What in the world are Mandrakes?
What are the mandrakes mentioned in the bible and why are they associated with sex?
Genesis 30:14-16 New International Version (NIV)
14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”
“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
Mandrake comes from the Hebrew word "duwday" H1736
It is a fruit, referred to often as a love-apple, because it was used as an aphrodisiac. People believed not only that it increased your sexual desire but also that it made you more fertile. So this gives us some additional insight into why Rachel may have really wanted the mandrakes in the first place.
H1736 is associated with H1730 "Dowd". The word Dowd is used several times in Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon). It was translated in our conservative English bible as "love" but it actually means "lovemaking". So in Song of Songs 1:2 we read "your love is more delightful than wine", it really is saying "your love-making is more delightful than wine."
Song of Songs 1:1-2 New International Version (NIV)
1 Solomon’s Song of Songs.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Well, Song of Songs is a whole different book never really discussed in Sunday School for its true word meaning. Song of Songs also has a reference to mandrakes.
Mandrakes are a hallucinogenic. The plant has been used as a form of anesthesia.
So now you know the rest of the story, some plant fruit/food that was a hallucinogenic, used as an aphrodisiac, and believed to make you fertile.
So...Rachel gets the mandrakes in exchange for her sister, Leah to have a night with their mutual husband. Rachel whom Jacob loved must have been the gatekeeper on her husband. Leah becomes pregnant again and names the child Issachar meaning "reward" or "man of hire".
Genesis 30:17-18 New International Version (NIV)
17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.18 Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
Further on, notice still that Rachel does not get pregnant as a result of the mandrakes. When she finally does become pregnant it was a result of God remembering her. God had been listening to Leah all the time. Leah points this out in the meaning of the names of her sons, and specifically why she thinks she was rewarded by God for each son, including her sharing her maid servant with her husband, but for some reason, God did not do the same for Rachel. We are not told in the story specifically why, we can only speculate, but we are told at the beginning of chapter 30 that Rachel was very jealous of her sister. This word for jealousy here is associated with envious and suggests a behavior of jealousy not just an internal thought of jealousy. Also, although Jacob loved Rachel, that apparently was not enough, Rachel was more concerned about having a son. Maybe it just took some time and maturity, but eventually, God does remember and listen.
Genesis 30:22-24 New International Version (NIV)
22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph,[a] and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”
For more info on mandrakes, visit the below website
