God, Fertility, and Mandrakes
What Are Mandrakes?
A mandrake is a plant that was used in ancient times as an aphrodisiac and fertility drug [1]. It has dark leaves, dark purple flowers, and orange, tomato-like fruit [2]. Because of its fragrance, mandrakes are placed with pomegranates [3}, another fruit believed in antiquity to enhance fertility. Greeks refer to mandrakes as “love apples.” Its roots resemble the human lower torso, which is likely why the ancients perceived it as sensual [4]. It also has a strong odor and can be used as a narcotic [5].
The Bible mentions mandrakes in two instances: once in Genesis and once in Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon (7:13) instance is brief. The young woman features asks her lover to go to the vineyards where the mandrakes give off their fragrance, a not-so-subtle nod to their believed sexually stimulating power. The Genesis occasion incorporates them into the Israelite narrative.
The Genesis occasion is a part of the sibling rivalry of Leah and Rachel due to their father’s deception and their own battles with infertility. Jacob (Israel, the father of the 12 tribes) was tricked into marrying Leah, whom he did not love, in order to marry Rachel, the sister he really did love. Because she was unloved, God gave her four sons while Rachel remained unable to conceive. This prompted her to give Jacob one of her maids as a wife to bear children for her, which went according to plan. Leah, however, had stopped producing, so she too gave Jacob a handmaid for a wife, and two additional sons were born. But Rachel still had not been able to become pregnant. Therefore when Leah’s oldest son presented her with some mandrakes he’d found in a field (Gen. 30:14), she desperately begged her sister for some of them, and even agreed to allow Jacob to sleep with her for them. After Leah gave Jacob two additional sons and a daughter, Rachel was finally able to have children.
Rachel’s fertility, of course, was never in the mandrakes. Fertility is in the hands of God, as He is One who gives life and opens wombs. Age does not matter (ask Abraham and Sarah [Gen. 21:5] or Zechariah and Elizabeth [Luke 1:6-7]), only His will. It was established long before Reuben found the mandrakes that 12 tribes would come from Jacob. Rachel simply had to wait her turn, however painful, in God’s fulfillment of His promise. The Creator has never needed any part of His creation to assist Him in being God. (Gen. 16:2; 20:18; 25:21; 29:31; 1 Sam. 2:5; Ps. 113:9; 127:3).
In conclusion, mandrakes are a plant believed to be an aphrodisiac and fertility drug. God does not now nor has He ever needed it to give anyone children.
REFERENCES
[1] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), So 7:11–13.
[2] E. W. G. Masterman, “Mandrakes,” ed. James Orr et al., The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915), 1981.
[3] Richard Watson, “Mandrake, דודאים,” A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (New York: Lane & Scott, 1851), 617.
[4] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 486.
[5] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ge 30:14–15.