bear upon my knees By this phrase Rachel means that she will recognize and adopt as her own the children by her handmaid, Bilhah. For the phrase, cf. Genesis 50:23; Job 3:12. The child being received on the knees of the parent was regarded as being accepted into the family. The words retain the trace of a primitive ceremony of legitimatization and adoption.

obtain children Heb. be builded by her. The same figure of a house is used by Sarah, referring to Hagar in Genesis 16:2, where see note.

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