And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
Verse 16. I have hired thee] We may remark among the Jewish women an intense desire of having children; and it seems to have been produced, not from any peculiar affection for children, but through the hope of having a share in the blessing of Abraham, by bringing forth Him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He ratified their agreement, that he might preserve peace and love amongst them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Jacob came out of the field in the evening,…. From feeding his flocks;
and Leah went out to meet him; knowing full well the time he used to come home:
and said, thou must come in unto me; into her tent, for the women had separate tents from the men; as Sarah from Abraham; and so these wives of Jacob had not only tents separate from his, but from one another:
for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes: that is, she had hired that night’s lodging with him of Rachel, with the mandrakes her son Reuben had brought out of the field. Jacob made no objection to it; but consented, being willing to please both his wives, who he perceived had made this agreement between themselves:
and he lay with her that night; and that only, for the present: for, by the way of speaking, it looks as if he did not continue with her more nights together at that time, but went, as before that evening, to Rachel’s tent.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
‘And Jacob came from the open country in the evening and Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me for I have surely hired you (‘sachar’ – to hire for wages) with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night. And God listened to Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. And Leah said, “God has given me my hire (sachar) because I gave my handmaid to my husband.” And she called his name Is-sachar (hired man).’
Leah clearly has a sense of humour. Personally she sees the name as resulting from her hiring of Jacob with the mandrakes, but in God’s eyes and in the eyes of others she sees it as her reward for allowing her handmaid to bear children on her behalf.
“The open country” or ‘field’. It may well be that he had been labouring in the wheat fields where Reuben had found the mandrakes.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 30:16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
Ver. 16. Thou must come in unto me. ] These contentions, saith an interpreter, a were not merely carnal, but partly also for desire of God’s ordinary blessing in propagation; and chiefly, for the increase of the Church, and obtaining the promised Seed for salvation.
a Ainsw.