Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · In the Text · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
Zilpah was the handmaid whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and whom Leah in turn gave to Jacob as a wife when she had left off bearing, in the rivalry between the sisters for children. Zilpah bore Jacob two sons: Gad, whose name Leah linked to a troop coming, and Asher, "happy" (Gen 30:9-13). From these two sons descended the tribes of Gad and Asher, full members of the twelve tribes of Israel, inheriting their portions in the promised land. The arrangement reflects the disordered household that resulted from Jacob's polygamy — two wives and two concubines competing for honor and offspring, a tangle of jealousy and strife that Scripture records without approval, showing the bitter fruit of departing from God's design of one man and one wife. Yet God in His sovereignty wove even these broken family circumstances into the building of His covenant nation, raising up two of the tribes of Israel through Zilpah's sons. Zilpah stands in the dictionary as a mother of two tribes of Israel, a witness both to the disorder and sorrow that flow from polygamy and rivalry, and to the overruling providence of God, who built the twelve tribes of His people even through the troubled households of the patriarchs.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Leah's handmaid given to Jacob as a wife (Gen 30:9-13), mother of Gad and Asher; a witness to the disorder of polygamy and to God's providence in building the tribes of Israel even through it.
expand to see more
ZILPAH, proper noun. Leah's handmaid, given to Jacob as a wife.
Given by Leah when she had left off bearing (Gen 30:9).
Mother of Gad and Asher.
Ancestress of two of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Part of the disordered, rivalrous household of Jacob's polygamy.
📖 Key Scripture
Gen 30:9 — "When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife."
Gen 30:10 — "And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son."
Gen 30:12 — "And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son."
Gen 35:26 — "And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob..."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Zilpah's account honors the recovery of God's design of marriage against the disorder of polygamy, and of God's sovereign providence over broken family circumstances.
expand to see more
Polygamy-normalized correction. The patriarchal households, with their multiple wives and concubines, are recorded in Scripture but never commended; they are marked by jealousy, rivalry, and sorrow. The dictionary holds God's design from the beginning: one man and one wife, joined as one flesh (Gen 2:24). The strife in Jacob's house — Leah and Rachel contending, handmaids given as wives — is the bitter fruit of departing from that design, a warning rather than a pattern.
This entry faces little postmodern redefinition. The principle to recover is God's sovereign overruling of broken circumstances. Out of Jacob's tangled and rivalrous household, God built the twelve tribes of Israel, two of them through Zilpah's sons Gad and Asher. The dictionary commends this comfort: the Lord is not defeated by the disorder and sin of human families, but weaves even troubled and irregular circumstances into the accomplishment of His covenant purposes, raising up His people and His Christ through histories marked by human failure.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Leah's handmaid given to Jacob as a wife (Gen 30:9-13), mother of Gad and Asher; a witness to the disorder of polygamy and to God's providence in building the tribes.
expand to see more
Hebrew Zilpah; Leah's handmaid, given to Jacob as a wife
Given by Leah when she had left off bearing (Gen 30:9)
Mother of Gad and Asher
Ancestress of two of the twelve tribes of Israel
Part of the disordered household of Jacob's polygamy
Usage
"Zilpah — Leah's handmaid, mother of the tribes of Gad and Asher (Gen 30:9-13)."
"Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son (Gen 30:10)."
"Zilpah witnesses to the disorder of polygamy and God's providence over Jacob's house."
📖 In the Text
Chapters of the reading Bible where this entry is linked.