Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Calvin Complete Commentary - Genesis 30:14 - 30:14
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
14.And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest. This narration of the fact that a boy brought home I know not what kind of fruit out of the fields, and presented it to his mother, by which she purchased of her sister one nigh with her husband, has the appearance of being light and puerile. Yet it contains a useful instruction. For we know how foolishly the Jews glory in extolling the origin of their own nation: for they scarcely deign to acknowledge that they leave sprung from Adam and Noah, with the rest of mankind. And certainly they do excel in the dignity of their ancestors, as Paul testifies, (Rom_9:5,) but they do not acknowledge this as coming from God. Wherefore the Spirit purposely aimed at beating down this arrogance, when he described their race as sprung from a beginning, so mean and abject. For he does not here erect a splendid stage on which they may exhibit themselves; but he humbles them and exalts the grace of God, seeing that he had brought forth his Church out of nothing. Respecting the kind of fruit mentioned, I leave nothing certain to adduce. (80) That it was fragrant is gathered from Son_7:13 (81) And whereas all translate it mandrakes, I do not contend on that point.
(80) Mandrakes — Heb. דודאים, (dudaim,) from דוד, (dud,) beloved; supposed to be a species of melon with purple flowers. It grows abundantly in Palestine, and is held in high respect for its prolific virtues. Gesenius describes mandrakes as “ apples (Liebes apfel), the apples of the Mandragora, an herb resembling the belladonna, with a root like a carrot, having white and reddish blossoms of a sweet smell, and with yellow odoriferous apples.” — Ed
(81) “ mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits.”