"Her handmaid Bilhah…her handmaid Zilpah." (Gen. 30:4-9)

According to Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal), the four primordial elements - fire, water, air, and earth - are derived from the four letters of G‑d's Name Havayah; specifically, the element of earth is derived from the final hei, which is associated with the sefira of malchut. In this context, he states that the verse "Iron is taken from the earth" (Job 28:2) indicates that iron is derived from malchut, which is the principle of femininity. Inasmuch as Jacob's four wives are all manifestations of malchut, he notes further that the word for "iron/barzel" –beit-reish-zayin-lamed-- can also be seen as an acronym for Jacob's four wives: Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah.

...Jacob's four wives are all manifestations of malchut...

Surprisingly, the names of the handmaids appear before those of their respective mistresses in this acronym. This reflects the unique significance of Jacob's marriages to the handmaids. If we are meant, both collectively as a people and as individuals, to consider ourselves God's "wives," then a handmaid represents an inferior level of relationship to God, a lower level of Divine consciousness. This is why Abraham and Jacob did not initially want to marry their handmaids: they did not want to descend to a lower level of Divine consciousness. The matriarchs, in contrast, recognized the need for their husbands' descent, since only thus could they elevate this lower level, as well. The matriarchs therefore encouraged their husbands to marry their handmaids. This is why the names of the handmaids appear before those of the matriarchs.

In Kabbalistic terms, the matriarchs personified malchut of Atzilut as it exists in its native milieu, the world of Atzilut. The handmaids, on the other hand, personified malchut of Atzilut as it descends into the lower worlds. Precisely because the handmaids were able to descend into the lower worlds and elevate the powerful sparks of Divinity embedded there, they were able, through their association with Jacob, to reconstruct malchut itself, as personified by the matriarchs, enabling them to conceive.

Adapted from Sefer HaSichot 5752, vol. 1, p. 234 (which cites Sefer HaLikutim of the Arizal on Job 28 and on Genesis 49:11)
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