The Lord, seeing that "Leah was hated," blesses her with fertility, and she bears Jacob four sons, while Rachel remains barren. "Give me children," the envious Rachel says to Jacob, "or else I die." To which Jacob retorts, "Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?" Rachel resorts to the custom of using a concubine as a surrogate childbearer. "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her," Rachel tells Jacob, "and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her."

Jacob dutifully goes into Bilhah, who conceives and bears a son. This makes Rachel so happy ("God," she exults, "hath given me a son") that Jacob goes into Bilhah again. Bilhah bears a second son, which Rachel also calls her own, while Leah is apparently no longer fertile. "I wrestled with my sister," brags Rachel, "and I have prevailed."

This is too much for Leah, who has Jacob go into her handmaid Zilpah. This concubine bears two sons, whom Leah names Gad ("fortune") and Asher ("happy"), saying "Happy am I!"

To be continue...