Genesis 30:18

18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband. ” So she called his name Issachar. ^[a]

Genesis 30:18 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:18

And Leah said, God hath given me my hire
Of the mandrakes with which she had hired of Rachel a night's lodging with Jacob, and for which she had a sufficient recompense, by the son that God had given her: and she added another reason, and a very preposterous one, and shows she put a wrong construction on the blessing she received: because I have given my maiden to my husband;
which, she judged, was so well pleasing to God, that he had rewarded her with another son; and she called his name Issachar,
which signifies "hire" or "reward"; or, there is a reward, or a man of reward.

Genesis 30:18 In-Context

16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes. ” So he lay with her that night.

17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband. ” So she called his name Issachar.

19 And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son.

20 Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons. ” So she called his name Zebulun.

Footnotes

• [a] 30:18 'Issachar' sounds like the Hebrew for 'wages', or 'hire'