John Gill Commentary Genesis 30:8

"And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali." — Genesis 30:8 (ASV)

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.