Genesis 30:8

_AND RACHEL SAID, WITH GREAT WRESTLINGS HAVE I WRESTLED WITH MY SISTER, AND I HAVE PREVAILED: AND SHE CALLED HIS NAME NAPHTALI._ Naphtali - i:e., wrestling. In bestowing this name she had a reference, in the opinion of some, to her bitter contentious and rivalry with her sister, but in the judgment of others, to her wrestling with God in prayer....

8._With great wrestlings _(74) Others translate it, “I am joined with the joinings of God;” (75) as if she exulted in having recovered what she had lost; or, certainly, in having obtained an equal degree of honor with her sister. Others render it, I am doubled with the duplications of God. But both derive the noun and the verb from the root פתל (_patal_,) which signifies a twisted thread. The former of these senses comes to this; that since Rachel has attained a condition equal to that of her sister, there is no reason why her sister should claim any superiority over her. But the latter sense expresses more confident boasting, since she proclaims herself a conqueror, and doubly superior. But a more simple meaning is (in my opinion) adduced by others, namely, that she “wrestled with divine or excellent wrestlings.” For the Hebrews indic

1-13 Rachel envied her sister: envy is grieving at the good of another, than which no sin is more hateful to God, or more hurtful to our neighbours and ourselves. She considered not that God made the difference, and that in other things she had the advantage. Let us carefully watch against all the risings and workings of this passion in our minds. Let not our eye be evil towards any of our fellow-servants, because our Master's is good. Jacob loved Rachel, and therefore reproved her for what she said amiss. Faithful reproofs show true affection. God may be to us instead of any creature; but it is sin and folly to place any creature in God's stead, and to place that confidence in any creature, which should be placed in God only. At the persuasion of Rachel, Jacob took Bilhah her handmaid to wife, that, according to the usage of those times, her children might be owned as her mistress's ch...

Verse Genesis 30:8. _SHE CALLED HIS NAME NAPHTALI_] נפתלי _naphtali, my_ _wrestling_, according to the common mode of interpretation; but it is more likely that the root פתל _pathal_ signifies to _twist_ or _entwine_. Hence Mr. Parkhurst translates the verse, "_By the_ _twistings_-agency or operation, of God, _I am entwisted with my_ _sister_; that is, my family is now _entwined_ or _interwoven_ with my sister's family, and has a chance of producing the promised Seed." The _Septuagint, Aquila_, and the _Vulgate_, have nearly the same meaning. It is, however, difficult to fix the true meaning of the original....

- Jacob’s Family and Wealth 6. דן _dān_, Dan, “judge, lord.” 8. נפתלי _naptālı̂y_, Naphtali, “wrestling.” 11. גד _gād_, Gad, “overcoming, victory.” בגד _bāgād_, “in victory or” =גד בא _bā'_ _gād_, “victory cometh.” גוּד _gûd_, “press down.” גדוּד _g__e__dûd_, “troop.” 13. אשׁר _'ǎashēr_, Asher, “prosperity, happiness.”

EXPOSITION GENESIS 30:1 AND WHEN RACHEL SAW (apparently after, though probably before, the birth of Leah's fourth son) THAT SHE BARE JACOB NO CHILDREN (literally, _that she bare not to Jacob_),_ _RACHEL ENVIED HER SISTER (was jealous of her, the root referring to the redness with which the face of an angry woman is suffused); AND SAID UNTO JACOB, GIVE ME CHILDREN (sons), OR ELSE I DIE—literally, _and if not_,_ _I_ am a dead woman; i_._e_. for shame at her sterility. Rachel had three strong reasons for desiring children—that she might emulate her sister, become more dear to her husband, and above all share the hope of being a progenitrix of the promised Seed. If not warranted to infer that Rachel's

AND RACHEL SAID, WITH GREAT WRESTLINGS HAVE I WRESTLED WITH MY SISTER,.... Or, "with the wrestlings of God" a, 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" b; 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;...

CHAPTER 30 JACOB WITH LABAN _ 1. The sons of Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 30:1)_ 2. The sons of Zilpah: Gad and Asher (Genesis 30:9) 3. The children of Leah: Issachar, Zebulon and Dinah (Genesis 30:14) 4. The birth of Joseph (Genesis 30:22) 5. Jacob's request to return (Genesis 30:25) 6. Laban's confession and Jacob's prosperity (Genesis 30:27) Little comment is needed on this. The avarice and dec

GENESIS 29:31 TO GENESIS 30:24. THE BIRTH OF JACOB'S CHILDREN. This section is from JE, with slight touches from P. Roughly Genesis 29:31; Genesis 30:9 is from J, Genesis 30:1; Genesis 30:8 is from E, Genesis 30:14 mainly from JE, the two strands here being hard to unravel. It records the origin of the tribes of Israel. It reflects conditions a good deal earlier than those kno

GREAT WRESTLINGS HAVE. WRESTLED. Hebrew with wrestlings of _El_ (= GOD) i.e. mighty wrestlings. Figure of speech _Polyptoton,_ and _Paronomasia._ App-6. NAPHTALI. Hebrew my wrestling....