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Testament of Issachar

Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

About this book
Chapter 1

1 A record of what Issachar told his sons before he died. 2 He called his sons and said to them: Listen, my children, to Issachar your father. Pay attention to the words of the one the Lord loves. 3 I was born as Jacob's fifth son, as payment for the mandrakes.⁠ 4 My brother Reuben brought mandrakes in from the field, and Rachel met him and took them. 5 Reuben cried, and at the sound of his voice my mother Leah came out. 6 These mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples that grew in the land of Haran, below a ravine of water. 7 Rachel said: I will not give them to you; they will be mine instead of children. 8 For the Lord has rejected me, and I have borne no children to Jacob. 9 There were two apples, and Leah said to Rachel: Is it not enough that you have taken my husband? Will you take these too? Rachel answered her: Then you may have Jacob tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes. 10 Leah said to her: Jacob is mine, for I am the wife of his youth. 11 But Rachel said: Do not boast or pride yourself, for he was promised to me before you, and for my sake he served our father fourteen years. 12 If cunning had not increased on the earth and human wickedness had not flourished, you would not be looking on Jacob's face today.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 30:14 and Testament of Issachar 1:3

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Testaments

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Summary

Genesis describes how Rachel and Leah bargain over mandrake plants, after which Leah conceives Issachar. The Testament of Issachar retells this narrative, naming Issachar as payment for the mandrakes and softening the sisters’ exchange.

Passages

Genesis 30:14

Hebrew Bible
13 Leah said, “How happy I am, for women will call me happy!” So she named him Asher. 14 At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But Leah replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” Rachel said, “he may go to bed with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I have paid for your services with my son’s mandrakes.” So he went to bed with her that night. 17 God paid attention to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. 18 Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” So she named him Issachar.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Testament of Issachar 1:3

Pseudepigrapha, Testaments · Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
2 He called his sons and said to them: Listen, my children, to Issachar your father. Pay attention to the words of the one the Lord loves. 3 I was born as Jacob's fifth son, as payment for the mandrakes. 4 My brother Reuben brought mandrakes in from the field, and Rachel met him and took them. 5 Reuben cried, and at the sound of his voice my mother Leah came out. 6 These mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples that grew in the land of Haran, below a ravine of water.
100 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Testament of Issachar

References

“... A particular biblical incident, although it involved Issachar only indirectly, provided the author of the Testament of Issachar with a homiletical opening for this testament. Genesis had briefly recounted the story of Rachel’s “purchase” of some mandrakes from her sister Leah (Genesis 30:14–18). In exchange for the mandrakes (which Leah acquired from her son Reuben), Rachel offered Leah the chance to sleep with Jacob that night; Leah surrendered the mandrakes and conceived that very night, and it was thus that Issachar is born. This story was profoundly disturbing to later interpreters, since it portrayed Leah and Rachel as negotiating with each other for their husband’s sexual favors (and Rachel surrendering them in exchange to satisfy a crass food craving!). In his treatment of the story, the author of the Testament of Issachar sought to “correct” this aspect of the biblical narrative. ...”
James L. Kugel, “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2013), 1772–1773.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 30:14 and Testament of Issachar 1:3

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