Genesis 30:14

Genesis 30:14 says, And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.  Reuben would have still be fairly young, but he was in the fields and harvested some mandrakes for his mother.  These plants were noted for causing someone to be in an excited state, somewhat like narcotics, according to the definition.  Rachel asked Leah to share them with her.  Verse fifteen states, And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes.  Evidently, Leah did not really care about what Rachel wanted, since she felt that Rachel had stolen her husband.  Again, I am not sure that Rachel had anymore say in the matter of marriage than Leah did, but it was bound to cause bad feelings, especially when Jacob loved Rachel more.  We cannot blame others for doing  things that they really have no control over.  Jacob and their father were the ones to blame, not each other.  Verse sixteen proclaims, And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.  Leah met Jacob as he came in from the field and told him that he must come to bed with her that night.  She said it was because of the mandrakes, so for whatever reason, she felt that the mandrakes would make her more desirable.  People today often begin to use stimulates or drugs thinking that they will somehow make them better, when at best what they often do is simply decrease inhibitions.  Verse seventeen adds, And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.  Once more, only God can give life, and actually Leah was Jacob's first wife.  Unlike Sarah and Abraham, we are not told that God made His promise to Jacob and a particular woman, but God was still at work in their lives.  We as followers of Christ may at times fail to live up to what God expects of us, but that doesn't mean that He is not still at work in our lives.  Leah was blessed with a fifth son.  Verse eighteen states, And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.  Leah attributed her having another son to God blessing her for giving her maid to Jacob, but I don't believe that this was the case.  If God blesses us, it will never be because we have done something that is against His word.  Verse nineteen says, And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.  Then verse twenty adds, And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.  Leah had a sixth son and felt that because of this Jacob would prefer her to Rachel.  We should never use children as a way to cause someone else to love us.  Verse twenty-one states, And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.  Jacob now had ten sons, and this was his first daughter.  Then, verse twenty-two declares, And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.  I don't believe that this means that God had forgotten Rachel until this time, but simply means that He blessed her with a child.  As followers of Christ, if we don't get everything we want in life, that doesn't mean that God has forgotten us.  Our relationship with God should never be determined by material things.  Verse twenty-three adds, And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:  Then verse twenty-four concludes, And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.  Rachel finally had son, and she named him Joseph.  As we know, Joseph would become a big part in God fulfilling His promise to Abraham, then Isaac, and now Jacob.  God's promise to us today of everlasting life is just as certain as was His promise to them, no matter how much time passes before the ultimate fulfillment of that promise.