Genesis 30:8

8 Then Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed"; so she named him Naphtali.

Genesis 30:8 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:8

And Rachel said, with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my
sister
Or, "with the wrestlings of God" F1, 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" F2; 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; Naphtali on the fifth of Tisri or September, and lived one hundred and thirty three years.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Myhla ylwtpn) "luctationibus Dei", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Cartwright.
F2 "Calliditatibus Dei, Oleaster, astutiis Dei", Schmidt.

Genesis 30:8 In-Context

6 Then Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son"; therefore she named him Dan.
7 Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8 Then Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed"; so she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10 Then Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

Footnotes 1

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.