14 And Reuben went out in the days of wheat-harvest, and found mandrakes in the fields; and he brought them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. 15 And she said to her, Is it [too] little that thou hast taken my husband, that thou wilt take my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes. 16 And when Jacob came from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in to me, for indeed I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I have given my maidservant to my husband; and she called his name Issachar. 19 And Leah again conceived, and bore Jacob a sixth son; 20 and Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; this time will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun. 21 And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 22 And God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived, and bore a son, and said, God has taken away my reproach. 24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, Jehovah will add to me another son.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 30:14-24
Commentary on Genesis 30:14-24
(Read Genesis 30:14-24)
The desire, good in itself, but often too great and irregular, of being the mother of the promised Seed, with the honour of having many children, and the reproach of being barren, were causes of this unbecoming contest between the sisters. The truth appears to be, that they were influenced by the promises of God to Abraham; whose posterity were promised the richest blessings, and from whom the Messiah was to descend.