Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
Rachel also made reply to Jacob, saying: "Did not thy father, too,
entreat God for thy mother with earnest words, beseeching Him to remove
her barrenness?" Jacob: "It is true, but Isaac had no children, and I
have several." Rachel: "Remember thy grandfather Abraham, thou canst
not deny that he had children when he supplicated God in behalf of
Sarah!" Jacob: "Wouldst thou do for me what Sarah did for my
grandfather?" Rachel: "Pray, what did she?" Jacob: "She herself brought
a rival into her house." Rachel: "If that is all that is necessary, I
am ready to follow the example of Sarah, and I pray that as she was
granted a child for having invited a rival, so may I be blessed,
too."[178] Thereupon Rachel gave Jacob Bilhah, her freed handmaid, to
wife, and she bore him a son, whom Rachel called Dan, saying, "As the
Lord was gracious unto me and gave me a son according to my petition,
so He will permit Samson, the descendant of Dan, to judge his people,
that it fall not into the hands of the Philistines."[179] Bilhah's
second son Rachel named Naphtali, saying, "Mine is the bond that binds
Jacob to this place, for it was for my sake that he came to Laban." At
the same time she wanted to convey by this name that the Torah, which
is as sweet as Nofet, "honeycomb," would be taught in the territory of
Naphtali.[180] And the name had still a third meaning: "As God hath
heard my fervent prayer for a son, so He will hearken unto the fervent
prayer of the Naphtalites when they are beset by their enemies."[181]
Leah, seeing that she had left bearing, while Bilhah, her sister's
handmaid, bore Jacob two sons, concluded that it was Jacob's destiny to
have four wives, her sister and herself, and their half-sisters Bilhah
and Zilpah. Therefore she also gave him her handmaid to wife.[182]
Zilpah was the youngest of the four women. It was the custom of that
time to give the older daughter the older handmaid, and the younger
daughter the younger handmaid, as their dowry, when they got married.
Now, in order to make Jacob believe that his wife was the younger
daughter he had served for, Laban had given Leah the younger handmaid
as her marriage portion. This Zilpah was so young that her body
betrayed no outward signs of pregnancy, and nothing was known of her
condition until her son was born. Leah called the boy Gad, which means
"fortune," or it may mean "the cutter," for from Gad was descended the
prophet Elijah, who brings good fortune to Israel, and he also cuts
down the heathen world.[183] Leah had other reasons, too, for choosing
this name of double meaning. The tribe of Gad had the good fortune of
entering into possession of its allotment in the Holy Land before any
of the others,[184] and, also, Gad the son of Jacob was born
circumcised.[185]
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