el, fearing lest the fruitfulness of her sister
should make herself enjoy a lesser share of Jacob's affections, put to
bed to him her handmaid Bilha; by whom Jacob had Dan: one may interpret
that name into the Greek tongue, a divine judgment. And after him
Nephthalim, as it were, unconquerable in stratagems, since Rachel
tried to conquer the fruitfulness of her sister by this stratagem.
Accordingly, Lea took the same method, and used a counter-stratagem to
that of her sister; for she put to bed to him her own handmaid.
Jacob therefore had by Zilpha a son, whose name was Gad, which may be
interpreted fortune; and after him Asher, which may be called a happy
man, because he added glory to Lea. Now Reubel, the eldest son of Lea,
brought apples of mandrakes [36] to his mother. When Rachel saw them,
she desired that she would give her the apples, for she longed to eat
them; but when she refused, and bid her be content that she had deprived
her of the benevolence she ought to have had from her husband, Rachel,
in order to mitigate her sister's anger, said she would yield her
husband to her; and he should lie with her that evening. She accepted
of the favor, and Jacob slept with Lea, by the favor of Rachel. She bare
then these sons: Issachar, denoting one born by hire: and Zabulon, one
born as a pledge of benevolence towards her; and a daughter, Dina. After
some time Rachel had a son, named Joseph, which signified there should
be another added to him.

9. Now Jacob fed the flocks of Laban his father-in-law all this time,
being twenty years, after which he desired leave of his father-in-law
to take his wives and go home; but when his father-in-law would not give
him leave, he contrived to do it secretly. He made trial therefore of
the disposition of his wives what they thought of this journey;--when
they appeared glad, and approved of it. Rachel took along with her the
images of the gods, which, according to their laws, they used to
worship in their own country, and ran away together with her sister. The
children also of them both, and the handmaids, and what possessions
they had, went along with them. Jacob also drove away half the cattle,
without letting Laban know of it beforehand But the reason why Rachel
took the images of the gods, although Jacob had taught her to despise
such worship of those gods, was this, That in case they were pursued,
and taken by her father, she might have recourse to these images, in
order obtain