Person
Bilhah בלהה
Rachel's handmaid, mother of Dan and Naftali
Laban gave her to Rachel at the wedding. When Rachel had no children she gave Bilhah to Jacob—by the custom in which the handmaid's child counted as the mistress's. So Dan and Naftali were born, and Rachel gave them their names.
After Rachel's death Jacob moved his bed to Bilhah's tent—she raised the orphaned Binyamin. With this goes the darkest line about Reuven; the Talmud in Shabbat 55b says plainly: "whoever says Reuven sinned is mistaken."
The midrash adds that Bilhah and Zilpah were daughters of Laban by a concubine—that is, sisters of Leah and Rachel. The Torah itself does not say so; it says only "handmaid."
On the timeline
2193 · 1568 BCEThe Birth of the Tribes of Israel and the Birth of Joseph2255 · 1506 BCEThe Blessings of the Tribes and the Death of Jacob
Places
Sources
Tanakh
- Genesis 29:29 — Laban gives Bilhah to Rachel
- Genesis 30:1–8 — the birth of Dan and Naftali
- Genesis 35:22 — the line about Reuven
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Shabbat 55b — «whoever says Reuven sinned is mistaken»
- Bereshit Rabbah 74:13 — a tradition: daughters of Laban by a concubine
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.