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 went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes, [Hebrew, duwdaa'iym (H1736); Septuagint, meela mandragoroon] (cf. Song of Solomon 7:13) (Atropa mandragora, Linnoeus) - a plant resembling the Belladonna, a beet-like root-with fragrant blossoms of a white and reddish hue, which are universally believed by the Orientals to possess the property of aiding conception. The literature on this subject is immense; and the different views entertained regarding the identity of the plant are too many even for enumeration. The following description of it by a traveler of great intelligence, as well as extensive opportunities of observation, may suffice:-`The mandrake is conspicuous by its broad leaves and green apples. Reuben gathered them in wheat harvest on the Mesopotamian fields; and it is then, also, that they are still found ripe and eatable on the lower ranges of Lebanon and Hermon, where I have most frequently seen them. The apple becomes of a very pale yellow colour, partially soft, and of an insipid, sickish taste. They are said to produce dizziness; but I have seen people eat them without experiencing any such effect. The Arabs, however, believe them to be exhilarating and stimulating even to insanity' (Thomson, 'Land and Book').
Verse 15. Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? ... A bitter and intense rivalry existed between Leah and Rachel, all the more from their close relationship as sisters: and although they occupied separate apartments with their respective families, as is the uniform custom where a plurality of wives obtains, and the husband and father spends a day with each in regular succession, this arrangement did not, it seems, allay the mutual jealousies of Laban's daughters. The evil lies in the system, which, being a violation of God's original ordinance, cannot yield happiness. 'Experience in polygamous countries has shown that those run great risk who marry two members of one family, or even two girls from the same town or village. The disadvantages of such unions are well understood. I have often witnessed the quarrels, disputes, and jealousies which arise in harems, where the several wives of one man are nearly related to each other. The more remote the connection or relationship among the women in a harem, the more chance there appears to be of peace within its walls' (Miss Rogers' 'Domestic Life in Palestine').