Bilhah

== International Standard Bible Encyclopedia ==

bil´ha (place) ( בּלהה , bilhāh  ; Codex Alexandrinus, Βαλαά , Balaá  ; Codex Vaticanus, Ἀβελλά , Abellá ): A city in Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:29 ) = Baalah (Joshua 15:29 ), Balah (Joshua 19:3 ), and Baalath (Joshua 19:44 ). Unidentified.

== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature ==

(Heb. Bilhah', בַּלְהָה , faltering, i.e. perh. bashful),' the name of a woman and of a place.

1. (Sept. Βαλλά ) The handmaid (Genesis 29:29) whom the childless Rachel bestowed as a concubine upon her husband Jacob, that through her she might have children. B.C. 191t. Bilhah thus became the mother of Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 30:3-8; Genesis 35:25; Genesis 46:25; 1 Chronicles 7:13). Her stepson Reuben afterward lay with her (Genesis 35:22), B.C. cir. 1890, and thus incurred his father's dying reproof (Genesis 49:4).

2. (Sept. Βαλαά .) A place belonging to the tribe of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:29), called BALAH (See Balah) (q.v.) in Joshua 19:3; and it seems to be the same which is called BAALAH in Joshua 15:29.