What are “Mandrakes” Mentioned in the Bible? “Mandrakes” are cited in the Bible five times and refer to the roots of mandrake plants, which sometimes resemble naked humans, particularly the lower areas. They were used as an aphrodisiac and to induce pregnancy, as observed in this passage: 1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” 2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”… 14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night… 22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” 24 She named him Joseph and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.” Genesis 30:1-2,14-16,22-24 Rachel was the favored wife of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:22-32). She wasn’t able to bear children for her husband and so made a bargain with her older homely sister, Leah – also married to Jacob – to allow Leah to sleep with Jacob in exchange for the mandrake plants that Leah’s son had found. The passage doesn’t say that the Mandrake roots actually worked to induce pregnancy, just that “God remembered Rachel” and thus enabled her to conceive her son Joseph. Nevertheless, it’s clear that mandrake roots were thought to augment sex & procreation and were sought after for this purpose. Mandrakes are also mentioned in Solomon’s overtly erotic Song of Songs (see 7:13). As noted, Mandrake roots sometimes look like nude bodies, particularly the nether regions. So the fact that they were used as an aphrodisiac and to induce pregnancy would be a natural correlation. Think about it in terms of walnuts, which resemble human brains when cracked open; they’re coincidentally the top nut for brain health. Similarly, tomatoes resemble the heart when opened up — the “chambers,” etc. — and they’re by happenstance strategic to cardiac health, is this mere coincidence, or did our Creator do this purposely? The fact that (1) the LORD created mandrake roots, (2) they’re cited in Holy Scripture five times, (3) they resemble the lower regions of naked humans and (4) were used to augment sex & procreation shows that the Almighty is an imaginative Creator, not to mention has a sense of humor. Do mandrake roots actually “work”? I have no idea, but Rachel obviously believed they did; and belief is faith, which opens the door to the miraculous.
