Genesis 30:8

8 Rachel said, "In [my] wrestlings with God,^[a] I have wrestled with my sister and won," and she named him Naphtali.^[b]

Genesis 30:8 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:8

And Rachel said, with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my
sister
Or, "with the wrestlings of God" ^F1, wrestling and striving in prayer with God; being vehement and importunate in her petitions to him, that she might have children as well as her sister: some render it, "I used the craftinesses of God", or "great craftiness with my sisters" ^F2; by giving her maid Bilhah to her husband, and having children by her: and I have prevailed;
as she strove in her desires and prayers to have another child before her sister had; in that she prevailed, or she was succeeded in her desires, she had children as she wished to have: and she called his name Naphtali;
which signifies "my wrestling", being a child she had been striving and wrestling for: these two sons of Bilhah were born, as say the Jews, Dan on the twenty ninth day of Elul or August, and lived one hundred and twenty seven years; Naphtali on the fifth of Tisri or September, and lived one hundred and thirty three years.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Myhla ylwtpn) "luctationibus Dei", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Cartwright.
F2 "Calliditatibus Dei, Oleaster, astutiis Dei", Schmidt.

Genesis 30:8 In-Context

6 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son," and she named him Dan.

7 Rachel's slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.

8 Rachel said, "In [my] wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won," and she named him Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

10 Leah's slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or With mighty wrestlings
• [b]. The name Naphtali sounds like Hb "my wrestling."