Genesis 30:3

3 And she said, I have an handmaid Bilhah; enter thou [in] to her that she child on my knees, and that I have sons of her. (And she said, I have a slave-girl Bilhah; sleep thou with her, so that she can bear some children, and lay them on my knees, and so I shall have sons by her.)

Genesis 30:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:3

And she said
in order to pacify Jacob, and explain her meaning to him; which was, not that she thought it was in his power to make her the mother of children, but that he would think of some way or another of obtaining children for her, that might go for hers; so the Arabic version, "obtain a son for me": but, since no method occurred to him, she proposes one: behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her,
take her and use her as thy wife: and she shall bear upon my knees;
either sit on her knees in the time of labour, and so bring forth as if it was she herself; or rather bear a child, which Rachel would take and nurse, and dandle upon her knees as her own, see ( Isaiah 66:12 ) ; that I may also have children by her;
children as well as her sister, though by her maid, and as Sarah proposed to have by Hagar, whose example, in all probability, she had before her, and uses her very words; (See Gill on Genesis 16:2).

Genesis 30:3 In-Context

1 Forsooth Rachel saw, that she was unfruitful, and she had envy to her sister, and said to her husband, Give thou free children to me, (or) else I shall die. (And Rachel saw, that she was unfruitful, and she envied her sister, and said to her husband, Give thou some children to me, or else I shall die.)

2 To whom Jacob was wroth, and answered, Whether I am for God, which have deprived thee from the fruit of thy womb? (To whom Jacob was angry, and answered, Can I take the place of God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?)

3 And she said, I have an handmaid Bilhah; enter thou [in] to her that she child on my knees, and that I have sons of her. (And she said, I have a slave-girl Bilhah; sleep thou with her, so that she can bear some children, and lay them on my knees, and so I shall have sons by her.)

4 And she gave to him Bilhah into matrimony; and when her husband had entered [in] to her,

5 she conceived, and childed a son.