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Bilhah
Bilhah ( "unworried", Standard Hebrew: ''Bilha'', Tiberian Hebrew: ''Bīlhā'') is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis. describes her as Laban's handmaiden (), who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. When Rachel failed to have children, Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob like a wife to bear him children. Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. expressly calls Bilhah Jacob's concubine, a '' pilegesh''. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob like a wife to bear him children as well. The apocryphal Testament of Naftali says that Bilhah and Zilpah's father was named Rotheus. He was taken into captivity but redeemed by Laban, Rachel and Leah's father. Laban gave Rotheus a wife named Euna, who was the girls' mother. On the other hand, the early rabbinical commentary '' Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer'' and other rabbinic sources ( Midrash Rabba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob
Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother Esau, Jacob's paternal grandparents are Abraham and Sarah and his maternal grandfather is Bethuel, whose wife is not mentioned. He is said to have bought Esau's birthright and, with his mother's help, deceived his aging father to bless him instead of Esau. Then, following a severe drought in his homeland Canaan, Jacob and his descendants migrated to neighbouring Egypt through the efforts of his son Joseph, who had become a confidant of the pharaoh. After dying in Egypt at the age of 147, he is supposed to have been buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Per the Hebrew Bible, Jacob's progeny were beget by four women: his wives (and maternal cousins) Leah and Rachel; and his concubines Bilhah and Zilpah. His sons were, in orde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zilpah
In the Book of Genesis, Zilpah ( ''Zīlpā'', meaning uncertain) was Leah's handmaidIn Context whom Leah gave to Jacob like a wife to bear him children (). Zilpah gave birth to two sons, whom Leah claimed as her own and named Gad and Asher (). Zilpah was given to Leah as a handmaid by Leah's father, Laban, upon Leah's marriage to Jacob (see , ). According to the early rabbinical commentary Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, Zilpah and Bilhah, the handmaids of Leah and Rachel, respectively, were actually daughters of Laban and one or more of his concubines. But modern scholars believe that Zilpah and Bilhah were most likely foreign, like Tamar and Asenath. Zilpah also figured in the competition between Jacob's wives to bear him sons. Leah stopped conceiving after the birth of her fourth son, at which point Rachel, who had not yet borne any children, offered her handmaid, Bilhah, to Jacob like a wife in order to have children through her. After Bilhah bore two sons, Leah took up the sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leah
Leah () appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son Reuben. She has three more sons, namely Simeon, Levi and Judah, but does not bear another son until Rachel offers her a night with Jacob in exchange for some mandrake root (, ''dûdâ'îm''). Leah gives birth to two more sons after this, Issachar and Zebulun, and to Jacob's only daughter, Dinah. Name Leah means "wild cow”, a common title with ancient goddesses like Inana, Urash, and Nanshe. Rachel means "ewe lamb." Noegel says there's an irony involving Laban's flocks within this detail, one is on generative acts, - ''Give me my wife for my days are fulfilled, that I may go into her'' (אליה) (29:21). Herein also lies a subtle pun on Leah's name, which occurs again in 29:23. however, note that references to bovines and their fertility would not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reuben (Bible)
Reuben or Reuven (, Standard ''Rəʾūven'', Tiberian ''Rŭʾūḇēn'') was the first of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's oldest son), according to the Book of Genesis. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Reuben. Etymology The text of the Torah gives two different etymologies for the name of ''Reuben'', which textual scholars attribute to various sources: one to the Yahwist and the other to the Elohist; the first explanation given by the Bible is that the name refers to Yahweh having witnessed Leah's misery, concerning her status as the less-favourite of Jacob's wives, implying that the etymology of ''Reuben'' derives from ; the second explanation is that the name refers to Leah's hope that Reuben's birth will make Jacob love her, and thus his name means "He will love me". Another Hebrew phrase to which ''Reuben'' is particularly close is "Behold, a son!", which is how classical rabbinical literature interpreted it. Some of these sources argue that Leah used th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Orthodox Bible printed in 1666. Fragments of similar writings were found at Qumran, but opinions are divided as to whether these are the same texts. It is generally considered apocalyptic literature. The Testaments were written in Hebrew or Greek, and reached their final form in the 2nd century CE. In the 13th century they were introduced into the Western world through the agency of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, whose Latin translation of the work immediately became popular. He believed that it was a genuine work of the twelve sons of Jacob, and that the Christian interpolations were a genuine product of Jewish prophecy; he accused Jews of concealing the Testaments "on account of the prophecies of the Saviour contained in them." ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naphtali
According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; ) was the sixth son of Jacob, the second of his two sons with Bilhah. He was the founder of the Israelite tribe of Naphtali. Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name ''Naphtali'' may refer to the struggle between Rachel and Leah for the favours of Jacob. Bilhah was the handmaid of Rachel, who was infertile at the time, and had persuaded Jacob to have a child with Bilhah as a proxy for having one with herself. Biblical references According to the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Naphtali was a swift runner, though this appears to have been inferred from the Blessing of Jacob, which equates Naphtali to a hind. However, Biblical scholars believe this to actually be a description of the tribe of Naphtali. Naphtali is listed in Deuteronomy 34.2 when God takes Moses up to the mountain of Nebo and shows him the extent of the land which he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. See article on Tribe of Simeon for a map of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan (son Of Jacob)
According to the Book of Genesis, Dan (, ''Dān'', "judgment" or "he judged") was the first of the two sons of Jacob and Bilhah (Jacob's fifth son). His mother, Bilhah, was Rachel's handmaid, who becomes one of Jacob's concubines (Book of Genesis, ). In the Biblical account, he is the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Dan. He was the father of Hushim, according to Gen 46:23. Samson was a descendant of Dan. Name The text of the Torah explains that the name of ''Dan'' derives from ''dananni'', meaning "he has judged me", in reference to Rachel's belief that she had gained a child as the result of a judgment from God. Biblical references Owing to the Book of Judges, in the account of Micah's Idol, describing the Tribe of Dan as having used ephod and teraphim in worship, and Samson (a member of the Tribe of Dan) being described as failing to adhere to the rules of a Nazarite, classical rabbinical writers concluded that Dan was very much a black sheep.''Jewish Encyclopedi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rachel
Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aunt Rebecca was Jacob's mother. After Leah conceived again, Rachel finally had a son, Joseph (son of Jacob), Joseph, who would become Jacob's favorite child. Children Rachel's son Joseph (Genesis), Joseph was destined to be the leader of Israel's tribes between exile and nationhood. This role is exemplified in the Biblical story of Joseph, who prepared the way in Egypt for his family's exile there. After Joseph's birth, Jacob decided to return to the land of Canaan with his family. Fearing that Laban would deter him, he fled with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and twelve children without informing his father-in-law. Laban pursued him and accused him of stealing his teraphim. Indeed, Rachel had taken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Red Tent (Anita Diamant Novel)
''The Red Tent'' is a historical novel by Anita Diamant, published in 1997 by Wyatt Books for St. Martin's Press. It is a first-person narrative that tells the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, sister of Joseph. She is a minor character in the Hebrew Bible; Diamant broadened her story. The book's title refers to the tent in which women of Jacob’s tribe must, according to ancient Jewish law, take refuge while menstruating or upon birthing, a period known as ''niddah'', and in which they find mutual support and encouragement from their mothers, sisters, and aunts. Plot summary Dinah opens the story by recounting for readers the union of her mother Leah and father Jacob, as well as the expansion of the family to include Leah's sister Rachel, and the handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah. Leah is depicted as capable but testy, Rachel as something of a belle but kind and creative, Zilpah as eccentric and spiritual, and Bilhah as the gentle and quiet one of the quartet. Dinah reme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilegesh
(, , possibly related to ) is a term from the Hebrew Bible for a concubine, a female, unmarried sexual slave of social and legal status inferior to that of a wife. Among the Israelites, some men acknowledged their ''pilgashím'', who thus had the same rights in the home as legal wives. Despite Maimonides' notable dissension, Jewish textual scholars, including Nahmanides, Jacob Emden and the head of the beth din of ''Akdamot'' in Jerusalem, have concluded that taking a woman as a concubine is allowed in contemporary Jewish culture. Etymology In Judaism, concubines are referred to by the Hebrew term (). The term appears to be an Indo-European loanword related to , meaning 'concubine'.Marc Lee Raphael, ''Agendas for the study of Midrash in the twenty-first century'', p. 136, Dept. of Religion, College of William and Mary, 1999Nicholas Clapp, ''Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen'', p. 297, Houghton Mifflin, 2002 In the Hebrew of the contemporary Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handmaiden
A handmaiden (nowadays less commonly handmaid or maidservant) is a personal maid or female servant. The term is also used metaphorically for something whose primary role is to serve or assist. Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of enslaved status or may be simply an employee. The terms ''handmaiden'' and ''handmaid'' are synonyms. Depictions in Abrahamic texts In the King James translation of the Hebrew Bible, the term handmaid is applied to a female servant who serves her mistress, as in the case of Hagar being described as Sarah's handmaid, Zilpah being Leah's handmaid and Bilhah as Rachel's handmaid. In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children). The use in the Torah of the prefix "to", as in "gave ''to'' wife", may indicate that the wife is a concubine or inferior wife. The text repeats that these people remain handmaids of their mistress though they are also the concubin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
