BILHAH (Person)

Servant given by Laban to his daughter Rachel when she married Jacob (Gn 29:29). Realizing her own childlessness, Rachel gave Bilhah to her husband as a concubine and accepted their two sons as her own, naming them Dan and Naphtali (30:3-8; 35:25; 46:25). Archaeological investigation has confirmed the custom of a barren wife’s providing a concubine to guarantee children to her husband. Such an arrangement is mentioned in marriage contract documents dug up at Nuzi and dated from about the same time as the Genesis 29 events. Jacob’s son Reuben was later guilty of incest with Bilhah (35:22).