Genesis 30.37-43-The Lord Rules in Favor of Jacob over Laban

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Genesis: Genesis 30:37-43-The Lord Rules in Favor of Jacob over Laban-Lesson # 178

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Thursday July 13, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 30:37-43-The Lord Rules in Favor of Jacob over Laban

Lesson # 178

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 30:25.

Last evening we noted Genesis 30:25-34, which presents to us the record of Jacob’s proposal to Laban regarding flocks, which Laban agrees to.

We also noted Genesis 30:35-36, which records Laban’s mistrust of Jacob.

This evening we will study Genesis 30:37-43, in which we will see the Lord intervening in the life of Jacob rendering him justice for being mistreated by Laban for the past fourteen years by instructing him regarding selective breeding techniques among Laban’s flocks, which produced for him numerous offspring.

Genesis 30:25, “Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away that I may go to my own place and to my own country.’”

Genesis 30:26, “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.”

Genesis 30:27, “But Laban said to him, ‘If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the LORD has blessed me on your account.’”

Genesis 30:28, “He continued, ‘Name me your wages, and I will give it.’”

Genesis 30:29, “But he said to him, ‘You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me.’”

Genesis 30:30, “For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?”

Genesis 30:31, “So he said, ‘What shall I give you?’ And Jacob said, ‘You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock.’”

Genesis 30:32, “let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.”

Genesis 30:33, “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”

Genesis 30:34, “Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’”

Genesis 30:35, “So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons.”

Genesis 30:36, “And he put a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.”

Genesis 30:37, “Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods.”

“Rods” is the noun maqqel (lQ!m^) (mak-kale), which is used of cut branches.

“Poplar” is the noun livneh (hn#b+l!) (liv-neh), which refers to the storax tree and is a play upon Laban’s name, which is lavan, “white.”

“Almond” is the noun luz (wWl) (looz), which was valued for the nut it bears, which is used not only for food but also to produce flavoring oil.

“Plane trees” is the noun `ermon (/w)mr+u#) (ar-mone), which flourishes in wet areas and can grow to massive size, reaching sixty feet and the circumference of its trunk can become forty feet.

Genesis 30:38, “He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink.”

“Mated” is the verb chamam (sm^t) (khaw-mam), which means, “to be hot, to be in heat, to be aroused sexually.”

Genesis 30:39, “So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.”

Genesis 30:40, “Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban's flock.”

Genesis 30:41, “Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods.”

Genesis 30:42, “but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's.”

Genesis 30:43, “So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.”

The selective breeding techniques employed by Jacob here in Genesis 30:37-43 are known today as “Mendelian genetics,” named after the Austrian botanist, Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) who made his experiments in the latter part of the nineteenth century regarding the laws of heredity.

Of course, the Lord created these laws of heredity and revealed them to Jacob in a dream so that he could take advantage of these laws in breeding his flocks as we will note in Genesis 31:10-13.

Under these laws of heredity, even though a species of animal may have certain “dominant” traits such as the white color of sheep, there are, in each generation, certain individual animals that manifest one or more “recessive” traits such as the brown color among the sheep (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

Actual physical vigor and usefulness for man’s needs are quite independent of this matter of coloration (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

The Lord simply increased the statistical proportion of animals in future generations of Laban’s flocks that would appear with these recessive traits (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

He knew that if Jacob would then use these for future breeding in the flock that this would increase their numbers (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

A certain proportion of the solid-colored animals he knew would be “homozygous” and if mated with the other homozygous animals, would appear only solid color offspring (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

The “heterozygous” animals, which did contain in some proportion the genes for off-colored offspring would be the ones, which would have to supply Jacob’s own future flocks (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

But by selective breeding, under the direction of the Lord, Jacob could eventually develop a flock of predominately spotted and speckled animals (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

Some commentators believe that Jacob is acting deceitfully in Genesis 30:37-43 but this emphatically is not the case if we start from the premise that the Lord gave him these instructions!

Furthermore, remember that in his proposal to Laban, which Laban agreed to, Jacob proposed that he start with nothing!

Jacob made the proposal in such a way that the only way he could successfully have a flock of multicolored animals was if the Lord intervened and supernaturally guided him and instructed him and prospered him.

Also, some criticize Jacob’s techniques here as not being accurate scientifically and nothing but an old wives tale.

However, scientists have not been able to work out concerning the transmission of hereditary factors.

In a certain population there are multitudes of different characteristics, which may appear in different individual animals of that species (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

The potential for variation in the DNA molecular structure is tremendous (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

Exactly what it is that determines the actual characteristics a particular individual may have, out of all the potential characteristics that are theoretically available in the gene pool is not yet known in any significant degree (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

Some critics of Jacob breeding techniques state that it is scientifically impossible to achieve the results that he did when these techniques are predicated on the belief that visual impressions at the time of conception affect the outcome at birth

Though it is very unlikely that an external image can be transmitted through the visual apparatus to the brain and thus in some way as a signal to the DNA structure to specify certain characteristics to be triggered in the embryo (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

However, it is true that certain chemicals can and do have a significant prenatal influence if they can reach the embryo or prior to conception, the DNA in the germ cells (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

It is possible that certain chemicals in the wood of these trees, peeled rods of which were actually in the water, which the flocks came to drink, were capable somehow of affecting the animals (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

The water treated with these peeled rods must have served as an aphrodisiac and promoter of fertility among the flocks (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

At least one such chemical substance found in these trees has been used for such a purpose in both ancient and modern times (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

The mere sight of the striped rods may have served as an aphrodisiac to the flocks when they came to drink, much like the effect of pornographic pictures have in stimulating the sexual apparatus (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

This is implied by the verb chamam, which the NASB translates “mated” in Genesis 30:38 and is more accurately translated by the NIV “were in heat” since it means, “to be hot, to be in heat, to be aroused sexually.”

So in some way not understood but apparently confirmed by many practical animal raisers since, the sight of white-streaked rods seems to stimulate these animals to sexual activity (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

Now, in Genesis 30:40, the identification of some of the striped and dark colored animals as belonging to Laban is confusing since according to the terms of the contract these animals belong to Jacob.

But it seems clear that Laban has changed the contract to give himself some of the streaked animals (see Genesis 31:7-8).

In Genesis 30:41-42, the Lord directed Jacob to employ certain techniques that would strengthen Jacob’s flocks and weaken Laban because Laban had mistreated Jacob for fourteen years.

First of all, the Lord had Jacob divide his flocks into two shifts, composed of stronger and weaker animals, respectively (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, page 474-477, Baker Book House).

He used the rods in the troughs when the stronger animals drank but not when the weaker ones came there (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

Therefore, the stronger animals were stimulated to mate, and the others were not (Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record, pages 474-477, Baker Book House).

This meant that a greater and greater percentage of the animals in Jacob’s flock were strong animals and in increasing percentage in Laban’s were weaker animals.

In Genesis 30:43 that within a space of perhaps four or five years, Jacob’s flocks had grown so large so that he prospered greatly from it so that he had to employ many servants, both male and female and had purchased many camels and asses.

With the Lord’s help, Jacob had quickly become a very prosperous rancher and had not acted deceitfully at all towards Laban.

With the Lord’s guidance, Jacob had become prosperous by means of sound practices of animal breeding.

The selective breeding techniques that Jacob employs that are recorded in Genesis 30:37-43 were given to him by the Lord in a dream which is implied in Genesis 31:10-13 since the Lord states to Jacob that He is responsible for these techniques being successful.

Genesis 31:6, “You know that I have served your father with all my strength.”

Genesis 31:7, “Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.”

Genesis 31:8, “If he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth striped.’”

Genesis 31:9, “Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me.”

Genesis 31:10, “And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled.”

Genesis 31:11, “Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’”

Genesis 31:12, “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.’”

During the time that the animals were in heat and mating by the water troughs Jacob saw in the dream that the males that were impregnating the females were described as “striped, speckled and mottled.”

Now, we know that all the “striped speckled and spotted” animals were taken away by Laban’s sons in a three day journey, thus leaving only the solid colored animals, which belonged to Laban’s flock.

The dream indicates that the “striped, speckled and mottled” animals were heterozygous carrying the particular genes for streaks, spots and speckles even though their coats were all solid color.

In the dream, God related that He could see into the gene structure, though Jacob could not and knew the true nature of the animals.

Therefore, the homozygous animals, which could produce offspring colored like themselves were restrained from mating by means of God’s divine omnipotence.

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