafney reminds us, “Bilhah is first Laban’s slave and then Rachel’s; the only service she performs in the text is reproductive.”¹ In Genesis 30:3 she tells Jacob, “Go in to her [Bilhah] that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.”

And like Abraham, Jacob agrees.

It is uncertain what “bear on my knees” means. Some believe it is a figurative expression meaning “I will raise her children,” suggesting some sort of ancient ritual indicating the adoption of the child. Some view this as Rachel’s fertility wish, and I find this more compelling.

the position taken in antiquity by a woman during childbirth, straddling the knees of an attendant (another woman or at times her own husband) upon whose knees the emerging child was received…Perhaps Rachel attended Bilhah herself in order to cure, in a sympathetic-magical way, her own infertility…²

Whatever, it’s precise meaning, it is clear that Rachel is attempting to solve her personal and marital problem by use of her slave’s body.

Bilhah’s first son is Dan. Rachel appears to claim him as her own in her speech, accrediting God with vindicating her by saying: “God has judged me and has also heard my voice and given me a son” (30:6; emphasis mine).

Bilhah’s second son is Naphtali. It is in this naming speech that Rachel claims victory over Leah saying: “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed” (30:8). It seems likely that Rachel understood that she and her sister were “wrestling” for Jacob’s favor, with childbearing being the mechanism for obtaining that favor. Yet the text does not make that clear.

The text also does not reveal if Leah is aware of Rachel’s feelings of animosity at this point. Nor does it explain how Rachel won in this fight with her sister. If it is through children, then Leah is still in the lead, so to speak, and her children are biologically her own! The speech concerning the birth of Naphtali raises many questions that don’t have answers apparent in the text.

Rachel’s first naming speeches, whatever new questions they may raise, indicate that her status with God and with her sister is, at least in her own estimation, in proper order: God has judged her and granted her a son; Leah is defeated.

Zilpah: Leah’s Womb-Slave

Zilpah is the next to become pregnant. There is no reason for Leah to give Zilpah as a wife to Jacob other than that she has seen she has stopped bearing. It is unclear whether she wishes Zilpah to have children for Jacob or for herself. She does, however, name Zilpah’s children.

The first she names Gad, meaning fortune, exclaiming, “How fortunate!” (30:11). When Asher (meaning “happy”) is born, Leah says “Happy am I forwomen will call me happy” (30:13).

In contrast to Rachel, Leah’s speeches are free from jealousy and strife, yet both women’s speeches acknowledge a sense of contentment and satisfaction, however short-lived it may be.

In the next post, we’ll examine the first reported conversation between Leah and Rachel as well as discuss the birth of two more sons and one daughter to Leah.