Jacob Gets Rich
This rather bizarre story tells how Jacob acquired wealth—or at least how Jacob thought he acquired wealth, for he would later acknowledge that it was God who prospered him. But as the story unfolds, the point becomes clear that Jacob was outwitting his opponent and becoming rich.
Dark-colored sheep (30:32) were rare and Laban may have viewed the inordinate number of them in his flock (which he had no doubt noticed) as an omen of God’s blessing. Jacob agreed that God had blessed Laban because he (Jacob) was there (30:30).
Jacob’s plan was risky. Part of his success was due to selective breeding, but the larger part of it, he thought, was due to his special breeding method (30:37–39). Laban, however, added to Jacob’s difficulty by removing all the animals of abnormal coloring and giving them to his sons and not to Jacob. Then, as an additional precaution, he put three-days’ distance between them. He was obviously seeking to ensure that Jacob would have a difficult time acquiring a large flock of those animals for his wages.
But God blessed Jacob anyway, even through the unusual and difficult circumstances of this deal. Jacob took sticks and peeled off the bark, exposing streaks of the white wood; he then stuck these sticks in the ground at the watering trough so that when the animals copulated there the stick would influence the color of the animal that was born. There is a clever wordplay here that captures the meaning of the whole section: When Jacob peeled back the bark on the sticks he exposed the “white” (laban [TH3836, ZH4237]) streaks of the wood underneath (30:37); in other words, he played the “white” game (the Laban game) and won.
A fascinating struggle had been at work between Jacob and Laban, just as in the earlier struggle to claim the birthright Esau had ceded to Jacob, which had prompted Jacob’s deception. In both cases the attempt to defraud Jacob was overcome by Jacob. In both cases, Jacob came to realize God’s plan was at work in his life
In this resolution the faith of Jacob was remarkable, for as yet he had nothing to rely on but the promise of God (cf. ch. 28:15)
Walton (2009, 111) says Jacob demonstrated breeding knowledge when he favored the stronger animal. However, his use of “visual aids” reflected his belief in current superstitions. He notes that no ancient Near Eastern evidence has been found for Jacob’s procedure or ones similar to it.
“Genesis 30:38” Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
When Rachel had borne Joseph: while this transition gives an indication of the passing of time following the report of the birth of Jacob’s children, it does not actually state how much time had passed since Jacob began to work for Laban. As we discover later (see 31:41), this was now fourteen years; in fact it was when Jacob had completed his second period of seven years service in payment for his marriage to Rachel (see 29:30). It was the fact that the contract relating to the marriage had been completed, rather than the birth of Joseph, that made negotiating a new contract necessary. If necessary this may be made clear in the translation of verse 26. See, for example, the model translation given for the first part of that verse