And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son.
And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bare Jacob a second son.
And Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant, beareth a second son to Jacob,
And Zilpah Leah's maidservant bore Jacob a second son.
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches2
Asher will have one portion bordering the territory of Dan from east to west.
From the sons of Asher, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,
Voices2
(Verse 12 and 13.) And Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. And Leah said, 'I am blessed, for women will call me blessed.' And she called his name Asher, which means 'riches'. The riches are added with a play on words, that is, πλοῦτος. The etymology of the name Asher is explained by the authority of Scripture, which says, 'I am blessed, and women will call me blessed.' And because she is called blessed by people, she named her son blessed. Therefore, Asher is not called riches but blessed, only in this particular context.
Jerome· Hebrew Questions on Genesis, 420patristic
Commentary on Chapter 30 1. Rachel envied her sister - Envy is grieving at the good of another, than which no sin is more injurious both to God, our neighbour, and ourselves. But this was not all, she said to Jacob, give me children or else I die - A child would not content her; but because Leah has more than one, she must have more too;
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical
