Genesis 30:13

13 and Le'ah said, "How happy I am! Women will say I am happy!" and called him Asher [happy].

Genesis 30:13 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:13

And Leah said
Upon the birth of the second son by her maid: happy am I;
or, "in my happiness"; or, "for my happiness" F3; that is, this child is an addition to my happiness, and will serve to increase it: for the daughters will call me blessed; the women of the place where she lived would speak of her as a happy person, that had so many children of her own, and others by her maid; see ( Psalms 127:5 ) : and she called his name Asher,
which signifies "happy" or "blessed". These two sons of Zilpah, according to the Jewish writers F4, were born, Gad on the tenth day of Marchesvan or October, and lived one hundred and twenty five years; and Asher on the twenty second day of Shebet or January, and lived one hundred and twenty three years.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (yrvab) "in felicitate mea", Montanus; "ob beatitatem meam", Drusius; "hoc pro beatitudine men", V. L. "pro beatitudine mihi est", Schmidt.
F4 Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 4. 1.

Genesis 30:13 In-Context

11 and Le'ah said, "Good fortune has come," calling him Gad [good fortune].
12 Zilpah Le'ah's slave-girl bore Ya'akov a second son;
13 and Le'ah said, "How happy I am! Women will say I am happy!" and called him Asher [happy].
14 During the wheat harvest season Re'uven went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Le'ah. Rachel said to Le'ah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes [so that I can be fertile]."
15 She answered, "Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you have to take my son's mandrakes too?" Rachel said, "Very well; in exchange for your son's mandrakes, sleep with him tonight."
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.