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"He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations." Psalm 105:8

Text: Genesis 30:1-43

TWO MISSING FACTORS

Laban thought that he had struck a great deal with Jacob. He reckoned that he would come up on top in the new business arrangement. However, he had failed to take into account two vital factors. Firstly, he had not fully comprehended just how skilled Jacob had become in the fourteen years he spent as a shepherd. He had learned much along the way, perhaps through observation and experimentation. Secondly, he failed to take into full consideration just how much God would be involved! If God were to bless Jacob, he Laban would be left far behind, no matter the wording of the agreement reached!

GOD’S SPECIAL BLESSING

The following Scripture text detailed a method of sheep breeding that defies modern veterinary knowledge. How may we understand this text?

“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. So the flocks
conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked,
speckled and spotted. Then Jacob separated the lambs,
and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown
in the flock of Laban: but he put his own flocks by themselves
and did not put them with Laban’s flock.”
GENESIS 30:37-40

1. Was it a special method of animal husbandry?

Modern day veterinary science is unable to shed light on the significance of the method employed by Jacob to produce spotted and speckled offspring.

2. Special shepherding care

Certainly, Jacob paid a whole lot more attention to his flock than that of Laban. There was full understanding of the agreement that their flocks should be separated and distinguished. Laban’s sons and other hired hands were responsible for the care of their sheep.

3. God’s hand of blessing

No one is able to determine the genes that would produce the streaked, spotted and speckled except God Himself! Jacob may have believed with all his heart that what he did produced the results. Nevertheless, he must also have recognized that without God’s full blessings, none of what he attempted would have produced such strong and healthy offspring of the goats and sheep given to him by Laban!