#6 Sex and Drugs and Polygamy (Genesis 30:15-16)

Genesis 30:15-16

But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.”  When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
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  For those who may be confused, here’s the story:
  (v14)Jacob’s son Reuben found some mandrakes (commonly used as narcotics throughout history) and gave them to his mother, Leah.  Leah, wife #1 of Jacob, is approached by Rachel (wife #2) who asks for some of the mandrakes.  The two made an agreement that in exchange for the mandrakes, Jacob would have sex with Leah that night.  Leah met Jacob in the field later that day, told him “At the cost of some fruit, I hired you for sex tonight.  Let’s go.”  Jacob went “in unto her” and (v17)God gave her a kid.

  (v1-8)Bonus sex: Jacob slept ("as a wife") with Rachel's servant, Bilhah, per Rachel's command, and had two sons named Dan and Naphtali.  (v9-13)Jacob's other wife, Leah, then gave Jacob her servant, Zilpah, to sleep with and make babies (Gad and Asher) with.  While it caused a lot of tension between his wives, the ancestry business was goin' good for Jacob!

  Genesis 30 shows us that Jacob, the incestuous polygamist ((Genesis29) his two wives are his cousins) is causing strife between his wives, apparently denying the sexual gratification of one come the tale of the mandrakes.  An extra-large bed was apparently not an option.

  Many Christians like to talk about "the sanctity of marriage" while the Bible has a generous amount of polygamy in it.  The Bible even has tenants that allow for polygamy in the Old Testament law (Exodus21:10)(Deuteronomy21:15)!  Odd enough, there seems to be more verses about multiple wives and no mention of the number of spouses or verses that mention multiple wives with no negative connotation than there are verses that specifically suggest "one man, one woman."  (Deuteronomy 17:17, before anyone brings it up, is for "Israel's Kings" and also does not explicitly prohibit polygamy with its wording.)  Christians, your book contains lots of explicit (and implicit) polygamy and "a few of those stories eventually became cautionary tales about polygamy" is weak sauce.  I don't remember those passages being mentioned in Sunday school!