Genesis 30:3 - Exposition

And she said ,—resorting to the sinful expedient of Sarah ( Genesis 16:2 ), though without Sarah's excuse, since there was no question whatever about an heir for Jacob; which, even if there had been, would not have justified a practice which, in the case of her distinguished relative, had been so palpably condemned— Behold my maid Bilhah ( vide Genesis 29:29 ), go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees ,—i.e. children that I may place upon my knees, as mothers do (Piscator, A Lapide, Calvin, Rosenmüller, Lange, Ainsworth); the literal sense of the words being too absurd to require refutation— that I may also have children —literally, be builded up (cf. Genesis 16:2 )— by her.