Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 30:14

"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." — Genesis 30:14 (ASV)

Reuben went ... — When Leah ceased childbearing, there would have been a considerable interval before she and Jacob gave up all expectation of more children by her. Slowly and unwillingly, she would have substituted Zilpah for herself, and there would then have been a further period of three or four years to allow time for the birth of Gad and Asher. Since Jacob utterly neglected Leah at this time, it is possible that an even longer period intervened.

Moreover, Jacob had other daughters besides Dinah (Genesis 37:35), probably by these handmaids. We can well believe, therefore, that Reuben at this time was from fifteen to twenty years of age and could be trusted to wander as he pleased over the wild, uncultivated wasteland.

In the days of wheat harvest. — This is mentioned to fix the time, namely, early in May. Since Laban led a settled life, he may have grown wheat, as Jacob did in Canaan (Genesis 37:7), but mandrakes would most certainly not be found on tilled land.

Mandrakes. — Heb., love-apples. It is generally agreed that the fruit meant is that of the Atropa mandragora, which ripens in May and is the size of a small plum, round, yellow, and full of soft pulp. The plant belongs to the same family (the Solanaceae) as the potato and the egg plant, the fruit of which is largely used as a vegetable in North America.

The mandragora has a long, carrot-shaped root, from which grows a mass of leaves of a greyish color, similar to those of the primrose but larger, which lie flat upon the ground. From among them, single blossoms of a rich purple color rise.

Canon Tristram (Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 467) says that the fruit is not unpleasant and that he has often eaten it without experiencing any soporific or other adverse effect.

But in the East, it has been and still is the subject of many superstitions, and its Hebrew name arose from the popular belief that it was a remedy for barrenness. Rachel, therefore, who still longed for children of her own, was anxious to obtain some of the fruit, and Leah consented only on the offered condition that Jacob would spend the night in her tent.