name for the fourth Jewish lunar month of the sacred calendar, the tenth of the secular calendar. (Ezek. 1:1) So it would correspond to the latter part of June and the first part of July.

The use of the pagan name Tammuz as applying to the fourth month of the sacred calendar may have been only a matter of convenience among the Jews. We should remember that they were then a subjugated people, obliged to deal with and report to the foreign powers dominating them. So it is understandable that they might utilize the names of the months employed by these foreign powers. Similarly, the Gregorian calendar used today has months named after the gods Janus, Mars and Juno, as well as for Julius and Augustus Caesar. Yet it continues to be used by Christians who are subject to the “superior authorities.”​—Rom. 13:1.

● Why was Rachel willing to relinquish an opportunity to conceive in exchange for some mandrakes, as related at Genesis 30:14, 15?​—R. A., U.S.A.

The mandrake of the Bible is a low plant with a root similar to a turnip. It ripens in Israel during the late spring and has a yellow berry somewhat like a small apple. In ancient times the fruit was used in medicine as a narcotic and antispasmodic. Also, it was, and still is in some parts of the East, considered an aphrodisiac and able to increase human fertility or aid in conception.​—Song of Solomon 7:13.

We learn in Genesis, chapters 29 and 30, that the patriarch Jacob had fathered eight sons by his wife Leah and by two legal maidservants; these sons later became heads of tribes of Israel. Yet, after many years of marriage, Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel had not conceived. When one day Reuben brought some mandrakes to his mother Leah, Rachel agreed to exchange an opportunity to have the marital due from Jacob for the plants. (Gen. 30:14, 15) Possibly she felt the mandrakes would help her conceive and end her reproach at being barren. Nonetheless, it was some years before Jehovah “opened her womb” and she became pregnant with her first son Joseph.​—Gen. 30:22-24.

So, while the Bible does not discuss Rachel’s motive, she may have been willing to make the exchange in hopes that she could thus be aided to become pregnant.

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“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

June 11: Mildness, a Christian Requirement. Page 300. Songs to Be Used: 14, 20.

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