Bilhah and Zilpah: Wives of Yaakov (, Mothers of Bnei Yisrael?)

Parshat Vayetze

by Rabbi Avi Billet

In the last encounter we see between Yaakov and Lavan, Lavan says, “If you’re going to mistreat my daughters, or take new wives in addition to my daughters…” concluding the statement with a veiled threat. 

 Rashi (31:9) asks, why two times “My daughters”? He answers “Because Bilhah and Ziplah were his daughters from a concubine.” Seemingly, beyond referencing Rachel and Leah in the plural, he was including two more daughters. 

The Midrash Sechel Tov says that when Yaakov asked for permission to leave in 30:26, asking for his “wives, children, that I worked for,” that he is specifying: my wives = Bilhah and Zilpah, my children = ALL of the children, that I worked for = Rachel and Leah. 

All this supposes that Bilhah and Zilpah were full wives in the eyes of all beholders. 

Regarding their parentage, there is a different opinion (recorded in Bereshit Rabati 119) that Bilhah and Zilpah were the daughters of the brother of Devorah, Rivkah’s nurse, whose name was “Achoti.” Before he got married he was imprisoned, and Lavan had redeemed him and given to Achoti his [Lavan’s] maid as a wife. Achoti had a daughter name Zilpah, named after the city where he’d been held captive, and another daughter named Bilhah – who as a baby had a tough time latching and learning to be nursed. “What kind of Behulah – trouble – you have?" When Yaakov arrived, Achoti died. Lavan took the girls as maids, and gave them to Leah and Rachel respectively. 

This view doesn’t take away from their wives-status. 

The Torah sometimes refers to Bilhah and Zilpah as wives, as maids, and in one case as a concubine. It should be noted that both the Midrash Rabati and the Yalkut Shimoni claim that daughters of concubines were called Shifchah, which is the word we typically translate as “maid,” which suggests that their being Shifchah says nothing of their status as wives. It’s part of their identity, but not something that defines their “wife status.” 

 In the Torah, they are depicted as 

Wives: See Bereshit 30:26 (quoted above), 31:17 when he is moving with his children and wives, 37:2 when we hear of how Yosef spends time with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. 

Maids: See Bereshit 32:23 when Yaakov takes his “two wives and two maids” along with his children to cross the Yabok river. 

Concubine: See 35:22 when an controversial-to-understand incident with Bilhah and Reuven is recorded. Of course in that context the term “concubine” might refer to how Reuven views here, and may have no bearing on how Yaakov views her. In fact, the Pesikta Zutrasa, on 30:9 notes that when Leah decided to give Zilpah to Yaakov as a wife (as the Torah depicts it) it means “לאשה ולא לפילגש, אלא שחררה אותה ודרך אישות לקחה” As a wife and not as a concubine. She freed her and he took her in a manner of regular marriage.

What would really put the icing on the cake of this is the answer to the following question. If Bilhah and Zilpah are the mothers of 4 of the tribes of Israel, why do we only refer to there being 4 mothers, namely Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah? Shouldn’t there be 6 mothers? 

There are a few sources that reference 6 mothers, such as Targum Yonatan (Shmos 14:21) in describing some of the images engraved on the staff of Moshe which he used to split the sea. 

There appear a number of lists of six items in whose merit a number 6 was utilized somewhere, such as the number of calves brought in Parshat Naso, and the number of steps in the throne room of Achashveirosh, and in both lists, the credit is given to 6 mothers (among other sixes). [See Bamidbar Rabba 12 (ד"ה ויביאו את קרבנם), Yalkut Shimoni Naso 713, Shir Hashirim Rabba 6:2 ד"ה יפה, and Esther Rabba 12 (ד"ה על כסא)] 

There is a possibility that they aren’t usually referenced as the “Imahot” because all of the Imahot are described in the Torah as “akarot” – infertile without God’s intervention, and Bilhah and Zilpah seemed to have no reproductive barriers. 

Perhaps being one of the Mothers of the Jewish people is a special title earned only through the suffering and pain of being an akarah, of knowing what it feels like to not bear children. Sarah was married at least 25 years before Yitzchak was born. Rivkah was married 20 years before her twins were born. Leah’s and Rachel’s wombs only opened when God wanted them to (29:31, 30:22) The Talmud tells us (Yevamos 64a) that the forefathers and foremothers were barren because God desires the prayers of the righteous. 

 Rachel is the symbol in Yirmiyahu 31:14 of the ultimate and most passionate prayer for her children on their way to exile, because she understands more than anyone how difficult it can be to have a child, and how a mother will give her life for the chance to give birth. Sarah may have been barren 25 years, Rivkah 20 years, and Rachel only six years. But imagine how she feels when three wives, married to the same man, are all giving birth, and she remains alone with no children! Sarah and Rivkah surely felt pain – but Rachel most of all. The only reason Leah did not seem to experience infertility is because she suffered a different pain, the pain of being the “hated” and certainly “unloved” wife, prompting God to more quickly “open her womb.” (29:31) 

Bilhah and Zilpah don’t make the cut because their marriage to Yaakov was functionary, and their function was fulfilled right away through the immediate births of their sons, borne seemingly without struggle and without prayer.