Becoming Israel – "1+2+2=11+1+1"

 [It just doesn’t add up,  “1+2+2=11+1+1”— it was not meant to, just wanted to get your attention and actually, what equation does represent is Yaakov, 2 wives, 2 concubines, 11 sons when he sets out for his return trip, a youngest son born to beloved wife Rahel, and a daughter Dinah.  Does it figure?

 Continuing the Yaakov series “Becoming Israel,” here are more points form Sinaite’s discussions of these chapters. Translation is Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. —Admin 1.]

The condensed form of Chapters 29-30: 

• Yaakov meets Rachel at the well
• Yaakov meets Laban, Rachel’s father
• Yaakov agrees to work for Laban 7 years so he could marry Rachel
• Yaakov is deceived by Laban and substitutes Leah the older sister
• Yaakov puts in another 7 years to marry Rachel
• Yaakov bears children not only with Leah and Rachel, but with their maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah as well

Sibling rivalry, this time between the sister-wives Leah and Rachel, keeps Ya’aqob busy fulfilling the divine mandate to “be fruitful and multiply.”

For the period of time he’s committed to serving Laban, he manages to sire11 sons and a daughter from 4 women, all consensual. The culture of the times not only allowed polygamy, but also surrogate mothers (maidservants) when wives could not bear children. Notice how the wives claim the children born from their maidservants as though these were their own.

Rachel on Bilhah’s sons [30:4-8]:

4 She gave him Bilha her maid as a wife, 

 and Yaakov came in to her.

 5 Bilha became pregnant and bore Yaakov a son.

 6 Rahel said: 

 God has done-me-justice; yes, he has heard my voice! 

 He has given me a son! 

 Therefore she called his name: Dan/He-has-done-justice.

 7 And Bilha, Rahel’s maid, became pregnant again and bore a second son to Yaakov.

 8 Rahel said: 

 A struggle of God have I struggled with my sister; yes, I have prevailed! 

 So she called his name: Naftali/My Struggle.

Leah on Zilpah’s sons [vs 9-12]

9 Now when Lea saw that she had stopped giving birth, 

she took Zilpa her maid and gave her to Yaakov as a wife.

10 Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore Yaakov a son.

11 Lea said: 

What fortune! 

So she called his name: Gad/Fortune.

12 And Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore a second son to Yaakov.

13 Lea said: 

What happiness! 

For women will deem me happy.

So she called his name: Asher/Happiness.

We never hear a peep out of Bilhah and Zilpah; evidently they are culturally and socially conditioned to produce for their mistresses and allow themselves to be as concubines for their master.

Left on their own, humankind make up their own rules, marginalizing genders, races, the young and the old, slaves/servants, those who have no voice and therefore have no rights. YHWH’s Torah will later address these inequalities with its commandments to care for the orphans, widows, servants, the stranger among you. But until that time, the Genesis narratives simply follow the progression of the divine plan to form a people who will be separate and different and be His light-bearer and model community to the nations; stories without critical commentary on how it should not be, but simply that it was so.  For exactly, that is how narratives tell it,  and so it was.

So let’s get the children of Ya’aqob in their natural order from eldest to youngest, all born while still in Haran:

• Leah
  • Son# 1  Re’uven. . . . (29:32)
  • 31 Now when YHVH saw that Lea was hated, 
    he opened her womb, 
    while Rahel was barren.
    32 So Lea became pregnant and bore a son; 
    she called his name: Re’uven/See, a Son! 
    for she said: 
    Indeed, YHVH has seen my being afflicted, 
    indeed, now my husband will love me!
  • Son #2  Shim’on. . . (29:33)
  • 33 She became pregnant again and bore a son, 
    and said: 
    Indeed, YHVH has heard that I am hated, 
    so he has given me this one as well! 
    And she called his name: Shim’on/Hearing.
  • Son #3  Levi . . . . (29:34)
  • 34 She became pregnant again and bore a son, 
    and said: 
    Now this time my husband will be joined to me, 
    for I have borne him three sons! 
    Therefore they called his name: Levi/Joining.
  • Son #4  Yehuda . . . . (29:35)
  • 35 She became pregnant again and bore a son, 
    and said:
    This time I will give thanks to YHVH! 
    Therefore she called his name: Yehuda/Giving-thanks. 
    Then she stopped giving birth.

• Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant
  • Son #5  Dan . . . . (30:6)
  • 6 Rahel said: 
    God has done-me-justice; yes, he has heard my voice! 
    He has given me a son! 
    Therefore she called his name: Dan/He-has-done-justice.
  • Son #6  Naftali. . . . (30:7-8)
  • 7 And Bilha, Rahel’s maid, became pregnant again and bore a second son to Yaakov. 8 Rahel said:  A struggle of God have I struggled with my sister; yes, I have prevailed!  So she called his name: Naftali/My Struggle.
• Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant
  • Son #7  Gad . . . (30:9-11)
  • 9 Now when Lea saw that she had stopped giving birth,  she took Zilpa her maid and gave her to Yaakov as a wife. 10 Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore Yaakov a son. 11 Lea said:  What fortune!  So she called his name: Gad/Fortune.
  • Son #8  Asher. . . . (30:12-13)
  • 12 And Zilpa, Lea’s maid, bore a second son to Yaakov. 13 Lea said:  What happiness!  For women will deem me happy.  So she called his name: Asher/Happiness.
• Leah
  • Son #9  Yissakhar . . . . (30:17-18)
    
    17 And God hearkened to Lea, 
     
    so that she became pregnant and bore Yaakov a fifth son.
     
    18 Lea said: 
     
    God has given me my hired-wages, 
     
    because I gave my maid to my husband! 
     
    So she called his name: Yissakhar/There-is-hire.
  • Son #10  Zevulun. . . .(30:19-20)
  • 19 Once again Lea became pregnant, and she bore a sixth son to Yaakov.
    20 Lea said: 
    God has presented me with a good present, 
    this time my husband will prize me- 
    for I have borne him six sons! 
    So she called his name: Zevulun/Prince.
    

    Dinah by Faela Elana, Image from deviantart.com

 

 

 

• • Daughter . . . 
• • 21 Afterward
  • she bore
  • a daughter,
  • and called
  • her name
  • Dina.

 

 

• Rachel
  • Son #11  Yosef, . . .
  • 22 But God kept Rahel in mind, 
    God hearkened to her and opened her womb,
    23 so that she became pregnant and bore a son. 
    She said: 
    God has removed/asaf 
    my reproach!
    24 So she called his name: Yosef, 
    saying: 
    May YHVH add/yosef 
    another son to me!

After the birth of Yosef, Yaakov asks Lavan permission to go back to homeland. This brings about the episode about the partition of flocks tended by Yaakov between him and his uncle, with God overruling all the conniving of Lavan as well as Yaakov.  Just like Avraham and Yitzhak, Yaakov keeps getting prosperous despite the setbacks he faces on Lavan’s turf:  

43 The man burst-forth-with-wealth exceedingly, yes, exceedingly, he came to have many flock-animals and maids and servants, and camels and donkeys.

Doesn’t our head count of Ya’aqob’s sons fall short of 12?  Yes, the youngest son Binyamiyn will be born from Rachel on the journey back to Canaan.

Genesis/Bereshith 35: 

16  They departed from Bet-el. But when there was still a stretch of land to come to Efrat, Rahel began to give birth and she had a very hard birthing.

17  It was when her birthing was at its hardest, that the midwife said to her:  Do not be afraid, for this one too is a son for you!

18  It was –as her life was slipping away, for she was dying, that she called his name:  Ben-oni/son-of-my-woe.  But his father called him: Binyamin/Son-of-the-right-hand.