Leah, you see, found herself in a predicament. She had stopped bearing children, while her sister Rachel's handmaid, Bilhah, had already given Jacob two sons. According to Legends of the Jews, Leah came to a pretty significant conclusion: that Jacob was destined to have four wives – her sister, herself, and their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah. So, what did she do? She gave her own handmaid, Zilpah, to Jacob as a wife.
Now, here's where things get even more interesting. The text tells us that Zilpah was actually the youngest of the four women. Apparently, there was a custom back then: the older daughter got the older handmaid as part of her dowry, and the younger daughter got the younger handmaid. Remember Laban's trickery, switching Leah for Rachel on Jacob's wedding night? To pull that off, Laban had given Leah the younger handmaid as her marriage portion, making Jacob think he was marrying the younger daughter all along!
And here's a fascinating detail. Zilpah was so young that her pregnancy didn't show. Nobody knew she was expecting until, surprise, a son was born! Leah named him Gad.
The name Gad itself is loaded with meaning. Leah chose it carefully. It can mean "fortune," hinting at the tribe of Gad's future good luck. But it also means "the cutter." Why "the cutter?" Because, as Legends of the Jews explains, from the tribe of Gad descended the prophet Elijah. Elijah, who brings good fortune to Israel and, at the same time, "cuts down" the heathen world. Talk about a multi-layered meaning!
Leah had still other reasons for this double meaning. The tribe of Gad had the good fortune of entering into possession of its allotment in the Holy Land before any of the other tribes. And, get this, Gad, the son of Jacob, was born already circumcised! It's a lot to unpack, isn't it? A complex web of family, destiny, and names pregnant with meaning. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the weight we give to names and the stories we tell about ourselves and our families. How much of our lives are shaped by fortune, and how much by the "cutting" we do – the choices we make to shape our own destinies?