Genesis 30:9-13

2008.Dec.26 04:55

To Be Envied

Read Genesis 30:9-13 | Full Chapter

When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear, she gave Zilpah her maid to Jacob as a [secondary] wife. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, Victory and good fortune have come; and she named him Gad [fortune]. Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob [her] second son. And Leah said, I am happy, for women will call me blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied); and she named him Asher [happy].
(Genesis 30:9-13, AMP)

Leah has had four sons, but in her race against younger sister Rachel, she’s fallen behind. Rachel has only had two sons, and those actually sons of Rachel’s handmaid, Bilhah, but they’re more recent, and Jacob is more attracted to her. What to do? Well, two can play the handmaid game.

So, Leah now has her handmaid become a sort of wife to Jacob. Zilpah now joins this crazy child-bearing game. It’s possible that both Zilpah and Bilhah are glad for these roles. After all, their social positions have probably elevated with this ‘lesser wifedom’, if you will. Their respective patrons are probably more interested in the handmaids’ comfort and well-being. On the downside, they may be increasingly subject to the opposing sister’s wrath. What tangled bloody webs.

So, we’re now up to six sons. Beats me what everybody else has been up to otherwise. Jacob is continuing to help out with Laban’s flocks, but as far as what everyday life is like for this strange family, there’s no indication. Indeed, perhaps this family wasn’t so strange for that time.

Still, at what point do you as [pick one: Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Laban, either handmaid] look up and say, “This infighting stops here and now.” No, it seems the collective family goal is more sons, family happiness and unity are irrelevant. Secondary is the success of Laban’s (and later, Jacob’s) flocks. I don’t understand at all the “many offspring” thing. My wife and I are about to have our first child, and while I wouldn’t be surprised if we have at least one more, I don’t judge my success by having children. Indeed, having many children in modern times strikes me as foolish.

I do understand the pull of financial success. Money can make you happy. Temporarily and incompletely, to be sure, but those moments of “yes, we can afford…” are pretty nice while they last. And certainly there’s the (deceptive) feeling that money brings security. But all these considerations–pride in offspring, jealousy between family members, searching for financial success–distract from the actual success of the family.