Bilhah and Zilpah Mothered Four Tribes—So Are They Matriarchs?

All translations of rabbinic texts are mine and/or the editors’.

Translations are from NJPS with modifications.

Talmud translations are from the William Davidson Talmud, with modifications. Other references to four matriarchs are found in the Babylonian Talmud in Nazir 23b and Horayot 10b.     

See discussion in Anat Reizel, מבוא למדרשים [Introduction to the Midrashic Literature], 2^nd ed., ed. Amnon Bazak (Tevunot Press-Herzog College, 5773 [2012/2013]; repr. of 5771 [2010/2011]), 155.

This same midrash appears in the 12^th century Numbers Rabbah:

^{במדבר רבה יב:יז} וַיָּבִיאוּ אֶת קָרְבָּנָם לִפְנֵי ה' שֵׁשׁ עֶגְלֹת צָב וגו' (במדבר ז, ג), שֵׁשׁ, כְּנֶגֶד שֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי בְרֵאשִׁית. שֵׁשׁ, כְּנֶגֶד שִׁשָּׁה סִדְרֵי מִשְׁנָה. שֵׁשׁ, כְּנֶגֶד אִמָּהוֹת, אֵלּוּ הֵן: שָׂרָה וְרִבְקָה, רָחֵל וְלֵאָה, בִּלְהָה, זִלְפָּה.

^{Numbers Rabbah 12:17} “They brought their offering before the Lord, six covered carts…” – six corresponding to the six days of Creation, six corresponding to the six orders of Mishnah; six corresponding to the matriarchs. They were Sarah and Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah.

It is also quoted in the 13^th century collection Yalkut Shimoni:

^{ילקוט שמעוני על התורה תשיג}  "וַיָּבִיאוּ אֶת קָרְבָּנָם לִפְנֵי ה' שֵׁשׁ עֶגְלֹת צָב" (במדבר ז ג)—שֵׁשׁ, כְּנֶגֶד שֵׁשׁ עֶרְכֵי הַמִּשְׁנָה. שֵׁשׁ, כְּנֶגֶד שֵׁשׁ אִמָּהוֹת שָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל וְלֵאָה בִּלְהָה וְזִלְפָּה.

^{Yalkut Shimoni on Torah §713} “And they brought their sacrifice before the Lord, six covered carts” (Num 7:3)—Six, corresponding to six sections ​​of the Mishnah. Six, corresponding to six mothers: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah.

Esther Rabbah is a composite document. The first section (parashiyot 1–6) is 6^th century Galileean, the second section (parashiyot 7–10) is 11^th century, and the two were combined into one document in the 12^th/13^th century. See discussion in Reizel, Introduction to the Midrashic Literature, 208–220 [p. 209]. The midrash above is from the earlier, first section.

Hebrew text from Joseph Tabory and Arnon Atzmon, מדרש אסתר רבה: מהדורה ביקורתית על פי כתבי יד [Midrash Esther Rabbah: Critical Edition Based on Manuscripts], מפעל המדרש [The Midrash Project] (Schechter Institute, 2014), 37–39 [main section].

With the publication of the Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale, and the television series of the same name, the term handmaid has become burdened with modern connotations.

Note that Bilhah and Zilpah are often treated as almost interchangeable, and to some extent, that is done here.  The reality is that they each have different experiences and are treated differently, to a large extent, because of the sister to whom they belong.  Ironically, the interaction between Reuben and Bilhah complicates his relationship with his father more than Bilhah’s relationship with anyone else (Gen 35:22).  See Tammi J. Schneider, Mothers of Promise: Women in the Book of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 126-37.

Schneider, Mothers of Promise, 2008, 127.

Editor’s note: On the stigma of infertility in the biblical world, see Joel Baden, “God Opened Her Womb—The Biblical Conception of Fertility,” TheTorah (2017).

This time, Bilhah is referred to as an ʾamah and not a shifchah, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference to the story. Scholars have debated which status is worse but there is no agreement (Schneider Mothers of Promise, 103-108). Hagar is also called an ʾamah (Gen 21:10, 13). Source critical scholars often divide these synonymous terms based on source, with E using ʾamah and J shifchah, but this is not how I approach the text.

The word ishah means both woman and wife and which is intended is never completely clear. Schneider, Mothers of Promise, 106-7.

When Jacob decides it is time to leave Laban’s camp, he refers to his wives/women, which may include Bilhah and Zilpah:

^{בראשית ל:כו} תְּנָה אֶת־נָשַׁי וְאֶת־יְלָדַי אֲשֶׁר עָבַדְתִּי אֹתְךָ בָּהֵן וְאֵלֵכָה כִּי אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ אֶת־עֲבֹדָתִי אֲשֶׁר עֲבַדְתִּיךָ.

^{Gen 30:26} Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, that I may go; for well you know what services I have rendered you.”

But his description of the wives a “for whom I have served you” indicates that he is probably only referring to Leah and Rachel here, who have claimed the children of the maidservants Zilpah and Bilhah, as their own. Moreover, this demand that Laban give him his wives also seems to refer to only Leah and Rachel, since the maidservants are no longer his – they belong to his daughters.

Editor’s note: For a discussion of the significance of who names a child, see Isaac S.D. Sasoon, “Baby Naming: Biblical Rites and Mother’s Rights,” TheTorah (2014).

The significance of the first son’s name is less clear:

^{בראשית ל:י} וַתֵּלֶד זִלְפָּה שִׁפְחַת לֵאָה לְיַעֲקֹב בֵּן. ^ל:יא וַתֹּאמֶר לֵאָה (בגד) [בָּא גָד] וַתִּקְרָא אֶת־שְׁמוֹ גָּד.

^{Gen 30:10} And when Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son, ^30:11 Leah said, “What luck!” So she named him Gad.

Editor’s note: For a source critical approach to the account in Genesis 29-30 of the births of Jacobs sons, see Tzemah Yoreh, “How the Israelite Family Was Put Together: The Twelve Sons of Jacob,” TheTorah (2016).

Nahmanides uses the term גבירות here which refers to their status as slaveowners.

God’s blessing of Jacob/Israel and his descendants makes no distinction among the sons of Jacob (Gen 35:10-12).

Again, when the family moves to Egypt, the children are separated out by who their mother is, and their mothers are named (Gen 46:8–25), but they are all children of Jacob and they all move to Egypt (Gen 46:5–6).

It is apparently the practice at some congregations to say their name, despite their absence in the siddur itself, as an oral tradition or qere of sorts.

Rachel dies giving birth to her son Benjamin (Gen 35:16-18), as Jacob and his family are travelling from Bethel to Ephrath:

^{בראשית לה:יט} וַתָּמׇת רָחֵל וַתִּקָּבֵר בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶפְרָתָה הִוא בֵּית לָחֶם. ^לה:כ וַיַּצֵּב יַעֲקֹב מַצֵּבָה עַל־קְבֻרָתָהּ הִוא מַצֶּבֶת קְבֻרַת־רָחֵל עַד־הַיּוֹם.

^{Gen 35:19} Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath—now Bethlehem. ^35:20 Over her grave Jacob set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day.

For an interesting take on the meaning of it as well as a review of the various theories concerned see Leah K. Laird Pilagsim in the Deuteronomistic History: Colonialism, Immigration, Repatriation, and Indigenous Populations in the Persian Period Publication date 2020, Claremont School of Theology Dissertations and DMin Projects

This incident is also recounted in 1 Chronicles 5:1.

This episode occurs after Jacob and Laban part ways with a declaration that neither party will cross to the other side into the other’s territory (Gen 31:52).  If the connection to women from Paddan-aram is relevant for the wives of Patriarchs, as it clearly is to Abraham for Isaac (Gen 24:3), then this barrier means there are no longer any legitimate source of “kosher” wives for Jacob’s children.  Who are they to marry?

On Reuben’s sin and his punishment in the Torah, Second Temple literature (such as Jubilees and the Testament of Reuben) and rabbinic literature, see Shani Tzoref, “Did Reuben Lie with Bilhah? Yes, No, We Don’t Talk About It!” TheTorah (2013).