Zilpah

Zilpah is Leah’s handmaid and later Jacob’s wife within the household formed by Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. Her place in the family is defined through the arrangement by which Leah gives her to Jacob after Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah has borne children; Zilpah’s two sons, Gad and Asher, are counted among Jacob’s sons and the ancestral lines of Israel.

Place in Jacob’s Household

After Leah has borne four sons, Rachel, who has borne no children, gives her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob as a wife. Leah later stops bearing, takes her own handmaid Zilpah, and gives her to Jacob as a wife as well. The narrative thus places Zilpah within a household in which the handmaids’ marriages and childbearing are arranged by their mistresses amid rivalry over offspring.

Children and Lineage

Zilpah bears Jacob a son, and Leah names him Gad, declaring that fortune has come to her. Zilpah then bears a second son, Asher; Leah associates his name with her own happiness and the prospect that other women will call her happy. The narrative gives Leah the naming and interpretation of these births, while identifying Zilpah as the mother.

Later Family Record

When Jacob’s sons are enumerated, Gad and Asher are explicitly listed as the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid. Both are included among the twelve sons from whom the family’s tribal descent is traced. Zilpah’s lasting place in the account is therefore preserved through her maternity and the lineage attached to her sons.