Genesis 30:17 - Exposition

And God hearkened unto Leah ,— i.e. unto Leah's prayers (Onkelos, Jerome, Rosenmüller, Murphy), which Calvin thinks doubtful—quis enim putaret, dum odiose sorori suae negat Lea fructus a puero collectos, et hoc pretio noctem mariti mercatur, ullum esse precibus locum . The historian employs the term Elohim to show that Leah's pregnancy was not owing to her son's mandrakes, but to Divine power (Keil, Lange)— and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son —or, counting Zilpah's, the seventh; while, reckoning Bilhah's, this was Jacob's ninth child.