Polygamy certainly isn’t a novel concept in the Old Testament. We first see it mentioned when Cain got two wives for himself, and it only continues from there. And during the time of Abraham, we hear of people sleeping with their servants to expand their offspring. Such happened with Jacob when he slept with Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant.
The Bible doesn’t tell us a ton about Bilhah, apart from the children that she had. However, the Midrash provides some other details. We will take these extra-biblical sources with a grain of salt as we explore the story of Bilhah in the Bible.
Before diving into extra-biblical texts, we must know what the Bible says about someone. We know that Bilhah, whose name means bashful, was not Rachel’s maidservant first. She belonged to Laban, Jacob’s uncle.
As a wedding gift, Laban gives Bilhah to Rachel as her maidservant (Genesis 29:29).
If you know anything about Rachel, you’ll know that she wasn’t the first person to marry Jacob. Her older sister Leah marries him, but not with Jacob’s consent. Laban tricks Jacob into first marrying his ugly, older daughter.
Jacob still shows preferential treatment to Rachel.
God sees Leah’s plight and allows her to give birth to several children. She lords this over her sister, Rachel.
Rachel, feeling put out by this, presents Bilhah to Jacob. She figures, by proxy, they will still count as her children since her maidservant gave birth to them.
Bilhah then has two children with Jacob: Dan and Naphtali.
They go on to form their own tribes of Israel.
The tribe of Dan was known for its acts of justice, and Naphtali for its acts of beauty. It also seems that the Tribe of Dan was a seafaring warrior group.
Although Jacob does not consider Bilhah his wife, he does welcome the two sons into his family. And he considers Bilhah close enough that when one of his sons sleeps with her, he curses his son for this.
Which son? Reuben. Reuben ends up sleeping with Bilhah, probably not to her consent—as she can’t refuse any of the masters of the house—and Jacob gets very angry at this.
We don’t hear of Bilhah for the rest of the Bible. We do learn that her sons went on to form tribes and that famous people hail from these tribes.
The tribe of Dan’s most famous person was Samson. He served as a judge of Israel and was known for his impulsiveness and strength.
As for the tribe of Naphtali, we know figures in the Bible from this tribe, such as Barak and Huram—a man who did bronze work in the construction of the Temple.
Although we may know what Bilhah’s children were up to, do we know anything else about her?
We need to operate with discernment whenever we look at extra-biblical texts. However, the Midrash, a group of writings by Jewish rabbis, can provide some insight into the lives of the Jewish people during the Old Testament.
First of all, the Midrash tends to speak highly of Bilhah. Even though she was Rachel’s maidservant, it often considers her one of Jacob’s wives.
It describes Bilhah as the daughter of Rebekah’s wet nurse and reports she wouldn’t latch properly during breastfeeding. She tended to be an “alarmed” or easily stunned baby, hence her name.
The Midrash also reports that Jacob shows preferential treatment to Rachel’s maidservant over Leah’s maidservant.
Other traditions provide other details. One reports that Bilhah was Rachel’s half-sister through a concubine, not Rachel’s mother.
It’s also reported that Leah and her maidservant Zilpah were supposed to be given to Esau. But because of the animosity between Esau and Jacob, Jacob ends up with all four. Ergo, the family fighting that eventually leads to Jacob’s sons fighting and Joseph being sold into slavery, begins with Jacob and Esau fighting.
According to tradition, Bilhah did love Jacob and had no problem giving birth to two sons for him.
Bilhah also takes Rachel’s place when she dies. Perhaps maidservants served as ladies-in-waiting of sorts in the Old Testament.
Some rabbis acknowledge in their writings that Reuben slept with Bilhah. But they say Reuben experienced remorse for the rest of his life, and the Tribe of Reuben made a sacrifice each year to atone for the act.
Others say that he didn’t sleep with Bilhah at all—that instead, the “defiling the bed” meant that he moved the bed that Bilhah slept in since he was angered that Bilhah took Rachel’s place after she died.
The patriarchs’ lives show us that messed-up families have existed for a long time. In Jacon’s case, marrying multiple wives led to strife between the wives. It also led to competition between brothers, fights breaking out, and one son being enslaved for 13 years.
Nevertheless, despite the messiness, we can learn much from women in the Bible, such as Bilhah.
First, Jacob learns from Abraham’s mistakes.
Don’t get me wrong, Jacob makes a lot of mistakes. He messes up. A lot. However, he probably did learn one thing from his grandpa—consider all children you have as your own.
Abraham had slept with Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar, and Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. Abraham never treated Ishmael as an equal to his son with Sarah, Isaac.
This created animosity between Isaac’s descendants (the Israelites) and Ishmael’s descendants (the Ishmaelites).
It’s hard to say how much affection Jacob had for Bilhah or whether she truly loved Jacob. However, we do know that Jacob grafted her sons into his family, treating them as his sons as well. And they go on to lead powerful tribes of Israel.
On the other hand, Jacob sees all of his children as his children. Although he does have a problem with favoritism regarding Rachel’s children, he later has blessings for aloof them.
In the same way, we ought to examine our family history. We should know what mistakes our parents or grandparents made. And make an effort to avoid it in the future.
Second, polygamy never ends well.
As our culture becomes more sexually diverse, different views on marriage are already becoming accepted. I can imagine that polygamy will be more accepted in a few years.
While polygamy may sound efficient and attractive to some people, we should remember one thing: every time we see polygamy in the Bible, it never goes to plan.
In the case of Jacob’s family, polygamy turned sisters against each other and, eventually, drove brothers to almost murder one of their own.
Although God blessed the wives of Jacob, we can imagine they had their tragedies and difficulties with not earning the sole love of one man.
Finally, God can use humble beginnings for his glory.
Whether or not what happened in the Midrash was true, Bilhah had far more humble beginnings than Rachel.
Nevertheless, God blesses her and allows her children to found powerful groups of people. One of her descendants happened to be Samson, a powerful judge in Israel. Another was Barak, Deborah’s righthand man in a war against Israel’s enemies.
We can imagine that if Bilhah knew what became of her children, she would swell with pride.
God can use your humble beginnings, too. There’s nothing too small that he cannot use for his greater purposes.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/kieferpix
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
How Did the Apostle Paul Die?
Who are the Nicolaitans in Revelation?
Who Was Deborah in the Bible?
Who Was Moses in the Bible?
King Solomon's Story in the Bible
Who Was Lot's Wife in the Bible?
Who Was Jezebel in the Bible?
Who Was the Prodigal Son?