God remembered Rachel, &c.— Rachel, grown wiser by her husband's reproof, Genesis 30:2 applied herself to Him who is the Giver of children; and he heard her prayer, and granted her request; delayed the longer, probably, for her impatience: for blessings are often withheld, to teach us resignation. Rachel called her son Joseph, which signifies adding; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son: which must either be understood as prophetical, or we may render it, as the LXX and other versions have done, in the optative, may the Lord add another son!
Had Rachel but exercised the patience of Rebekah, she had not been so hasty to put her handmaid in her place. More prayer, and less worldly wisdom, had better answered her end; for now, at her earnest prayer, God remembers her, and gives her a son. She calls him Joseph, in token of her confidence in the increase of her children. Alas! How little do we know what is good for ourselves! This name had not been given, if she could have foreseen that her next son would be the cause of her death.