Genesis 30:3
And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
The verse belongs to the account of the sons born to Jacob while he was in the land of the children of the East, where after leaving Bethel he met Laban and served him fourteen years for his two daughters. It falls within Jacob's sojourn with Laban and departure from Syria for Palestine, in which he married Leah and Rachel and was deceived as he had deceived his father. In the verse Rachel gives her maid Bilhah to Jacob so that Bilhah may bear upon Rachel's knees, with the child counted as Rachel's own and borne on Rachel's behalf. The children Jacob had by the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah were recognized as free and equal with his other sons and shared their father's property, since their mothers' status as handmaids did not make the children slaves.
The verse belongs to the account of Jacob's selfish plottings and the suffering that followed, in which his efforts to overreach others led to his being overreached as providence brought retribution in time. The account shows God's care for Jacob despite his selfishness and unfaithfulness. The verse belongs to the record of Jacob's trials and victories that result at last in complete change of heart, placing Jacob the supplanter among the Israel of God, and it is to be read keeping ever in mind the Promised Seed and the channels through which that Seed should come.
The verse is an example of a patriarchal violation of the marriage institution and of Jacob taking Bilhah as an additional wife in polygamy. That polygamy was evil and wrong and caused very great unhappiness in Jacob's family. Such a violation does not cancel or lessen the sacred character of marriage.
Marriage was established before the Fall, with the binding standard remaining the original order of marriage in Eden from which it ought never to have been departed. The practice was only tolerated because of hardness of heart. The sacred institution of marriage is guarded by the seventh commandment.