Read with Me
Genesis 30:9-21 (HCSB)
When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad.
When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher.
Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?”
“Well,” Rachel said, “you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.
God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my slave to my husband,” and she named him Issachar.
Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. “God has given me a good gift,” Leah said. “This time my husband will honor me because I have borne six sons for him,” and she named him Zebulun. 21 Later, Leah bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
Listen with Me
Leah had felt confident in her status as first wife because she had borne four sons to Jacob, while her more attractive sister, Rachel, who was much more loved by her husband, had none. But when she stopped having children and her sister’s servant produced two sons that were counted as her sisters according to the custom of the land, she felt threatened again.
So, she gave her own slave, Zilpah, to Jacob as a wife in order to produce some additional sons and thus cement her position more securely. In short order, Zilpah produced two more sons, Gad, “good luck”, and Asher, “happy”.
The story about Reuben finding mandrakes seems an odd interruption to the narrative, but it is actually a segue to the next, and very important, section. Mandrakes, which have a forked root that some see as resembling a human body, were long used as aids in conceiving. They were not common, and so were highly prized by those who couldn’t bear children.
Rachel hoped that her sister would give her some of the mandrakes out of pure sisterly love. But Leah’s sharp response and the accusation that Rachel had stolen her husband, when Rachel was actually the one contractually engaged to him in the first place, made her realize that any familial love Leah might have felt was now consumed by jealousy and competition.
Rachel’s solution was to trade her normal night with Jacob for some of the mandrakes. Thus, Leah went out to meet Jacob when he came in from the fields, and announced that he was hers that night, hired by her son’s mandrakes.
Leah had consumed some of the mandrakes in advance of her time with Jacob. But Moses makes it abundantly clear that it was God Himself who caused the resulting pregnancy, as well as the two that followed, resulting in the birth of two more sons and a single daughter.
Pray with Me
Father, two lessons from these events strike me. The first is that we must be careful to never let a spirit of competitiveness damage our relationships. But second, we need to seek Your face more intently when we face challenges, rather than try to solve our problems on our own. Without Your help, the pregnancies would not have happened, even if a ton of mandrakes were used. Help me to walk in trust of You, Lord, so that You receive all the glory for the good things You bring to my life. Amen.