Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 30:22-24

"And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son: and said, God hath taken away my reproach: and she called his name Joseph, saying, Jehovah add to me another son." — Genesis 30:22-24 (ASV)

God remembered Rachel. — Rachel’s long barrenness had probably humbled and disciplined her; and, cured of her former impatience, she no longer trusts in “love-apples” but looks to God for the great blessing of children. He listens to her prayer and remembers her (Compare 1 Samuel 1:19).

In calling his name Joseph, there is again a play on two words, as it may be formed from the verb used in Genesis 30:23, and would then mean he takes away; or it may signify he adds, which is the meaning Rachel made prominent. And God did add another son to her, but this blessing cost her her life.

As Joseph was born six or seven years before Jacob left Padan-aram, Rachel had been barren for twenty-six years. We must add that in her joy at Joseph’s birth, there is no trace of the ungenerous triumph over Leah that was so evident in her rejoicing at the birth of Bilhah’s sons; and in her trust that Jehovah would add to her another son, she evidently had in mind the covenant promises, which a son of her own womb might now inherit. As a matter of fact, the long struggle for supremacy lay between the houses of Joseph and Judah, and Judah finally prevailed.