Why the LORD's Addition Surpasses the Original in Vayetzei

Another interpretation of "May the LORD add for me another son" (Genesis 30:24): [Resh Laqish said:] The addition of the Holy One, blessed be He, is greater than the original. From whom do you learn this? From Hezekiah, whose reign was fourteen years; and once the Holy One, blessed be He, added to him, He added fifteen years to him, as it is said, "And I will add to your days fifteen years" (II Kings 20:6). Thus the addition is greater than the original. And so you find in the case of Benjamin, of whom his mother said, "May the LORD add for me another son" — the Holy One, blessed be He, also added for her from him ten tribes, and from Joseph two tribes. Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman said: The Holy One, blessed be He, raised up from Rachel twelve tribes, ten from Benjamin and two from Joseph. And whence do we know that they were sons of Benjamin? As it is written, "Then Saul answered and said: Am I not a Benjaminite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, [and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin]?" (I Samuel 9:21). And another verse says, "[And the tribes of Israel sent men] throughout all the tribes of Benjamin, saying" (Judges 20:12). When the prophets saw that the addition was greater than the original, they began to bless Israel with addition. Moses our teacher said, "May the LORD the God of your ancestors add to you, as you are" (Deuteronomy 1:11). And David too said, "May the LORD add to you, to you and to your children" (Psalms 115:14). In the world to come as well, in this same language the Holy One, blessed be He, gathers in the exiles of Israel, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass on that day, that the LORD will add His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people" (Isaiah 11:11).