And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.
14. mandrakes ] R.V. marg. love-apples. The mandrake ( mandragora vernalis) is a tuberous plant, with yellow plumlike fruit. It was supposed to act as a love-charm. It ripens in May, which suits the mention ( Gen 30:14) of wheat harvest. It has an odour of musk; cf. Son 7:13, “the mandrakes give forth fragrance.” It has been conjectured that the word duda’im is connected with the name of Dudah, the love-god mentioned on the inscription of Mesha (line 12); that Reubenites, adjoining the Moabites, were worshippers of Dudah; and that, on this account, Reuben is spoken of as the finder of the love-apples. The mandrake is called by the native inhabitants of Palestine baid el-jinn, “the eggs of the jinn.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 14. Reuben – found mandrakes] dudaim. What these were is utterly unknown, and learned men have wasted much time and pains in endeavouring to guess out a probable meaning. Some translate the word lilies, others jessamine, others citrons, others mushrooms, others figs, and some think the word means flowers, or fine flowers in general. Hasselquist, the intimate friend and pupil of Linne, who travelled into the Holy Land to make discoveries in natural history, imagines that the plant commonly called mandrake is intended; speaking of Nazareth in Galilee he says: “What I found most remarkable at this village was a great number of mandrakes which grew in a vale below it. I had not the pleasure to see this plant in blossom, the fruit now (May 5th, O. S.) hanging ripe to the stem, which lay withered on the ground. From the season in which this mandrake blossoms and ripens fruit, one might form a conjecture that it was Rachel’s dudaim. These were brought her in the wheat harvest, which in Galilee is in the month of May, about this time, and the mandrake was now in fruit.” Both among the Greeks and orientals this plant was held in high repute, as being of a prolific virtue, and helping conception; and from it philtres were made, and this is favoured by the meaning of the original, loves, i.e., incentives to matrimonial connections: and it was probably on this account that Rachel desired them. The whole account however is very obscure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
cir. 1748
Mandrakes: the word is only found here and Son 7:13, whence it appears that it is a plant or fruit of pleasant smell, such as the mandrake is said to be by Dioscorides and Levinus Lemnius, and by St. Austin upon his own experience. If it be said this was too early for mandrakes to be ripe, it being now but wheat-harvest; it may be replied, that fruits ripen much sooner in those hot countries than elsewhere, and that they are not here said to be ripe, but only to be gathered.
Give me, I pray thee, of thy sons mandrakes; which she might desire, either because they were pleasant to the eye or taste, or because they were thought helpful to conception.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest,…. Leah’s eldest son, who is supposed to be at this time about four or five years of age e, who went out from the tent to the field, to play there perhaps; and this was at the time of wheat harvest, in the month Sivan, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our May; a time of the year when the earth is covered with flowers:
and found mandrakes in the field; the flowers or fruit of mandrakes, mandrake apples, as the Septuagint. This plant is said to excite love, provoke lust, dispose for, and help conception; for which reasons it is thought Rachel was so desirous of these “mandrakes”, which seem to have their name “dudaim” from love: the word is only used here and in So 7:13; where they are commended for their good smell, and therefore cannot be the plant which goes now by that name; since they neither give a good smell, nor bear good fruit, and are of a cold quality, and so not likely to produce the above effects ascribed unto them. It is very probable they were lovely and delightful flowers the boy picked up in the field, such as children delight in; some think the “jessamin”, others lilies, and others violets f; it is not easy to determine what they were; [See comments on So 7:13];
and brought them unto his mother Leah; as children are apt to do, to show what line flowers or fruit they have gathered:
then Rachel said to Leah, give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes; being taken with the colour or smell of them; for as for the notion of helping conception, or removing barrenness and the like, there is no foundation for it; for Rachel, who had them, did not conceive upon having them; and the conception both of her and Leah afterwards is ascribed to the Lord’s remembering and hearkening to them.
e Shalshaley Hakabala, fol. 3. 2. f Vid. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Other Children of Leah. – How thoroughly henceforth the two wives were carried away by constant jealousy of the love and attachment of their husband, is evident from the affair of the love-apples, which Leah’s son Reuben, who was then four years old, found in the field and brought to his mother. , (lxx), the yellow apples of the alraun ( Mandragora vernalis ), a mandrake very common in Palestine. They are about the size of a nutmeg, with a strong and agreeable odour, and were used by the ancients, as they still are by the Arabs, as a means of promoting child-bearing. To Rachel’s request that she would give her some, Leah replied (Gen 30:15): “ Is it too little, that thou hast taken (drawn away from me) my husband, to take also ” ( infin.), i.e., that thou wouldst also take, “ my son’s mandrakes? ” At length she parted with them, on condition that Rachel would let Jacob sleep with her the next night. After relating how Leah conceived again, and Rachel continued barren in spite of the mandrakes, the writer justly observes (Gen 30:17), “ Elohim hearkened unto Leah, ” to show that it was not from such natural means as love-apples, but from God the author of life, that she had received such fruitfulness. Leah saw in the birth of her fifth son a divine reward for having given her maid to her husband – a recompense, that is, for her self-denial; and she named him on that account Issaschar, , a strange form, to be understood either according to the Chethib “there is reward,” or according to the Keri “he bears (brings) reward.” At length she bore her sixth son, and named him Zebulun, i.e., “dwelling;” for she hoped that now, after God had endowed her with a good portion, her husband, to whom she had born six sons, would dwell with her, i.e., become more warmly attached to her. The name is from to dwell, with acc. constr. “to inhabit,” formed with a play upon the alliteration in the word to present – two . In connection with these two births, Leah mentions Elohim alone, the supernatural giver, and not Jehovah, the covenant God, whose grace had been forced out of her heart by jealousy. She afterwards bore a daughter, Dinah, who is mentioned simply because of the account in Gen 34; for, according to Gen 37:35 and Gen 46:7, Jacob had several daughters, though they were nowhere mentioned by name.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. 15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes. 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. 17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. 21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.
Here is, I. Leah fruitful again, after she had, for some time, left off bearing. Jacob, it should seem, associated more with Rachel than with Leah. The law of Moses supposes it a common case that, if a man had two wives, one would be beloved and the other hated, Deut. xxi. 15. But at length Rachel’s strong passions betrayed her into a bargain with Leah that Jacob should return to her apartment. Reuben, a little lad, five or six years old, playing in the field, found mandrakes, dudaim. It is uncertain what they were, the critics are not agreed about them; we are sure they were some rarities, either fruits or flowers that were very pleasant to the smell, Cant. vii. 13. Note, The God of nature has provided, not only for our necessities, but for our delights; there are products of the earth in the exposed fields, as well as in the planted protected gardens, that are very valuable and useful. How plentifully is nature’s house furnished and her table spread! Her precious fruits offer themselves to be gathered by the hands of little children. It is a laudable custom of the devout Jews, when they find pleasure, suppose in eating an apple, to lift up their hearts, and say, “Blessed be he that made this fruit pleasant!” Or, in smelling a flower, “Blessed be he that made this flower sweet.” Some think these mandrakes were jessamine flowers. Whatever they were, Rachel could not see them in Leah’s hands, where the child had placed them, but she must covet them. She cannot bear the want of these pretty flowers, but will purchase them at any rate. Note, There may be great sin and folly in the inordinate desire of a small thing. Leah takes this advantage (as Jacob had of Esau’s coveting his red pottage) to obtain that which was justly due to her, but to which Rachel would not otherwise have consented. Note, Strong passions often thwart one another, and those cannot but be continually uneasy that are hurried on by them. Leah is overjoyed that she shall have her husband’s company again, that her family might yet further be built up, which is the blessing she desires and devoutly prays for, as is intimated, v. 17, where it is said, God hearkened unto Leah. The learned bishop Patrick very well suggests here that the true reason of this contest between Jacob’s wives for his company, and their giving him their maids to be his wives, was the earnest desire they had to fulfil the promise made to Abraham (and now lately renewed to Jacob), that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude, and that in one seed of his, the Messiah, all the nations of the earth should be blessed. And he thinks it would have been below the dignity of this sacred history to take such particular notice of these things if there had not been some such great consideration in them. Leah was now blessed with two sons; the first she called Issachar (a hire), reckoning herself well repaid for her mandrakes, nay (which is a strange construction of the providence) rewarded for giving her maid to her husband. Note, We abuse God’s mercy when we reckon that his favours countenance and patronize our follies. The other she called Zebulun (dwelling), owning God’s bounty to her: God has endowed me with a good dowry, v. 20. Jacob had not endowed her when he married her, nor had he wherewithal in possession; but she reckons a family of children not a bill of charges, but a good dowry, Ps. cxiii. 9. She promises herself more of her husband’s company now that she had borne him six sons, and that, in love to his children at least, he would often visit her lodgings. Mention is made (v. 21) of the birth of a daughter, Dinah, because of the following story concerning her, ch. xxxiv. Perhaps Jacob had other daughters, though their names are not registered.
II. Rachel fruitful at last (v. 22): God remembered Rachel, whom he seemed to have forgotten, and hearkened to her whose prayers had been long denied; and then she bore a son. Note, As God justly denies the mercy we have been inordinately desirous of, so sometimes he graciously grants, at length, that which we have long waited for. He corrects our folly, and yet considers our frame, and does not contend for ever. Rachel called her son Joseph, which in Hebrew is akin to two words of a contrary signification, Asaph (abstulit), He has taken away my reproach, as if the greatest mercy she had in this son was that she had saved her credit; and Jasaph (addidit), The Lord shall add to me another son, which may be looked upon either as the language of her inordinate desire (she scarcely knows how to be thankful for one unless she may be sure of another), or of her faith–she takes this mercy as an earnest of further mercy. “Has God given me his grace? I may call it Joseph, and say, He shall add more grace! Has he given me his joy? I may call it Joseph, and say, He will give me more joy. Has he begun, and shall he not make an end?”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 14-21:
At this time, Reuben was still quite young. He accompanied the reapers into the fields, and while there found mandrake plants. The mandrake was an herb of the potato family, with a root like a carrot and at times resembling a human body. It was rather mild-tasting, but it was highly prized as both a charm against evil spirits, and as an aphrodisiac. It was this latter quality that attracted Rachel. She considered it a means to cure her sterility, and begged Leah to give the plants to her.
Leah’s reply reveals the depth of her bitterness toward her sister. She accused Rachel of being the cause of Jacob’s forsaking her, and now of trying to take away her means of bringing him once more to her. Rachel’s reply implies that the two wives had worked out an arrangement by which they shared the marriage bed with Jacob. Rachel offered to give up her “turn” in exchange for the mandrakes Reuben had brought to Leah.
Leah accepted Rachel’s offer, and when Jacob came in from the harvest field that evening, she met him and informed him of the arrangement. Jacob then agreed, and spent the night with Leah. As a result, Leah became pregnant once more. Verse 17 states that “God (Elohim) hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived.” Leah conceived because God heard and answered her prayer.
Leah bore to Jacob a fifth son. At his birth, she affirmed that God had given her this son as wages or reward for her self-denial, and for giving her maid Zilpah to Jacob as wife. She named this son, “Issachar,” meaning “reward.”
Leah once more conceived, and bore Jacob’s sixth son. At his birth, yeah said, “God (Elohim) hath endued me with a good dowry,” and expressed hope that because of this dowry Jacob would choose her company over that of Rachel who was still barren. She named this son “Zebulun,” meaning “dwelling.”
Leah bore a daughter, whom she named Dina This is a feminine form of Dan, and indicates she considered this child a judgment upon her. Jacob had other daughters (see above), but their names are not given.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest. This narration of the fact that a boy brought home I know not what kind of fruit out of the fields, and presented it to his mother, by which she purchased of her sister one nigh with her husband, has the appearance of being light and puerile. Yet it contains a useful instruction. For we know how foolishly the Jews glory in extolling the origin of their own nation: for they scarcely deign to acknowledge that they leave sprung from Adam and Noah, with the rest of mankind. And certainly they do excel in the dignity of their ancestors, as Paul testifies, (Rom 9:5,) but they do not acknowledge this as coming from God. Wherefore the Spirit purposely aimed at beating down this arrogance, when he described their race as sprung from a beginning, so mean and abject. For he does not here erect a splendid stage on which they may exhibit themselves; but he humbles them and exalts the grace of God, seeing that he had brought forth his Church out of nothing. Respecting the kind of fruit mentioned, I leave nothing certain to adduce. (80) That it was fragrant is gathered from Son 7:13 (81) And whereas all translate it mandrakes, I do not contend on that point.
(80) Mandrakes — Heb. דודאים, ( dudaim,) from דוד, ( dud,) beloved; supposed to be a species of melon with purple flowers. It grows abundantly in Palestine, and is held in high respect for its prolific virtues. Gesenius describes mandrakes as “Love apples ( Liebes apfel), the apples of the Mandragora, an herb resembling the belladonna, with a root like a carrot, having white and reddish blossoms of a sweet smell, and with yellow odoriferous apples.” — Ed
(81) “The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 30:14. Mandrakes.] The mandrake is universally distributed in all parts of Palestine, and its fruit is much valued by the natives, who still hold to the belief, as old as the time of Rachel, that when eaten it ensures conception. Wheat harvest is the period of its ripening. [Tristrams Natural History of the Bible]. The words occur only here and in Son. 7:13.
Gen. 30:17. God hearkened unto Leah.] These words presuppose a prayer on her part, or perhaps they are used merely in the more general sense of ch. Gen. 16:11, The Lord hath heard thy affliction. (Alford.)
Gen. 30:18. Issachar.] Heb. It is a reward.
Gen. 30:20. Zebulon.] Heb. Dwelling. This vow should be the cause or occasion of the dwelling together of his parents.
Gen. 30:21. Dinah.] Dinah, meaning judgment, from the same root as Dan. This is the only daughter of Jacob mentioned, and that on account of her connection with the history of Jacob. (Ch. 34.) (Jacobus.) Jacob had more daughters: compare ch. Gen. 37:35, with Gen. 46:7.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 30:14-21
TWO TYPES OF RELIGIOUS CHARACTER
I. The type represented by Rachel. This character consists mainly of two elements.
1. Distrust. Rachel had no strong faith in God. There was no disposition to abide by His will, or to wait patiently for its unfolding.
2. The tendency to rely upon carnal devices. Rachel was fruitful in expedients instead of depending upon the favours of Providence. This character is the opposite of that which belongs to the meek. It is the character of the wilful who strive to accomplish their own ends by any means, regardless of what Gods will may decide. The meek humbly submit themselves under the Lords hand.
II. The type represented by Leah. This also consists mainly of two elements.
1. Prayerful trust in God. Leah is content to forego the carnal means which would take the matter out of Gods hand. She will pray and trust in Him. God hearkened unto Leah (Gen. 30:17), for she prayed, and has again the advantage over Rachel with all her expedients.
2. The spirit of gratitude. Leah ascribes her blessings to God. God hath given me my hire. (Gen. 30:18.) God hath endued me with a good dowry. (Gen. 30:20).
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 30:14-17. Mandrakes, the fruit of the mandragora vernalis, which is to this day supposed to promote fruitfulness of the womb. Rachel therefore desires to partake of them, and obtains them by a compact with Leah.(Murphy.)
Gen. 30:18. God hath given me my hire. Wherein she was much mistaken, as having not her senses exercised to discern good and evil. Here she rejoiceth in that for which she should have repented; and was in the common error of measuring things by the success, as if God were not many times angry with men, though they outwardly prosper. Thus Dionysius, after the spoils of an idol-temple, finding the winds favourableLo, said he, how the gods approve of sacrilege!(Trapp.)
Gen. 30:19-21. Leahs election is founded upon Jehovahs grace. Without any doubt, however, she was fitted to become the ancestress of the Messianic line, not only by her apparent humility, but also by her innate powers of blessing, as well as by her quiet and true love for Jacob. The fulness of her life becomes apparent in the number and the power of her children; and with these, therefore, a greater strength of the mere natural life predominates. Joseph, on the contrary, the favourite son of the wife loved with a bridal love, is distinguished from his brethren as the separated (Ch. 49,) among them, as a child of a nobler spirit, whilst the import of his life is not as rich for the future as that of Judah.(Lange.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(14) Reuben went . . . When Leah ceased from bearing, there would be a considerable interval before she and Jacob gave up all expectation of further seed by her. Slowly and unwillingly she would substitute Zilpah for herself, and there would then be a further period of three or four years, to give time for the birth of Gad and Asher: and as Jacob at this time utterly neglected Leah, we do not know but that even a longer space intervened. Moreover, Jacob had other daughters besides Dinah (Gen. 37:35), and probably by these handmaids. We may well believe, therefore, that Reuben at this timewas from fifteen to twenty years of age, and might be trusted to wander at his will over the wild uncultivated waste.
In the days of wheat harvest.This is mentioned to fix the time, namely, early in May. As Laban led a settled life, he may have grown wheat, as Jacob did in Canaan (Gen. 37:7), but mandrakes would most assuredly not be found on tilled land.
Mandrakes.Heb., love-apples. It is generally agreed that the fruit meant is that of the Atropa mandragora, which ripens in May, and is of the size of a small plum, round, yellow, and full of soft pulp. The plant belongs to the same family (the Solanace) as the potato, and the egg plant, the fruit of which is largely used as a vegetable in North America.
The mandragora has a long carrot-shaped root, from which grows a mass of leaves of a greyish colour, not unlike those of the primrose, but larger, and which lie flat upon the ground, and from among them rise blossoms, singly, of a rich purple colour. Canon Tristram (Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 467) says that the fruit is not unpleasant, and that he has often eaten of it without experiencing any soporific or other bad effect. But in the East it has been, and is, the subject of many superstitions, and its Hebrew name arose from the popular belief that it was a specific against barrenness. Rachel, therefore, who still hankered after children of her own, was anxious to obtain some of the fruit, and Leah consents only upon the proffered condition that Jacob shall spend the night in her tent.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
OTHER CHILDREN OF LEAH, Gen 30:14-21.
Reuben went He was now a boy of four or five years. Mandrakes , dudhaim, love-apples, a fruit, as appears from this context, believed to have the power of promoting conception . Hence the anxiety of Rachel to obtain them . The fruit here named is believed to be the Mandragora officinalis, described by Tristram as “one of the most striking plants of the country, with its flat disk of very broad primrose-like leaves, and its central bunch of dark blue bell-shaped blossom . The perfume of the flower we found by no means disagreeable, though it is said by some to be fetid . It has a certain pungency which is peculiar . We found it not uncommon in every part of Palestine, but chiefly in marshy plains . ” Land of Israel, 8vo edit . , p . 103 .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said, “Give me, I beg you, of your son’s mandrakes.”
“The days of wheat harvest.” As with Abraham and Isaac these shepherd rulers also harvest the land.
Reuben is by this time just a few years old, four or five at the most. He discovers in the fields little, strongly smelling yellow fruits and he brings them to his mother. We do not know whether he knew what they were, but his mother knew immediately. They were mandrakes, well known for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities. They have been loosely called ‘love-apples’ because they look like small apples. Rachel, on seeing them, pleads for some so that she can quicken her sexual drive and effectiveness.
The mandrake is a perennial herb of the nightshade family which grew in fields and rough ground (compare Son 7:13). It had large leaves, mauve flowers during the winter, and these were followed by the development of fragrant round yellow fruits of the type found by Reuben.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Last Children of Leah
v. 14. And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. v. 15. And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? And wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? v. 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. v. 17. And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. v. 18. And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband; and she called his name Issachar v. 19. And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.
v. 20. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons; and she called his name Zebulun v. 21. And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Gen 30:14
And Reuben (at this time four or five years old) went (probably accompanying the reapers) in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes, , (LXX; Josephus), apples of the mandragora, an herb resembling belladonna, with a root like a carrot, having white and reddish blossoms of a sweet smell, and with yellow odoriferous apples, ripening in May and June, and supposed, according to Oriental superstition, to possess the virtue of conciliating love and promoting fruitfulnessin the field (when at his childish play), and brought them unto his mother Leah (which a son of more mature years would not have done). Then Rachel (not exempt from the prevailing superstition) said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes (in the hopes that they would remove her sterility).
Gen 30:15
And she (Leah) said unto her,stomachose (Calvin)Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband?literally, Is it little thy taking away my husband? meaning that Rachel had been the cause of Jacob’s forsaking her (Leah’s) societyand wouldest thou take away (literally, and to take also = wouldst thou take? expressive of strong surprise) my son’s mandrakes also? Calvin thinks it unlikely that Jacob’s wives were naturally quarrelsome; sod Deus confligere eas inter se passus est ut polygamiae puma ad posteras extaret. And Rachel said (in order to induce Leah’s compliance with her request), Therefore he shall be with thee tonight for thy son’s mandrakes.
Gen 30:16
And Jacob came out of the field in the evening,i.e. the harvest-field (Gen 30:14)and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me (the Samaritan codex adds “this night,” and the LXX. “today”); for surely I have hired thee (literally, hiring; I have hired thee) with my son’s mandrakes. And (assenting to the arrangement of his wives) he lay with her that night.
Gen 30:17
And God hearkened unto Leah,i.e. unto Leah’s prayers (Onkelos, Jerome, Rosenmller, Murphy), which Calvin thinks doubtfulquis enim putaret, dum odiose sorori suae negat Lea fructus a puero collectos, et hoc pretio noctem mariti mercatur, ullum esse precibus locum. The historian employs the term Elohim to show that Leah’s pregnancy was not owing to her son’s mandrakes, but to Divine power (Keil, Lange)and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth sonor, counting Zilpah’s, the seventh; while, reckoning Bilhah’s, this was Jacob’s ninth child.
Gen 30:18
And Leah said, GodElohim; a proof of the lower religious consciousness into which Leah had fallen (Hengstenberg), though perhaps on the above hypothesis an evidence of her piety and faith (Keil, Lange)hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband:i.e. as a reward for my self-denial (Keil, Murphy); an exclamation in which appears Leah’s love for Jacob (Lange), if not also a tacit acknowledgment that she had her fears lest she may have sinned in asking him to wed Zilpah (Rosenmller)and she called his name Issachar“There is Reward,” or “There is Hire;” containing a double allusion to her hire of Jacob and her reward for Zilpah
Gen 30:19, Gen 30:20
And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. And Leah said, God (Elohim; vide supra) hath endued me with a good dowry. (LXX.), dotavit me dote bona (Vulgate), hath presented me with a goodly present. The word is a . Now will my husband dwell with me. , also a ; signifies to be or make round (Gesenius), to limit round or encompass (Furst); hence, according to both, to cohabit or dwell together as husband and wife. The LXX. render , the meaning being that Leah’s six sons would, in her judgment, be an inducement sufficiently powerful to cause Jacob to select her society instead of that of her barren sister. And she called his name Zebulani.e. Dwelling; from zabal, to dwell with, with a play upon the word , to hire, which, commencing with the same letter, was regarded as similar in sound to , the and the being sometimes interchangeable (Keil, Kalisch).
Gen 30:21
And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinahi.e. Judgment. Dinah (the female Dan) may not have been Jacob’s only daughter (vide Gen 37:35; Gen 46:7). Her name is here recorded probably because of the incident in her history afterwards related (Gen 34:1).
Gen 30:22-24
And God remembered Rachel (cf. Gen 8:1; 1Sa 1:19), and God hearkened to her,as to Leah (Gen 30:17)and opened her wombas he had previously done to Leah (Gen 29:31). Rachel’s barrenness had not continued so long as either Sarah’s or Rebekah’s. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproachi.e. of sterility. The mandrakes of Leah having proved inefficacious, Rachel at length realizes that children are God’s gift, and this thought sufficiently explains the use of the term Elohim. And she called his name Joseph;, either, “he takes away,” with allusion to the removal of her reproach, or, “he shall add,” with reference to her hope of another son. Perhaps the first thought is not obscurely hinted at, though the second appears’ from the ensuing clause to have occupied the greater prominence in Rachel’s mindand said, The LordJehovah; a trace of the Jehovistic pen (Tuch, Bleek, et alii); rather an outcome of the higher spiritual life of Rachel, who had now got emancipated from all such merely human devices as resorting to mandrakes, and was able to recognize her complete dependence for offspring on the sovereign grace of the covenant God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (Hengstenberg, Keil)shall add to me another son.
HOMILETICS
Gen 30:14-24
The story of the mandrakes.
I. A YOUNG CHILD‘S INNOCENCE. “Reuben found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother.” Nature, with its beautiful sights and harmonious sounds, possesses a wonderful fascination for the infant mind. In proportion as man sinks beneath the power of sin does he fall out of sympathy with God’s fair world. Strong and tender is the bond of love which unites a child to its mother. The true depositary for a child’s treasures is the mother’s lap, for a child’s joys and sorrows the mother’s heart. Yet a child’s inexperience and simplicity may sometimes cause a parent to err, though the true source of temptation lies in the parent, and not in the child. “To the pure all things are pure; but to them that are defiled is nothing pure.”
II. A GROWN WOMAN‘S SUPERSTITION. “Give me of thy son’s mandrakes.” Rachel obviously shared the popular belief that Reuben’s fragrant herbs would have an influence in removing her sterility. It is useless inquiring bow such a notion originated. Superstitions commonly arise from mistaking as cause and effect what are only coincident occurrences. Of more importance it is to note that Rachel was of mature years, had been born and nurtured in what may be regarded as a religious home, was now the wife of an intelligent and pious (if also encompassed with infirmities) man, and yet she was the victim of delusive beliefs. In this Rachel was perhaps scarcely to be charged with blame. Superstition is essentially a fault of the intellect resulting from defective information. But Rachel erred in calling superstition to her aid in her unholy rivalry with Leah; all the more when she knew that God alone could remove her reproach.
III. A JEALOUS WIFE‘S BARGAIN. On the part both of Rachel and Leah it was a miserable compact; and a pitiable spectacle it surely was, that of two rival wives contracting with one another about their husband’s society. Rachel disposes of Jacob for a night in consideration of a handful of mandrakes, and Leah counts herself entitled to Jacob’s favors as a boon which she had purchased with Reuben’s yellow apples. Not to speak of the humiliation in all this to Jacob, and the continual misery to which he must have been subjected between his ardent sister-wives, think of the wretchedness it must have entailed upon the women themselves, and the dispeace it must have brought into the rival homes. A more powerful condemnation of polygamy it will be difficult to find, or a more signal illustration of the retribution which sooner or later follows on the heels of transgression.
IV. A SOVEREIGN GOD‘S-DECISION. The two wives were seemingly uncertain whether to ascribe virtue to the mandrakes or not. God determined the problem in a way that must have fully convinced them.
1. That the mandrakes could not remove sterility he demonstrated by allowing Rachel’s barrenness to continue at least two years longer, though she had made use of Reuben’s apples, and by opening Leah’s womb without them.
2. That he alone could bestow offspring on married people he showed by remembering Rachel in his own time, and causing her reproach to depart.
Learn
1. That things and persons innocent and pleasant in themselves may lead astray.
2. That out of small occasions great events may spring.
3. That much infirmity may cling to good men and women.
4. That things desirable in themselves may be sought in wrong ways.
5. That God’s hand should be recognized in the giving or withholding children.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Gen 30:22-24
The life of faith and its reward.
The Scripture teaches us to put the facts of common life in the light of God’s countenance. The true foundation on which family welfare rests is God’s faithfulness and favor. The intense desire of the Hebrew women for children, especially sons, a testimony to the Divine covenant; the original promise pervading all the national life.
I. The birth of Joseph a REWARD OF FAITH AND ANSWER TO PRAYER. God remembers, though we think he forgets. Reproach may lie awhile on the true believer, but is taken away at last. Syrophenician woman; seeming neglect calls out stronger expression of faith. Pray without ceasing.
II. BLESSINGS WAITED FOR are the more appreciated and the richer WHEN THEY COME. “Joseph” a type of him who, though he was sent after many prophets and long tarrying, was greater than all his brethren. The Rachel, the true beloved, the chosen bride, the Church in whom the true Jacob finds special delight, waits and prays. When God shall show that he has remembered and hearkened, the elect one shall be abundantly satisfied. “God hath taken away my reproach.”
III. All experience of Divine faithfulness is a great help, in looking forward, to cherish expectation. “The Lord shall add to me another son,” We ask for more when we know that our prayer is heard.R.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Gen 30:14. Found mandrakes Many eminent Naturalists, ancient and modern, have written largely concerning the nature and properties of these dudaim or mandrakes. But as it is by no means necessary to enter minutely into the subject, the reader will excuse me, if I pass it over in silence.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mandrakes, dudaim in the original; probably a rare kind of fruit, supposed to possess prolific virtues.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.
Ver. 14. And found mandrakes. ] Some render it, lovely flowers; others, violets; others, lilies; others again, cherries of Jury; the Greek, and most interpreters, mandrakes, or mandrake apples. It is a plant very amiable, according to the name, a both for sweetness of smell, Son 7:13 the loveliness of the flower resembling a man; and for the peculiar virtue it hath, to cause sleep, affection, and conception.
a – Vide Drus. in fine Com. Ruth .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 30:14-21
14Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 21Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
Gen 30:14 “Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah” Mandrakes (BDB 188) were an ancient aphrodisiac (cf. Son 7:13). Either their yellow fruit or their roots which looked like a man were the origin of this tradition. Rachel wanted these and hoped that she would conceive and bear a son (again the covenant family trying to help God). The tension between these two sisters becomes obvious in this account. What amazes me is how Jacob was so easily manipulated by the strife of these two women (cf. Gen 30:15-16).
Gen 30:16 “I have surely hired you” This is an INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and PERFECT VERB of the same root (BDB 968, KB 1330), which denotes intensity. Jacob was willingly sexually manipulated by his first two wives. Isaachar’s name (see below) reflects this sad event.
Gen 30:18 “Issachar” The name Issachar (, BDB 441) is related to the Hebrew word “wages” or “recompense” (, BDB 969). Leah hired Jacob’s love with Reuben’s mandrakes!
Gen 30:19-20 “Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. . .Zebulun” The term Zebulun (BDB 259) is a play on the Hebrew words for “gift” or “dowry” (BDB 256) and the word “dwell” or “honor” (BDB 269). His wives are still fighting over his affection.
Gen 30:21 “Afterwards she bore a daughter and named her Dinah” This seems to be the only girl born to this family. The fact that only one was named shows that there was probably only one daughter, however, note Gen 37:35. However, Dinah’s place in the later narrative may be the reason for the naming of this one daughter.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
mandrakes. Septuagint mandragora, the root easily formed, by pinching it, into the shape of a man. Hence its name; also supposed to be and used as a “love-philtre”. Arabic = “apples of Satan”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 2256, bc 1748
mandrakes: The mandrake may be the Hebrew dudaim. It is so rendered by all the ancient versions, and is a species of melon, of an agreeable odour. Hasselquist, speaking of Nazareth in Galilee, says, “What I found most remarkable at this village was the great number of mandrakes which grew in a vale below it. I had not the pleasure of seeing this plant in blossom, the fruit now (May 5th, O. S.) hanging ripe on the stem, which lay withered on the ground. From the season in which this mandrake blossoms and ripens fruit, one might form a conjecture that it was Rachel’s dudaim. These were brought her in the wheat harvest, which in Galilee is in the month of May, about this time, and the mandrake was now in fruit.” The Abbee Mariti describes it as growing “low like a lettuce, to which its leaves have a great resemblance, except that they have a dark green colour. The flowers are purple, and the root is for the most part forked. The fruit, when ripe in the beginning of May, is of the size and colour of a small apple, exceedingly ruddy, and of a most agreeable odour. Our guide thought us fools for suspecting it to be unwholesome.” Son 7:13
Give me: Gen 25:30
Reciprocal: Gen 46:13 – Issachar Eze 48:25 – Issachar
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Joseph, Rachel’s Firstborn There are two possible reasons Rachel wanted the mandrakes, a poisonous plant of the potato family. She may have thought they produced fertility, since many in that region still have such a superstition today. Or, she may have just wanted them because they are rare. At any rate, she exchanged an opportunity for Leah to be with Jacob for Reuben’s mandrakes. Leah then bore Issachar, meaning “my hire.” His name came from the fact that Leah hired Jacob in the exchange for the mandrakes. Leah then bore Zebulun, a name meaning “honor” and chosen because Leah felt God had honored her with six sons. She also bore a daughter named Dinah, or “rights controversy.”
Finally, long years after any potential effect from the mandrakes would have worn off, God remembered Rachel. It should be noted that “God listened to her, which clearly indicates she had been praying about the matter. We all need to remember God is the source of all blessings, including children. She bore a son who she named Joseph, or “he adds.” In the name is an expression of joy because God had taken away her source of shame in allowing her to have a child. Also, Joseph’s name might be viewed as a prayer to God to give her more ( Gen 30:14-24 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Gen 30:14. Found mandrakes The word , thus rendered, is only found here and Son 7:13; and it is not agreed among interpreters whether it signifies a fruit or a flower. It is thought, however, by many, that mandrake-apples are here meant, which, according to Pliny, are of the size of filberts. They were pleasant to the smell, (Son 7:13,) and probably also desirable for food. Whatever they were, Rachel could not see them in Leahs hands, but she must covet them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found {e} mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.
(e) Which is a kind of herb whose root has a likeness to the figure of a man.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The mandrake, a member of the potato and tomato family, is a plant that bears bluish flowers in winter and yellowish plum-size fruit in summer. The fruit has a strong, pleasant fragrance, and was thought to help barren women conceive. Some Arabs still use it as an aphrodisiac and call it "devil’s apple" (cf. Son 7:13). [Note: von Rad, p. 295. See H. Moldenke and A. Moldenke, Plants of the Bible, pp. 137-39; M. Zoary, Plants of the Bible, pp. 188-89.]
"The outcome was ironical, the mandrakes doing nothing for Rachel, while Leah gained another son by parting with them." [Note: Kidner, p. 162.]
"Just as Jacob had purchased the birthright for a pot of stew (Gen 25:29-34), so also Leah purchased the right to more children by Jacob with the mandrakes of her son Reuben (Gen 30:14-16)." [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 201.]
"’Sleep’ (skb), as a euphemism for sex, is never used for loving marital intercourse in this book, only for illicit or forced sex: Lot’s daughters with Lot (Gen 19:32-35); the Philistines with Rebekah (Gen 26:10); Shechem with Dinah (Gen 34:2; Gen 34:7); Reuben with Bilhah (Gen 35:22); Potiphar’s wife with Joseph (Gen 39:7; Gen 39:10; Gen 39:12; Gen 39:14)." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 413.]
Leah received her other children, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah, because "God gave heed to Leah" (Gen 30:17), not because of some magic supposedly connected with the mandrakes.
Jacob may have had daughters besides Dinah (cf. Gen 37:35 and Gen 46:7). She may be the only one mentioned by name because she is the only one whose experience Moses recorded later in Genesis (ch. 34).