301 When Rachel realized that she wasn't having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, "Give me sons or I'll die!" 2 Jacob got angry with Rachel and said, "Am I God? Am I the one who refused you babies?" 3 Rachel said, "Here's my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her. Let her substitute for me so I can have a child through her and build a family." 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah for a wife and Jacob slept with her. 5 Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. 6 Rachel said, "God took my side and vindicated me. He listened to me and gave me a son." She named him Dan (Vindication). 7 Rachel's maid Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, "I've been in an all-out fight with my sister - and I've won." So she named him Naphtali (Fight). 9 When Leah saw that she wasn't having any more children, she gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob for a wife. 10 Zilpah had a son for Jacob. 11 Leah said, "How fortunate!" and she named him Gad (Lucky). 12 When Leah's maid Zilpah had a second son for Jacob, 13 Leah said, "A happy day! The women will congratulate me in my happiness." So she named him Asher (Happy).
14 One day during the wheat harvest Reuben found some mandrakes in the field and brought them home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, "Could I please have some of your son's mandrakes?" 15 Leah said, "Wasn't it enough that you got my husband away from me? And now you also want my son's mandrakes?" Rachel said, "All right. I'll let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's love-apples." 16 When Jacob came home that evening from the fields, Leah was there to meet him: "Sleep with me tonight; I've bartered my son's mandrakes for a night with you." So he slept with her that night. 17 God listened to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a fifth son. 18 She said, "God rewarded me for giving my maid to my husband." She named him Issachar (Bartered). 19 Leah became pregnant yet again and gave Jacob a sixth son, 20 saying, "God has given me a great gift. This time my husband will honor me with gifts - I've given him six sons!" She named him Zebulun (Honor). 21 Last of all she had a daughter and named her Dinah. 22 And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my humiliation." 24 She named him Joseph (Add), praying, "May God add yet another son to me."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 30:1-24
Commentary on Genesis 30:1-13
(Read Genesis 30:1-13)
Rachel envied her sister: envy is grieving at the good of another, than which no sin is more hateful to God, or more hurtful to our neighbours and ourselves. She considered not that God made the difference, and that in other things she had the advantage. Let us carefully watch against all the risings and workings of this passion in our minds. Let not our eye be evil towards any of our fellow-servants, because our Master's is good. Jacob loved Rachel, and therefore reproved her for what she said amiss. Faithful reproofs show true affection. God may be to us instead of any creature; but it is sin and folly to place any creature in God's stead, and to place that confidence in any creature, which should be placed in God only. At the persuasion of Rachel, Jacob took Bilhah her handmaid to wife, that, according to the usage of those times, her children might be owned as her mistress's children. Had not Rachel's heart been influenced by evil passions, she would have thought her sister's children nearer to her, and more entitled to her care than Bilhah's. But children whom she had a right to rule, were more desirable to her than children she had more reason to love. As an early instance of her power over these children, she takes pleasure in giving them names that carry in them marks of rivalry with her sister. See what roots of bitterness envy and strife are, and what mischief they make among relations. At the persuasion of Leah, Jacob took Zilpah her handmaid to wife also. See the power of jealousy and rivalship, and admire the wisdom of the Divine appointment, which joins together one man and one woman only; for God hath called us to peace and purity.
Commentary on Genesis 30:14-24
(Read Genesis 30:14-24)
The desire, good in itself, but often too great and irregular, of being the mother of the promised Seed, with the honour of having many children, and the reproach of being barren, were causes of this unbecoming contest between the sisters. The truth appears to be, that they were influenced by the promises of God to Abraham; whose posterity were promised the richest blessings, and from whom the Messiah was to descend.