Barren Women

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Introduction

Tanakh records six cases of women who had difficulty conceiving but then miraculously gave birth to a son:

The significant parallels between the stories suggest that the barrenness of the women was not random, and that both the initial inability to bear children and the subsequent conceptions were Divinely planned. What, though, was the goal of this barrenness?

Content Parallels

  • Elderly husbands – Avraham (Bereshit 18:12), Yaakov (Bereshit 37:3), and the Shunamite's husband (Melakhim II 4:14) are all described as old.1 In the cases of Avraham and the Shunamite's husband the adjective is used to explain why they are childless. Yaakov, on the other hand, is simply described as having a "son of his old age".
  • Doting husbands – Yitzchak (Bereshit 24:67), Yaakov (Bereshit 29:18,20,30), and Elkanah (Shemuel I 1:5) are all said explicitly to have loved their barren wife.  By Yaakov and Elkanah, this serves to highlight their love for one wife over another.2
  • Replacement maid – Both Sarah (Bereshit 16) and Rachel (Bereshit 30:1-8), despairing of giving birth, offer their maid to their husband as a wife ("וַתִּתֵּן... לְאִשָּׁה"), hoping to use them as a surrogate mother ("אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה"). The husband takes the maid as an additional wife, and the maid immediately proceeds to become pregnant and give birth. Interestingly, while the relationship between Sarah and her maid Hagar immediately sours, leaving the son to be named by Hagar, their is no conflict between Rachel and her maid Bilhah, and both of Bilhah's sons are named by Rachel.
  • Second wife – Both Rachel and Channah compete with a second, more fertile, wife.3 See Rachel and Channah for more details.
  • Prayer – Yitzchak (Bereshit 25:21) prays for Rivkah to give birth, while Channah prays for herself (Shemuel I 1:10-11). Rachel may have prayed as well, as it is mentioned twice that God listened to her (Bereshit 30:6,22), but no actual prayer is recorded.
  • Prophetic promise or blessing of son – Avraham receives two promises that Sarah will have a son, once by God (Bereshit 17:15-22) and once by angels (Bereshit 18:10-15). Manoach's wife is also told by an angel that she will give birth to a son (Shofetim 13:3-5), and the Shunamite receives a similar blessing from the prophet Elisha (Melakhim II 4:16). Channah does not receive an explicit promise of a son, but Eli, the priest, blesses her that God will fulfill her request (which was for a son) (Shemuel I 1:17). Rivka does not receive a promise prior to becoming pregnant, but she does receive Divine guidance relating to her pregnancy (Bereshit 25:22-23).
  • Promise of son's later prominence – In three cases a Divine pronouncement is made regarding the child's future. Avraham is promised that Yitzchak will inherit his covenant (Bereshit 17:19). Rivkah is promised that her twin sons will each become a nation (Bereshit 25:23), and Manoach's wife is promised that Shimshon will begin to save Israel from the Philistines (Shofetim 13:5).
  • Divine intervention – By four of the women, we are told explicitly that Hashem intervened and "remembered" the woman's plight.  The verses state: "וַי"י פָּקַד" by Sarah (Bereshit 21:1), "וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ י"י" by Rivkah (Bereshit 25:21), "וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱ-לֹהִים" by Rachel (Bereshit 30:22), and "וַיִּזְכְּרֶהָ י"י" by Channah (Shemuel I 1:19).
  • Child naming – In all of the cases besides the Shunamite,4 the text records the naming of the son. In Sarah's case, Avraham names the son Yitzchak (Bereshit 21:3), although this name was preordained by God (Bereshit 17:19).  Sarah relates the name to her laughter (Bereshit 21:6, and cf. Bereshit 17:17, 18:12-13,15). Rivka and Yitzchak jointly name their first son Esav, while Yitzchak names the second son Yaakov (Bereshit 25:25-26).  The text also provides the explanation for the names. Rachel names her son Yosef, explicitly connecting the name to her desire for children (Bereshit 30:23-24). Channah does the same when she names her son Shemuel (Shemuel I 1:20). Finally, Manoach's wife names her son Shimshon, but no explanation is given (Shofetim 13:24).
  • Favorite son – In four of the cases, there are clear signs that the parents favor the son more than his other siblings:5 Yitzchak is the chosen son of Avraham and he alone inherits (Bereshit 25:5-6), Yaakov is explicitly preferred by Rivkah (Bereshit 25:28),6 Yosef receives a coat as a sign of his father's favor (Bereshit 37:3-4), and Shemuel receives several coats from his mother (Shemuel I 2:19).

Literary Allusions

  • "לַמּוֹעֵד... כָּעֵת חַיָּה" and "לַמּוֹעֵד אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר" – Both Avraham (Bereshit 18:14)7 and the Shunamite (Melakhim II 4:16) are promised that they will have a son "לַמּוֹעֵד... כָּעֵת חַיָּה".‎ The texts then each record that Sarah gave birth at the date God had promised Avraham (Bereshit 21:2), and the Shunamite gave birth on the date promised by Elisha (Melakhim II 4:17).  In both cases the verse uses the wording "לַמּוֹעֵד אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר".‎8
  • Replacement maid – The language used by Sarah and Rachel when offering their maid to their husband is extremely similar. Sarah says "הִנֵּה נָא עֲצָרַנִי י"י מִלֶּדֶת בֹּא נָא אֶל שִׁפְחָתִי אוּלַי אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה" (Bereshit 16:2), while Rachel says "הִנֵּה אֲמָתִי בִלְהָה בֹּא אֵלֶיהָ וְתֵלֵד עַל בִּרְכַּי וְאִבָּנֶה גַם אָנֹכִי מִמֶּנָּה" (Bereshit 30:3). The description of their actions also uses similar terms: "וַתִּתֵּן אֹתָהּ לְאַבְרָם אִישָׁהּ לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה. וַיָּבֹא אֶל הָגָר וַתַּהַר... וַתֵּלֶד הָגָר לְאַבְרָם בֵּן" (Bereshit 16:3-4,15) and "וַתִּתֶּן לוֹ אֶת בִּלְהָה שִׁפְחָתָהּ לְאִשָּׁה וַיָּבֹא אֵלֶיהָ יַעֲקֹב. וַתַּהַר בִּלְהָה וַתֵּלֶד לְיַעֲקֹב בֵּן." (Bereshit 30:4-5).

Analysis

  • Degree of similarity –
  • Distinctive phrases –
    • כָּעֵת חַיָּה – The phrase "כָּעֵת חַיָּה" is found only by Sarah and the Shunamite.
    • אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה – The phrases "אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה" or "וְאִבָּנֶה גַם אָנֹכִי מִמֶּנָּה" are unique to the stories of Sarah and Rachel.

Points of Contrast

Conclusion

As seen above, one of the points shared by almost all of the stories is the later importance of the son. In five of the cases,9 the son later becomes a forefather or a leader of the Israelite nation, and in three of these, an explicit promise is made to the parent about this eventuality. In fact, it almost seems that maternal barrenness is a prerequisite for producing a leader of the Children of Israel.10  In light of this, it is important to understand why Hashem caused11 so many of the mothers of the nation to be barren.

The barrenness has been explained in various ways by commentators:

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