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VERSE: Gn29-34a
RASHIS COVERED: Gn29-34a Gn29-35a Gn30-20a
Gn30-21a Gn30-24a Gn30-25a
=========== JACOB KNEW HE WOULD HAVE 12 CHILDREN ================
BACKGROUND
----------
Gn29 describes how Jacob had 12 children from his two wives
-- Rachel and Leah -- and from his 2 maids - Bilhah & Zilpah
Reasons are given for the dozen children named.
THE TEXT
--------
Gn29-34 For this child my husband will LOVE ME
Gn29-35 For this child I will THANK GOD
Gn30-20 With this child I have a HOUSE with my Husband
RASHI
-----
Why? Why does one child motivate THANKSGIVING, while another
child motivates FEELING LOVED while a 3rd child motivates a
feeling of having a HOUSEHOLD (All 3 verses are for children
from the same wife, Leah)
THE ASSUMPTION
---------------------
Rashi suggests that the naming of the children can only be
understood with the following ASSUMPTION
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It was known that Jacob would have 12 male children. Since
he had 4 wives it was expected that every wife would
contribute 3 children
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THE PROOF: LIST vs VERSE
------------------------
There is no one word, verse, grammatical nuance or Biblical
style that proves the above assumption. Rather the assumption
is proved INDUCTIVELY vs DEDUCTIVELY. That is
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The fact that this ASSUMPTION reasonably explains
all the namings of children inductively justifies the
belief that the ASSUMPTION should be used
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This type of proof is called INDUCTION and is used in science
all the time. INDUCTION posits that if a single assumption
simply accounts for many facts then it is considered proven
THE LIST
--------
It follows that the Rashis on the naming of the children must
be read as a GROUP. The various namings of the children are
not PROOFS, but TESTS, of the hypothesis that it was known
that Jacob would have 12 children. Let us now review all
these verse-tests. Further speculative supports for this
pre-knowledge ASSUMPTION is provided in the footnotes *10 *11
=================================================================
VERSE CHILD NUMBER REASON FOR NAME TEST OF ASSUMPTION
======== ======= ======= ===================== ==================
Gn29-34a Levi Leah-#3 Husband wife joined*1 3=12/4=Quota @wife
Gn29-35a Judah Leah-#4 Thank God 4 more than 3 *2
Gn30-20a Zvulun Leah-#6 House with hubby 6=12/2=50% of 12 *3
Gn30-21a Dinah Leah-#7 God judged me 2 boys for Rchel *4
Gn30-24a Joseph Rachl#1 Please give me 1 more 2 boys for Rchel *5
NOTES
-----
*1 Note that LEVI comes from the ROOT Lamed-Vav-Hey which means
to Join. Here is the argument for the name:
The ASSUMPTION states that Jacob,Leah knew they would have
12 children. Hence each wife expected 3 children. So it
makes sense that Leah FELT EQUAL to Rachel
when she gave birth to the 3rd child, since she had
fulfilled her quota*12 (Rachel was loved more by Jacob;
so children was a way for Leah to win Love from Jacob)
*2 Note that JUDAH comes from the ROOT, Yud-Dalet-Ayin which
means TO THANK. Here is the argument for the name:
The ASSUMPTION states that Jacob knew he would have 12
children. So Leahs EXPECTED quota of children is 3. Hence
the 4th child means she will have more children than the
average. Therefore the Thanks God
*3 Note that Zvulun from the root Zayin-Vav-Lamed means HOUSE
Here is the argument for the name
The ASSUMPTION states that it was known that Jacob would have
12 children. But then Leahs 6 child meant she contributed
50% of the family(at least). Hence she was confident that
Jacob would MOVE IN with her--she had her house & hubby
Hence the name
*4 Note that Dinah comes from the root Dalet-Nun which means to
Judge. Here is the argument for the name
The ASSUMPTION states that it was known that Jacob would have
12 children. If Dinah had been a boy then
--------------------------------------
- Leah would have 7 boys
- BIlhah had 2 boys
- Zilphah had 2 boys
-------------- -----------
Total boys 11
Remaining boys from 12 1
So Rachel would only have 1 boy and be inferior to Bilhah &
Zilpah who were only maids. Hence Leah said God judged her,
the implication being that Rachel had a right to at least
2 boys. Also see footnote #5
*5 Note that Joseph comes from the root Yud-Samech-Pay which
means INCREASE. Here is the argument for the name.
The ASSUMPTION states that it was known that Jacob would have
12 children. Here are the boys born to date
--------------------------------------
- Leah had 6 boys
- Rachel had 1 boy
- BIlhah had 2 boys
- Zilphah had 2 boys
-------------- -----------
Total boys 11
Remaining boys from 12 1
Rachel had to be inferior to Leah. This created a balance:
Jacob loved Rachel more but Leah had 50% of his children.
But Rachel did not want to have less boys than the maids each
of whom had 2. Hence she prayed GOD PLEASE INCREASE(JOSEPH)
ME BY ONE MORE CHILD (So I can have as many boys as the
maids). Hence the name
-------------------- LONGER FOOTNOTES ---------------------------
*10 We have proven the assumption that Jacob would have 12
children inductively.
It is assumed that Jacob and his wives knew this fact thru
prophecy.
Another method to this pre-knowledge of 12 children comes
from the fact that 12 was a standard number designating a
whole. We can infer this from a review of verses of
situations where the number 12 was naturally used. Compare
the following
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VERSE 12 WHAT CONTEXT
------- ----------- -----------------------------------------
Gn17-20 children God promises Ishmael 12 children
2Sm2-15 soldiers Avner & Ish-Boshet commanded 12 soldiers
Ps60-02 soldiers Joab smote Edoms army of 12000
2Sm10-6 soldiers Nation of Good sends 12000 soldier suport
1K19-19 Oxen Elishah plowed with a 12-oxen plow
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As can be seen, 12 is a standard number for complete units.
Especially note that Ishmael, Isaacs brother, was promised
12 tribes. It consequently becomes very reasonable that
Jacob would expect to have 12 children also.
The above argument illustrates the power of the list
*11 Gn30-25a can gives support to this ASSUMPTION Gn30-25a states
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When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob asked Laban:
Let me have my wives and children so I can return to
my home
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To explain this recall that Rachel had a 2nd child on
the Journey home (Gn35-16) so it seems reasonable that
she was pregnant when Laban made the request. In other
words Jacob asked to leave Laban after Joseph was born
because he had his 4 wives and 12 children and there
was no longer any reason to stay.
However Rashi on Gn30-25a gives a different explanation
on why Jacob asked to leave when Joseph was born
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The Bible (Ovadiah1-18) compares Joseph to fire
and Esauv to stubble; the fire (Joseph) will destroy stubble
Jacob was afraid of meeting Esauv who wanted to kill
him for stealing the blessings (Gn27-41). When Joseph
was born Jacob felt confident he could deal with Esauv
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However our basic thesis is that Jacobs preprophetic
knowledge (that he would have 12 children) accounted
for the naming of the children.
It is consistent with this thesis that Jacob also had
preprophetic knowledge about the function, purpose and
activities of each child.
Hence the reason Jacob asked leave of Laban when Joseph
was born was because he no longer feared Joseph
At any rate I think it plausible to combine my explanation
with that of Rashi -- Jacob left because he had 11 of his
12 children and the 12th was on the way. He also knew
that the 11th child would enable him to stand up to Esauv
It is for this reason that the verse emphasizes
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WHEN Jacob gave birth to Joseph, THEN he asked leave
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*12 A further support occurs in the phraseology of the verse
which explicitly links the name Levi to the quota of 3
children (By no other child is the number of children
born so far made explicit)
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WITH THIS CHILD, My husband will be joined to, BECAUSE I
HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO 3 CHILDREN
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=================================================================
RASHI RULE USED: OVERALL STRUCTURE
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Volume 12 Number 7
#*#*#*#*# (C) 2001, RashiYomi Inc. Dr Hendel President #*#*#*#*#
Volume 12 Number 7