Zilpah was the maidservant whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah (Gen 29:24), and whom Leah in turn gave to Jacob as a wife when she believed she had stopped bearing children (Gen 30:9). Through this arrangement Zilpah bore two sons, Gad and Asher, who became heads of Israelite tribes. Her name appears in genealogical summaries linking the twelve tribes to their mothers (Gen 35:26; 46:18), underscoring that all twelve sons — regardless of their mothers' status — were equally reckoned as Israel's covenant heirs.