Texts in Conversation
Jacob's wives use the arrangement of having children through a maid that Hammurabi's laws recognize. Their rivalry takes place within an established family practice, where the children's status and authority over the maid also matter.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Code of Hammurabi 1:154
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
142 If a woman quarrels with her husband and says, "You are not pleasing to me," the reasons for her complaint must be examined. If she is blameless and has no fault, while her husband leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman; she shall take her dowry and go back to her father's house. 143 If she is not innocent but leaves her husband and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be thrown into the water. 144 If a man takes a wife, and she gives her husband a slave woman who bears him children, and the man then decides to take a second wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a second wife.
Genesis 30:3
Hebrew Bible
3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her.” 4 So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob slept with her. 5 Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan. 7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. 8 Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” So she named him Naphtali. 9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.
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Notes and References
“... 30:3-13. maidservant as surrogate wife. Just as Sarah gave Abraham her maid Hagar as a surrogate wife (16:1-4), so too the wives of Jacob give him their maids. The object is for a barren (or unloved) wife to have children by means of this legal surrogacy. Provision for this custom is also found in the *Lipit-Ishtar Code and in the Code of *Hammurabi from Mesopotamia. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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