Genesis 30.14-21-Leah Gives Birth to Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah
Sunday July 9, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 30:14-21-Leah Gives Birth to Issachar and Zebulun and Dinah
Lesson # 175
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 30:14.
Last Sunday, we studied Genesis 29:31-35, which contains the record of Leah bearing Jacob four sons whose names are Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
On Wednesday evening we noted Genesis 30:1-8, which gives us the record of Rachel’s maid Bilhah bearing Jacob two more sons, Dan and Naphtali.
Thursday we studied Genesis 30:9-13, which records Leah’s maid Zilpah bearing two more children for Jacob, namely, Gad and Asher.
This morning we will note Genesis 30:14-21, which contains the record of Leah bearing Jacob two more sons, namely, Issachar and Zebulun and a daughter whose name was Dinah.
Genesis 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, ‘Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.’”
Genesis 30:15, “But 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.’”
The Gezer calendar gives us insight as to when the wheat harvest took place.
The Gezer calendar dating about 925 B.C was discovered by R. A. S. Macalister in his excavations at Gezer, which guarded the primary route into the Israelite hill country and was one of the most strategic cities in the Canaanite and Israelite periods.
Gezer is a prominent 33-acre site that overlooked the Aijalon Valley and the road leading through it to Jerusalem.
The Gezer calendar reveals that the wheat harvest took place from mid-April to mid-May.
Therefore, during the spring time, Genesis 30:14 records the oldest son of Leah and Jacob roaming the fields and finding some mandrakes for his mother.
The fact that he is roaming the fields alone indicates that Reuben is old enough to be left alone and he must have been somewhere between six and ten years of age.
“Mandrakes” is the noun dudha’im (<ya!d*WD) (doo-dah-ee), which were plants common to southern Palestine and other areas of the world and were used as an aphrodisiac in the ancient world and were thought to promote fertility.
The mandrake has been called the “love-apple” and in the West, the “May-apple.”
Mandrakes are from the nightshade family, the mandrakes leaves are dark green and the flowers are purple or greenish yellow.
The plant bears a reddish or orange colored fruit that resembles a small tomato and which has a strong smell and sweet, though poisonous, taste.
The mandrake is grown in fields and rough ground of Palestine and the Mediterranean region and is reputed to have emetic, purgative, narcotic qualities.
Its fruit exudes a heady, distinctive fragrance.
Mandrakes can interfere with the transmission of nerve impulses and the ancient world considered the plant an aphrodisiac and was thought to promote fertility.
The plant’s thick root is often forked with extra side roots giving the appearance of arms and legs.
Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sex, was called “Lady of the Mandrake.”
In Song of Solomon 7:10-13 the female spouse enticed her husband to lovemaking by describing the preparations she had made, including the pleasant fragrance of the mandrake.
Song of Solomon 7:13, “The mandrakes have given forth fragrance; And over our doors are all choice fruits, both new and old, which I have saved up for you, my beloved.”
Therefore, Genesis 30:14 records Jacob and Leah’s oldest son Reuben roaming the fields in the spring time during the wheat harvest and coming upon the mandrake, whose leaves and fruit would be appealing to the eye of a child.
Reuben’s innocent discovery of an ancient “love producing potion” provided the occasion for another confrontation and contest between Jacob’s two wives, Rachel and Leah.
When Rachel sees that Reuben has found some mandrakes that were considered an aphrodisiac and fertility drug in her day, she requests the mandrakes thinking they would solve her problem of infertility.
Leah’s strong retort reminds us that, in her mind, it was Rachel who had stolen her husband from her.
She viewed herself as Jacob’s legitimate wife rather than Rachel, who was merely his romantic preference.
Rachel proposed an exchange with Leah, believing that the mandrakes would enable her to get pregnant.
Leah exploited Rachel’s desperate desire to get pregnant by offering to give her the mandrakes in exchange for a night with Jacob.
The expression “lie with you” is a euphemism of sexual intercourse.
The fact that Rachel was willing to make such an offer with Leah reveals how much Jacob favors her over Leah in that she is prepared trade a night of sex with Jacob for the mandrakes, which she hopes will enable her to conceive.
It also reveals how desperate Rachel is to have children in that she would make a deal with Leah, exchanging a night of sex with Jacob for the mandrakes.
Leah’s response is not recorded indicating that she grudgingly agrees to Rachel’s proposal, which backfires on Rachel since Leah conceives again.
Also, the fact that Rachel could make a proposal to Leah, exchanging a night with Jacob for the mandrakes indicates that Rachel was deciding which of Jacob’s wives or concubines would sleep with him on any given night.
Rachel is again demonstrating a lack of faith in the Lord who alone can cause women to conceive.
The fact that Rachel believes that the mandrakes will enable her to conceive and have a child indicates that she still is not free from her pagan background since only the Lord can enable her to have children.
Rachel was so lacking in faith that she put her trust in mandrakes rather than the God Who made them.
Genesis 30:16, “When 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.”
Outside of the home of Jacob, Laban has degraded Jacob to a shepherd under contract to him and now inside his own home, this has taken place.
This is actually the fourth exchange that has taken place in the life of Jacob: (1) Exchange of birthright with Esau for a bowl of red lintel soup (2) Exchange of blessing (3) Exchange of wives, Rachel and Leah (4) Exchange of Jacob as a husband between Rachel and Leah for sex by hire.
In the first two exchanges, Jacob is the victimizer but in the last two, he is the victim.
Leah’s statement to Jacob “I have surely hired you” indicates that Jacob has been reduced to a “stud for hire.”
The expression “He lay with her” is a euphemism of sexual intercourse.
“Lay” is the verb shakhav (bk^v*) (shaw-kahv), which is used as a euphemism for sex and is never used for loving marital intercourse in Genesis but only for illicit or forced sex: Lot’s daughters with Lot (19:32-35); the Philistines with Rebekah (26:10); Shechem with Dinah (34:2, 7); Reuben with Bilhah (35:22); Potiphar’s wife with Joseph (39:7, 10, 12, 14).
We can be sure that Jacob not only accepted the offer because of the sex involved but also to keep the peace in his own home.
Genesis 30:17, “God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.”
The statement “God gave heed to Leah” emphasizes the omnipotence of God indicating that God alone enabled Leah to get pregnant, and thus dismisses the notion that such pagan superstitions about the mandrakes have any validity.
Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”
Psalm 113:9, “He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!”
Genesis 30:14-16 clearly reveals that Rachel placed her faith in the pagan superstition about the mandrakes whereas Leah placed her faith in God.
Remember, the mandrakes were thought to enable barren women to get pregnant, which would draw the interest of Rachel who was barren whereas the mandrakes were also an aphrodisiac, which would have attracted a woman like Leah who was looking for ways to attract Jacob.
Rachel embraced the pagan superstition about the mandrakes and Leah did not.
Rachel’s faith in the pagan superstition about the mandrakes is indicated by the fact that she was willing to exchange a night with Jacob for the mandrakes in the hopes that the mandrakes would help her get pregnant.
On the other hand, Leah placed her faith in God, which is indicated by the statement that “God gave heed to Leah,” implying that Leah prayed to God to enable her to get pregnant.
The fact that God is said to have given heed to Leah clearly implies that she prayed to get pregnant by Jacob again and God answered her.
The fact that Leah placed her trust in God to enable her to get pregnant whereas Rachel placed her faith in a pagan superstition is another indication that Leah and not Rachel was Jacob’s right woman.
Genesis 30:18, “Then Leah said, ‘God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar.”
Leah’s use of the term Elohim, “God” emphasizes the omnipotence of God and demonstrates her awareness that God alone has enabled her to get pregnant again and not the mandrakes.
The noun Elohim, “God” emphasizes to the reader that God is omnipotent or all-powerful and is able to bring to pass that which He has determined to take place.
The name “Issachar” (rkccy!) (yis-saw-kawr) means, “reward.”
Leah’s statement “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband” indicates that she views Issachar’s birth as a reward for her giving Zilpah to Jacob.
This statement implies that she viewed this as a costly sacrifice, though at the time the births of Gad and Asher were joyful occasions.
She has misinterpreted the reason why God enabled her to get pregnant.
Leah’s has erroneously interpreted the meaning of her fifth son since the birth of Issachar was a gift of God’s grace and a demonstration of His compassion in response to her adverse circumstances.
Leah erroneously chose to interpret this son as evidence of God’s approval and blessing of her giving her maid Zilpah to Jacob.
In actuality, God “rewarded” Leah’s faith in Him.
Therefore, God in His grace heard Leah’s prayer for a child and rewarded her faith in Him by giving her another son by Jacob.
Grace is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to us based upon on our faith in the merits of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
Genesis 30:19, “Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.”
Genesis 30:20, “Then 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.”
Leah’s statement that “God has endowed me with a good gift” expresses her acknowledgment that God alone by means of His omnipotence has empowered her to get pregnant and bear another child and that this child is a gift from Him.
“Dwell” is the verb zaval (lb^z*) (zaw-val), which does “not” mean, “to dwell” with someone but rather means, “to honor in the sense of acknowledging (a woman) as one’s lawful wife” thus indicating that Leah thought that the birth of Zebulun would cause Jacob to honor her as the sole object of his love and affection.
Leah bore Jacob a sixth son who she named “Zebulun” (/l%Wbw+) (zeb-oo-loon) whose name means, “honor” as indicated by the verb zaval, “to honor in the sense of acknowledging (a woman) as one’s lawful wife and sole object of one’s love and affection.”
Genesis 30:21, “Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.”
Dinah is the seventh child that Leah bore to Jacob and only girl.
The name “Dinah” (hn*yD!) (dee-naw) means, “judgment” since the name is the feminine form of the word din (/yD!) (deen) meaning “judgment.”
The record of Dinah’s birth is intended to introduce her to us in prepara¬tion for the tragic events of Genesis 34 where she is raped by Shechem who was the son of Hamor the Hivite the prince of the land (See Genesis 34:2).
Jacob did not have other daughters besides Dinah (cf. 37:35 and 46:7) since the term “daughters” can be used to describe a “granddaughter” and not just a “daughter.”
In Genesis 46:7-19, the term “daughters” is used with reference to Jacob’s “granddaughters” and not to other daughters besides Dinah since Dinah is singled out as being his only daughter and the daughters of Jacob’s son are listed.