t12papocrypha
Testament of Issachar 1
Issachar opens his testament by recounting the circumstances of his birth — the mandrake transaction between Leah and Rachel that produced him. The exchange exposes the tangled rivalries of the two wives: Rachel holding the mandrakes as a bargained substitute for children, Leah holding prior claim to Jacob as wife of his youth, both asserting covenant standing through different channels. Laban's earlier deception surfaces as the root grievance Rachel names. Issachar's very name — meaning hire or wages — is embedded in this contested union, marking him from birth as the fruit of covenant negotiation rather than of free gift.
1
The record of the words of Issachar. He called his sons, and said to them: Hearken, my children, to Issachar your father; give ear to my words, ye who are beloved of the Lord. I was the fifth son born to Jacob, even the hire of the mandrakes. For Reuben brought in mandrakes from the field, and Rachel met him and took them. And Reuben wept, and at his voice Leah my mother came forth. Now these mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples which the land of Aram produced on high ground below a ravine of water. And Rachel said, I will not give them to thee, for they shall be to me instead of children. Now there were two apples; and Leah said, Let it suffice thee that thou hast taken the husband of my virginity: wilt thou also take these? And she said, Behold, let Jacob be to thee this night instead of the mandrakes of thy son. And Leah said to her, Boast not, and vaunt not thyself; for Jacob is mine, and I am the wife of his youth. But Rachel said, How so? for to me was he first espoused, and for my sake he served our father fourteen years. What shall I do to thee, because the craft and the subtlety of men are increased, and craft prospereth upon the earth? And were it not so, thou wouldest not now see the face of Jacob. For thou art not his wife, but in craft wert taken to him in my stead. And my father deceived me, and removed me on that night, and suffered me not to see him; for had I been there, it had not happened thus. And Rachel said, Take one mandrake, and for the other thou shalt hire him from me for one night. And Jacob knew Leah, and she conceived and bare me, and on account of the hire I was called Issachar.
