ZILPAH (zĭl'pa, Heb. zilpâh, meaning uncertain). Handmaid of Leah, given to her by her father Laban. Later through Jacob she became the mother of Gad and Asher (Gen.29.24; Gen.30.9-Gen.30.13).


ZILPAH zĭl’ pə (זִלְפָּ֖ה). A slave girl given by Laban to Leah on the occasion of her marriage to Jacob, and who, at the request of Leah, became his secondary wife, bearing to him Gad and Asher (Gen 29:24; 30:9-13; 35:26; 37:2; 46:18).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

The ancestress of Gad and Asher (Ge 30:10,12; 35:26; 46:18), a slave girl of Leah’s, given her by Laban (Ge 29:24; 30:9). In Eze 48 the Zilpah tribes have the 5th division toward the South of Palestine and the 6th to the North, a slightly more favorable position than that of the Bilhah tribes.