Manipulating with Mandrakes?

Pressing-On · #1 03-05-2008, 01:15 PM

The dope smoking and Hallucinating threads have me thinking........

Quote:

Genesis 30:14-16 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. (15) And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes. (16) And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

H1736
דּוּדי
dûday
doo-dah'-ee
From H1731; a boiler or basket; also the mandrake (as aphrodisiac): - basket, mandrake.

Why did Leah and Rachel use an aphrodisiac with Jacob? Why didn't they just get him drunk and why was Leah's son involved? Did the women need the mandrakes for themselves or did Jacob need them?

They are also mentioned in Song of Solomon 7:13 "The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."

What is the deal with the mandrakes? I can't find any information on this.

Apocrypha · #2 03-05-2008, 01:21 PM

i know ive read that verse several times, but i never gave it much thought. It is kinda funny that even though both Rachel and Leah were married to him, Rachel in a way kinda pimped out her husband for herbal drugs. Thats certainly a biblical first

Pressing-On · #3 03-05-2008, 01:22 PM

Found this:

There are classical Jewish commentaries which suggest that mandrakes help barren women to conceive a child.

Mandrake in Hebrew is דודאים (dûwôdãym), meaning “love plant”. Among certain Asian cultures, it is believed to ensure conception.

Machiavelli wrote a play Mandragola (The Mandrake) in which the plot revolves around the use of a mandrake potion as a ploy to bed a woman.

Pressing-On · #4 03-05-2008, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikwebster

i know ive read that verse several times, but i never gave it much thought. It is kinda funny that even though both Rachel and Leah were married to him, Rachel in a way kinda pimped out her husband for herbal drugs. Thats certainly a biblical first

Elizabeth · #5 03-05-2008, 01:26 PM

Sounds like Rachel should kept the mandrakes and the date with her husband!

Pressing-On · #6 03-05-2008, 01:27 PM

A mandrake is a plant of the Nightshade family used primarily for its anaesthetic and supposedly magical properties. It is closely related to the deadly nightshade or belladonna and can cause delirium and hallucinations if ingested in sufficient quantities. The mandrake is also said to act as a fertility aid for women.

Mandrake is also an ancient anesthetic, used to numb or sedate patients before various operations.

The mandrake has long had mystical connotations, both because of its narcotic effect and because of the appearance of its root, which is said to resemble a human.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-mandrake.htm