Reuben -- Behold the Son, Receive His Love, and Be Fruitful

The Second episode involving Reuben entails a gift which he gives to his "tired" mother Leah:

"And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes." (Genesis 30: 14)

"Mandrakes" renders the Hebrew word דּוּדָאּים "love apples", with the root word "Dod" which means "Beloved".

Rabbinical traditions submit that Reuben was probably four or five years old when he found and delivered the "love apples" to his mother Leah. The same fruit, according to customs, suggested that such fruit could cure infertility in a woman, and for that reason Rachel wanted them.

Leah's reply was less than lovely:

"15And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes. 16And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night." (Genesis 30: 15-16)

It was never Rachel's fault that Jacob loved her more than Leah. Despite her bitterness, God still blessed Leah.

When we Behold the Son and receive His gifts of love, then the love that we seek from others will not be hard to get. When we behold the Son Jesus, His love takes away our fatigue, or our "
tiredness".

Leah ended up bearing three more children:

"And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. 19And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 20And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. 21And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah." (Genesis 30: 17-21)

The first child listed, Issachar, means "reward", followed "Zebulun", which means "abide", and then the one daughter, Dinah, whose name means "Avenged."

When you See the Son and receive His gifts of love, you bear much fruit. You receive a great reward from God, you abide in Him, and you can be sure that you will be avenged for any wrong which you have suffered:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: -15)

A branch is nothing without the vine, and in the same way, our total identity and dependence on Christ allows us to be fruitful with striving or struggling. Just as "tired" Leah stopped striving and  received the gift of love from her son, and thus moved her sister to allow her to lie with Jacob once again, so to when we stop striving in our own efforts and see God's love for us, we stop striving for things and start thriving in Him.

See the Son, your true vine, and let His love make you fruitful in every way.

Paul prayed that all of us would receive a greater revelation of God's love for us:

"14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 14-19)

When you know how much God loves you, then you can expect the following:

"20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Ephesians 3: 20-21)

See the Son, Receive His Gift of unconditional, unending love (Cease from your tired striving), and you will receive beyond what you ask or think.