EXPOSITION. Ver. 14.-And Reuben (nt this time four ing superstition) said to Leah, Give me, I or five years old) went (probably accompany- pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes (in the ing the reapers) in the days of wheat hopes that they would remove her sterility). harvest (in the beginning of May), and Ver. 15-And she (Leab) ae.id unto her, found mandrakes-0 1~1~"1, µij>.a µav8pa- -stomachose (Cnlvin)-Is it II small matter yopwv (LXX., Josephus), apples of the man· that thou hast taken my husband 1-literally, dragora, an herb resembling bcllndonna, with Is it little thy taking away my husband? a root like n carrot, having white nnd red- meaning that Rachel hnd been the cause of dish blossoms of a sweet smell, and with Ja.cob's forsnking her (Lcah's) society-and yellow odoriferous npplcs, ripening iu May wouldest thou take away (literally, and to and Juno, and supposed, according to Ori- take also = wouldst thou take 1 cxpressi ve ental superstition, to possess tho virtue of of strong surprise) my son's mandrakes alsol conciliatJDg love n.nd promoting fruitfulness Calvin thinks it unlikely that J11cob's wives (vide Gesenius, p. 191, and cf. Rosenmiillcr's wero nntumlly quarrelsome; sed Deus con- • Scholia,' nnd Knlisch in loco)-in the field ftigere eas inter se pasS'!tS est ut polygamice (when nt his childish play), and brought pama ad posteras extaret. And Rachel said them unto his mother Leah (which a son of (in order to indnco Leah's compliance with more mature years would not have done). her request), Therefore he shall lie with Then Raohel (not exempt from t.he prevail- thee to-night for thy son's mandrakn 868 THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [err. XXX, 14-24.
Yrr. 1 G.-And Jacob came out of the field to_ cohabit or dwell together as husband and in the evening,-i. e. the harvest-field (ver. ~fe. The LXX. render alp,rui, the mean- 14)-and Leah went out to meet him, and mg being that Lcah's six sons ,vould in said, Thon must come in unto me (the her judgment, be an indncement suffi.cie~tly Sa!11~ri~.n code~ adds "this night," and the powerful to cause Jacob to select her society LXX. .,;-day ) ; for surely I have hired mstead of that of her barren sister. And thee (litemlly, hiri:ng I have hired thee) with she called his name Zebulnn-'!: e. Dwellino- • my son'1.1 mandrakes. And (assenting to the from zabal, to dwell ,vith, with a play upi~ arrangement of his wives) he lay with her that night. the word ',:;if, to hire, which, commencin"' Ver. 17.-And God hearkened unto Leah with the samo letter, was regarded as simila; -,i. e. unto Leah's prayers (Onkelos, Jerome: in sound to .,~ ?, the ., and the , being some. Rosenmiiller, Mnrphy), which Calvin thinks times interchangeable (Keil, Kaliscl1). doubt_ful-quis enim putaret, dum odiose Ver. 21. - And afterwards she be.re a soror1, 611a 'Ml]at Lea fructus a puero col- ledos, et hoe pretio 'MCtem mariti mercatur daughter, and called her name Dinah-i. e. ullum esse precibus wcum. 'l'he historia.~ Judgment. Dinah (the female Dan) may not employs the term Elohim to show that Leah's have .~een Jaco~'s only daughter (vide eh. XX.'l:VJL 35 ; xlvi. 7). Her name is here re- pregnancy was not owing to her son's man- drakes, but to Dinne power (Keil, Lauge)- corded probably because of the incident in and she conceived, and bare Jn.cob the fifth her history afterwards related (eh. x.xxiv. 1). son - or, counting Zilpah's, the seventh ; Vers. 22 - 24. - And God remembered while, reckoning Bilhah's, this was Jacob's Rachel (cf. eh. viii. 1 ; 1 Sam. i. 19), and ninth child. God hearkened to her,-as to Leah (ver.17)- Ver. 18.-And Leah said, God-Elohim; and opened her womb-as he had previously e proof of the lower religious consciousness done to Leah (eh. xxix. 31). Rachel's bar- into which Leah had fallen (Hengstenberg), renness had not continued so lon" as either th?ugh perhaps on the above hypothesis an Sarah's or Rebekah's.. And she ~onceived, evidence of her piety and faith (Keil, Lange) and bare a son; and said, God he.th taken -hath given me my hire, because I have away my reproach-i. e. of sterility. 'l'he given my maiden to my husband :-i. e. as a ma~drakcs of Leah having proved ineffi- reward for my self-denial (Keil, Murphy) • cac1ous, Rachel at length realises that chil- an exclamation in which appears Leah's lov~ d;en are God'.s gift, and this thought suffi- for Jacob (Lange), if not also a tacit o.cknow- ciently explams the use of the term Elohim. ledgment that she had her fears lest she And she called his name Joseph ;-1:}P.i~, may have isinncd in asking him to wed Zilpah either," lie takes away," with allusion to the (Rosenmiiller) - and she called his name re_moval of her reproach, or, "he shall add," Issa.char-'' There is Reward," or '' There is With reference to her hope of another son. Hire ; " containing a double allusion to her Perhaps the first thought is not obscurely hire of Jacob and her rewnrd for Zilpah hinted at, though the second appears from Vcrs. 19, 20.-And Leah conceived again, tho ensuing clause to have occupied the and bare Jacob the sixth son. And Leah greater prominence in Rachel's mind-and said, God (Elohim ; 'llide supra) hath en- said, The Lord - Jehovah ; e. trace of the dued me with a good dowry. LJ.,cwp11rn1 J ehovistic pen (Tuch, Bleek, et alii) ; rather µo, owpov i:a:1-ov (LXX.), dotavit me dote an outcome of the higher spiritual life of bona (Vulgate), hath presented me with a Rachel, who had now got emancipated from goodly present. The word i.:n is a ihra( all such merely human devices ns resorting A,y6µwov. Now will my husband dwell with to mandrakes, and was able to recognise her complete dependence for offspring on the me. '~?, also a i11ral; A,-y ., signifies to be or sovereign grace of tho covenant God of Abra- make round (Gesenius), to limit round or en- ham and Isaac and Jacob (Hengstenberg, compass (Fiirst); hence, according to both, Keil)-shall add to me another son.
HOMILETICS. Vere. 14-24.-.The BtO'f"1/ of the mandrakes. I. A YOUNG CHILD'S INNOCENCE, "Reuben found mandrakes ID the field, and brought them to his mother." Nature with its beautiful sights and harmonious sounds, possesses a wonderful fascinatio~ for the infant mind. In proportion as man sinks beneath the power of sin does he fall_ out o~ sympathy with God's fair world. Strong and tender is the bond of Jove wL,ch 1;1111tes a child to its mother. The true depositary for a child's treasures is the moth~r s lap, for a child's joys and sorrows the mother's heart. Yet a child's in- expenence and simplicity may sometimes ea.use a parent to err, thongh the true OH, XXX. 14-24.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 361}