Genesis 30:16

16 As Jacob was coming in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You are to sleep with me," she said. "You are my reward for my son's mandrakes." So he went to bed with her that night.

Genesis 30:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:16

And Jacob came out of the field in the evening
From feeding his flocks; and Leah went out to meet him;
knowing full well the time he used to come home: and said, thou must come in unto me;
into her tent, for the women had separate tents from the men; as Sarah from Abraham; and so these wives of Jacob had not only tents separate from his, but from one another: for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes:
that is, she had hired that night's lodging with him of Rachel, with the mandrakes her son Reuben had brought out of the field. Jacob made no objection to it; but consented, being willing to please both his wives, who he perceived had made this agreement between themselves: and he lay with her that night;
and that only, for the present: for, by the way of speaking, it looks as if he did not continue with her more nights together at that time, but went, as before that evening, to Rachel's tent.

Genesis 30:16 In-Context

14 During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrakes. He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15 Leah replied, "Isn't it enough that you took my husband? Are you also going to take my son's mandrakes?" Rachel said, "Very well, Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."
16 As Jacob was coming in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You are to sleep with me," she said. "You are my reward for my son's mandrakes." So he went to bed with her that night.
17 God answered Leah's prayer. She became pregnant and gave birth to her fifth son for Jacob.
18 Leah said, "God has given me my reward because I gave my slave to my husband." So she named him Issachar [Reward].
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