Chapter 5: A War No One Could Win

Rachel could not bear it any longer. She went to Jacob.

RACHEL“My sister has four sons. And I have nothing. Give me children, or I will die!”

JACOB“Am I in the place of God? He is the one who has kept you from having children.”

So Rachel took matters into her own hands. She gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as a wife. If Rachel could not bear children herself, Bilhah would bear them for her.

Bilhah conceived and bore a son. Rachel named him Dan, which means he has vindicated, saying God had judged in her favor. Bilhah bore a second son, and Rachel named him Naphtali, which means my struggle, declaring she had wrestled with her sister and won.

Leah saw what was happening. Rachel was gaining sons through her servant while Leah's own womb had gone quiet. So Leah did the same thing. She gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob. Zilpah bore a son, and Leah named him Gad, which means good fortune. Then a second son, Asher, which means happy, because Leah said the women would call her blessed.

Four more sons born into that household. Not from love, not from intimacy — from competition. Two sisters using their servants to wage a war neither of them could win. The family that God was building had become a battlefield.

Eight sons now. Four mothers. One husband. And the worst moment was still ahead.