Genesis 30:4

4 So she gave him Bilhah her slave-girl as his wife, and Ya'akov went in and slept with her.

Genesis 30:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:4

And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid
To be enjoyed as a wife, though she was no other than a concubine; yet such were sometimes called wives, and were secondary ones, and were under the proper lawful wife, nor did their children inherit; but those which Jacob had by his wives' maids did inherit with the rest: and Jacob went in unto her;
consenting to what Rachel his wife proposed to him: having concubines, as well as more wives than one, were not thought criminal in those times, and were suffered of God, and in this case for the multiplication of Jacob's seed; and perhaps he might the more readily comply with the motion of his wife, from the example of his grandfather Abraham, who took Hagar to wife at the instance of Sarah.

Genesis 30:4 In-Context

2 This made Ya'akov angry at Rachel; he answered, "Am I in God's place? He's the one who is denying you children."

3 She said, "Here is my maid Bilhah. Go, sleep with her, and let her give birth to a child that will be laid on my knees, so that through her I too can build a family."

4 So she gave him Bilhah her slave-girl as his wife, and Ya'akov went in and slept with her.

5 Bilhah conceived and bore Ya'akov a son.

6 Rachel said, "God has judged in my favor; indeed he has heard me and given me a son." Therefore she called him Dan [he judged].