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14 Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest 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." 15 But she said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?" And Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes." 16 When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, 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." And he lay with her that night. 17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband." So she called his name Issachar. ~ Genesis 30:14-18
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 30 where we are told of the ever increasing members of the family of Jacob through his four wives. It is clear that God identifies one man for one woman and that the Canaanite practice of polygamy is not a good idea. The sexual revolution of our day has challenged all traditional societal structures, none more aggressively than the institution of marriage. And yes, polygamy was something the Old Testament patriarchs practiced but never as something God prescribed. Polygamy undermines the components of a solid family where trust is found to be the glue to any lasting relationship between one man and one wife.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest 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.'"
The firstborn son of Jacob and Leah was Reuben who was around five or six years old in today's passage. We are told that "in the days of the wheat harvest" Rueben went out into the field. While out in the fields, Reuben found some mandrakes and brought them to his mother Leah. The word "mandrakes" here is only used in two other passages of the Bible. These passages describe them as a small orange-yellow colored fruit that were superstitiously believed to induce fertility. When Rachel found out about Reuben's discovery she bartered for them so that she would be able to use them later to sleep with her husband, and their "magic" would help her to actually bear another child of her own. So, for the mandrakes, Rachel sold her husband’s sexual services for the night. Instead, her plan backfired and Leah got pregnant while she was left with the mandrakes.
In v.15 of today's passage we read, "But she said to her, 'Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?' And Rachel said, 'Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.'"
Polygamy undermines relationships because it pits one spouse against the other, one family member against another. As we were told earlier in this study, Leah had gotten to the point that she stopped conceiving children. It was in that context that Rachel asked Leah for some of the rare mandrakes to which Leah responded with a swift response that only broadened the divide between them. Leah had forgotten the Lord who had so abundantly blessed her in the past and she was discontent with her life as it was. Once Rachel saw how unhappy Leah was about her own situation, she came up with a plan to make them both happy. Leah got a night with Jacob without any interference and Rachel got some mandrakes that she thought would help her get pregnant. It was Martin Luther who once said, "Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional savior. "
In v.16 of today's passage we read, "When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, 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.' And he lay with her that night."
With the bargain settled, Leah let Jacob know her plans for the night and that there would be no argument from Rachel about the agreement. When manipulation is found to be a useful tool to get one's way, it is rarely found to be a one-time event. And for Rachel, a night off from trying to have children was worth it if she could minimize things so that through her mandrakes she could conceive another child. For both Rachel and Leah sex was a means to an end. We can only imagine what it was like for Jacob who was married to two women who loved having children more than they loved him. These are not the building blocks for a solid family.
In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Leah said, 'God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.' So she called his name Issachar."
Leah gave away her mandrakes which were supposed to help women get pregnant and yet she ended up having another child. God was clearly in control of the details. Children are a blessing which He directs and apart from Him they don’t come. And so now, after some time, Leah had a fifth son, Jacob’s ninth child. Leah obviously prayed for this to happen because it says that God "listened to Leah." And, the nice thing about answered prayers is that when they come, we can see how God truly is. Any earlier and maybe we wouldn’t have been really ready. And any later and the purpose of the prayer might have passed away. God's timing is always perfect and each time we think the delay is unwarranted, we can see that in fact it made us more ready to handle the blessing when it did arrive.
Jacob's fifth son by Leah was named Issachar which means "Wages." For Leah, God had given to her the wages that she had earned. This meant that the idea that the mandrakes would produce another child for Rachel didn't work because Leah, the one who gave them up, had two more sons and a daughter, while Rachel, who had the mandrakes remained childless. In both cases though, the satisfaction that Rachel and Leah had experienced with having children was short lived. This is the case with everything in this life. As C.S. Lewis once said "Most people if they really learned how to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something this world can never give them."
The Bible tells us that the wages of our imperfection is death. The only One who makes life right is the Lord Jesus. The ongoing war between Rachel and Leah was the result of them wanting to have children because in their culture their value was measured by such. We are no different than Rachel and Leah. We tend to find our worth and identity by the wrong things. While some measure their value by their possessions, others by their abilities and then others by the way they look. All of these are in some form imperfect. In one second it could all change and what made us feel good about ourselves, at that point, only makes us miserable now. This is the point of our sanctification or the ongoing adoption of life lived God's way. The sooner we are defined by Him in all areas the more content we will be. Being content is one of those most important dispositions of life and it is only accessed as we bow our will to our Maker.
