"...Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes...Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink." vv.14, 37-38
Read chapter 30.
What's with these seeming like superstitious stuff in this chapter for conception? Rachel wanted the mandrakes because they were regarded as an air to conception. Their aroma was associated to love making (Song of Solomon 7:13). But was that something she trusted in more than turning to God? How often do we try tricks, myths, old wives tales to "try out" with a bigger hope than when we pray to God?
Jacob then uses these tree rods to help flocks conceive. Whether this method is proven to work is not common. Jacob could have been given Divine instruction for this, yet ultimately it was God's doing, prospering Jacob. Another thought was the colors of the rods would appear like spring time when stronger animals were typically born, but to control how they'd come out (spotted, streaked, white, brown) is only God's doing.
There are no methods in the Bible to perform miracles. God will chose how and when he will bless those He hears. What tricks are you trusting in more than God?
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