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Zilpah was 尝别补丑鈥檚 handmaiden or servant whom Leah gave to her husband, Jacob, as a concubine. Zilpah bore Jacob two sons: Gad and Asher.
Zilpah鈥檚 background is unknown, other than the fact that Zilpah had been one of 尝补产补苍鈥檚 servants before 尝别补丑鈥檚 marriage to Jacob. When Jacob married Leah, 鈥淟aban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant鈥� (Genesis 29:24). A week later, when Jacob married 尝别补丑鈥檚 sister, Rachel, Laban gave Bilhah to Rachel as her attendant (Genesis 29:29). Some Jewish scholars have suggested that Zilpah and Bilhah were 尝补产补苍鈥檚 daughters by a concubine (and therefore half-sisters of Leah and Rachel), but this is nowhere stated in the Bible.
Leah and Rachel were soon involved in a child-bearing war with each other. Their fight for prominence in their husband鈥檚 eyes prompted them to bring their servants into the battle. Once Rachel realized she was not able to bear children, she gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob to produce children through a surrogate (Genesis 30:3–4). In doing so, Rachel followed a then-common practice for a barren wife to give her servant to her husband as a concubine. The offspring born to that concubine would be considered children of her mistress.
Leah had four sons, but then she stopped bearing children. Jacob鈥檚 next two sons were through Rachel鈥檚 servant, and Leah, wanting more children in her name, followed the lead of her younger sister and offered Zilpah to her husband (Genesis 30:9–10). Zilpah鈥檚 two sons, Gad and Asher, became forebears of two of the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 35:26).
Nothing is said in Scripture about how Zilpah viewed this arrangement, but, as a servant, she would have had no recourse even if she had objected to it. In the patriarchal, pre-Mosaic Law society in which she lived, Zilpah did not have any rights. She didn鈥檛 even get to name the children she bore to Jacob. Instead, Leah named both Gad and Asher (Genesis 30:10–13). The Bible indicates that Zilpah and Bilhah were Jacob鈥檚 鈥渨ives鈥� (Genesis 37:2), but they were not wives in the same sense that Leah and Rachel were. A more specific term today would be concubine or handmaid. The Amplified Bible provides wording to make the arrangement clearer, saying that Bilhah and Zilpah were 鈥淸secondary] wives.鈥� Zilpah was not given a choice of whether to become Jacob鈥檚 concubine, and she and Bilhah were manipulated as pawns in a power struggle between two sisters. Despite Zilpah鈥檚 exploitation, God still used the situation to make a nation of chosen people for Himself.
Zilpah is a silent character in the Bible; we have no recorded words from her. Like other women used as child-bearers in that era, Zilpah would have been viewed as insignificant and unimportant to society. To Jacob, Zilpah鈥檚 two sons were counted among 尝别补丑鈥檚, but we know that Zilpah was recognized by the Lord. Two generations earlier, the servant Hagar had found herself in a similar situation, as she was given to Abraham as a concubine (Genesis 16:1–4). But God was with Hagar. He appeared to her and saved her life twice, gave her hope and direction, and blessed her son (Genesis 21). Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah, exploited in this world, still mattered to God.
