Some scholars[1] try to accuse both Rachel and Leah of wrongdoing, when they offered their maidservants to Jacob as his concubines to bear children to him in their stead. Not only is scholarly judgment wrong in this matter, but in the context of Genesis 3:12, it clearly excuses Jacob’s behavior, assuming the scholar’s argument is true and was sinful (which it isn’t on either count). Moreover, if Rachel and Leah were wrong in offering their maidservants to Jacob to become his third and fourth wives, was the Lord also wrong and sinful, when he offered David his master’s wives (2Samuel 12:8)?
Requiring Christian behavior of Old Covenant characters is not only wrong, it is ridiculously wrong, like a policeman ticketing a man for not stopping at an intersection that didn’t have a stop sign until two weeks later. Far from acting on their own initiative, as a rebel would do, the Patriarchs and their wives were obeying the only law they knew, vis-à-vis the Laws of Hammurabi.[2] Moreover, it would be wrong to assume that, on their own initiative, Sarah, Rachel and Leah simply gave their husbands their maidservants as concubines for the sake of bearing children. The whole matter of giving and taking concubines in marriage was probably discussed by both the wives and their husband before agreement was made.
About two to three years after the birth of Judah, Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children to Jacob. With Rachel’s success in getting children through her handmaid, Bilhah, Leah decided to follow her younger sister’s example and offer Jacob her own handmaid, Zilpah. Zilpah was successful, became pregnant and delivered a child, whom Leah named Gad (good fortune). Sometime afterward, Zilpah became pregnant again and delivered a second son, whom Leah named Asher (happiness). Thus, Leah believed that she had attained good fortune in acquiring another son, and happiness in that her sixth son would have her remembered in succeeding generations as happy, bearing many children to her husband (Genesis 30:9-13).
The scholars are divided over the meaning surrounding the births of Zilpah’s sons. It may also be noteworthy to say Leah made no mention of the Lord, as it pertained to the births of these two sons. Did she recognize them as blessings from the Lord, or did she superstitiously assume they were her good fortune begotten of the gods?
First of all, no matter what we assume to be correct, we would have scholarly support for our decision, so, quite frankly, no one really knows for certain what was going on in Leah’s heart and mind, when she named the sons of Zilpah. Secondly, nothing that was done here, or later in the history of the Patriarchs, is condemned by the Lord. No one is corrected! Instead, the account seems to show the reader how these folks learned about God, as they continued to walk with him. In my opinion, it is similar to the Lord telling Adam that nothing was forbidden for him to do except to rebel, vis-à-vis he could eat anything in the Garden, except of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As long as, these folks sought to honor God, and kept walking with him, nothing they did was inherently wrong. Some things might be considered mistakes, but nothing was sinful, and they learned from the mistakes they made.
Some scholars have Leah accounting the births of Gad and Asher as her good fortune[3] (from the Lord), while others have her good fortune the result of her own decision to give her handmaid to Jacob as his concubine, thus, not accounting for the help of the Lord at all. Still other scholars believe Leah believed her good fortune came from the “stars” (one of the planets, wandering stars). In fact, it is pointed out that the word Gad is the name of a god of fortune in Isaiah 65:11, and is also named Baal-gad (Joshua 11:17) and Migdal-gad (Joshua 15:37). It seems best to me to simply permit Leah, and for that matter even Jacob, the freedom to walk with the Lord and learn of him as they do.
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[1] See Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments; John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible; Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible; The Pulpit Commentary; “Whence we gather that there is no end of sin where once the Divine institution of marriage is neglected” (Calvin). Yet, where in God’s word do we find the model marriage? There are none. Yet, so many criticize the behavior of men and women, who are just learning to walk with the Lord.
[2] See The Laws of Hammurabi on Marriage (#’s 145 and 146)
[3] This is the meaning of the name Gad.
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