Good Morning Girls!  Yesterday I talked a little about the original “Queens of Instant Gratification” in the Bible……..Lord knows there are plenty of them!   Now don’t think for a minute that I mean any disrespect to these women.  Lord knows if I had lived during Old Testament times there could have been a whole book written about all the ways I tried to “make things happen” when God seemed a little too slow with His promises!  Today I want to take a closer look at one specific example of two queens who battled it out for years……..

It is the story of Leah and Rachel.  For those of you who are not familiar with it, I will give you a quick, simplified, overview.  Leah and Rachel are sisters.  Leah is the oldest.  Jacob goes to work on their fathers fields and falls in love with Rachel.  The dad says Jacob has to work for seven years and then he can marry his daughter.  Seven years go by and the dad tricks Jacob and gives him Leah saying that the youngest cannot marry before the oldest.  Jacob works for another seven years so he can marry Rachel.  Now he is married to both, and the sibling rivalry begins. He loved Rachel more than Leah, and they both know it.  Rachel liked to taunt Leah about it.  However, Leah was able to have children, and Rachel was not.  Leah had four sons and Rachel had none.  She became desperate and gave Jacob her servant to have children for her in her place (instant gratification).  Then Leah wasn’t getting pregnant anymore so she gave her servant to Jacob to have children in her place (I bet Jacob was loving this sibling rivalry thing).  At the point of the story you are about to read, neither sister is able to get pregnant and they both have their servants sleeping with Jacob and having children with him.  I told you this was better than any tv soap opera……..

Genesis 30:14-22  One day during the wheat harvest, Reuben found some mandrakes growing in a field and brought them to his mother, Leah.  Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”  But Leah angrily replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you stole my husband? Now you will steal my son’s mandrakes, too?”  Rachel answered, “I will let Jacob sleep with you tonight if you give me some of the mandrakes.”  So that evening as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him.  “You must come and sleep with me tonight!” she said.  “I have paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found.”  So that night he slept with Leah.  And God answered Leah’s prayers.  She became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.  She named him Issachar, for she said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife.”  Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob.  She named him Zebulun, for she said, “God has given me a good reward.  Now my husband will treat me with respect, for I have given him six sons.”  Later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.  Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children.

I’m not even sure where to begin with this one!  This is sibling rivalry at its greatest.  First of all, what Leah and Rachel fail to see is that their competition with each other only hurts themselves…..and benefits Jacob!  I wonder what Jacob thought of this whole set up.  He has 2 wives fighting over the chance to sleep with him…..to the extreme that they give him their servants to sleep with also.  They are both fighting for his love and attention.  Rachel has him with her beauty.  Leah has him with her ability to produce male children.  Regardless of what they do, neither one is content.  And Jacob simply goes to whichever tent he is told to go to! 

So Rachel gives up a night with Jacob in exchange for some mandrakes.  I always thought that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard……until I looked up what a mandrake is.  It is a rare plant that was thought to increase fertility.  So Rachel sees Reuben with them and thinks to herself “If only I had some mandrakes.  I bet then I could get pregnant.”  She trusts in the rare plant more than she trusts in the Lord.  Now don’t misunderstand me here Girls.  If you are currently seeking help getting pregnant, I am NOT saying that is wrong.  Please do not think that for a second.  I am simply looking at this story and interpreting it the way I see it, for these two women.  Here’s the thing, Rachel gives up the thing she REALLY needs (Jacob) in exchange for the rare plant that she believes will help her.  The problem is, without the man, the plant is no good!

So what happens?  Leah ends up pregnant!  Has that ever happened to you?  You take matters into your own hands, assuming it is the best way to get what you want, and the EXACT OPPOSITE happens!  Can you imagine how mad Rachel must have been?  It says Leah had 2 more sons and a daughter, from the night of the mandrake trade to the time Rachel finally became pregnant.  Doing the math on that I figure it had to be a minimum of three years of waiting for Rachel.  I wonder what she thought of those mandrakes after all of that waiting!

My question to you is: have you made a mandrake trade that is getting you nowhere?  Are you forfeiting the one thing you really need in exchange for something you think will get you what you want?  Spend some time with the Lord today and ask Him if you need to throw out any plants and return to His plan for you.

Isaiah 49:4   I replied , “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.  Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”

Love, patience, and a mandrake free day to you all,

Jen