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Genesis

Chapter 30:25-43 | Pastor Barry

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Genesis 30:25-43

At this point in the story, Rachel has given birth to Joseph, and Jacob is ready to go back home with his family. Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, who was a shrewd businessman, doesn’t want Jacob to just up and leave…he’s too profitable. Laban tells Jacob in Genesis 30:27, “…I have learned by divination (experience) that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” Laban tells Jacob to name his price, whatever it takes to get you to stay, you name it and it’s yours.

Here's where our story takes a turn. Jacob asks Laban to give him all the speckled and spotted sheep, and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled goats. Jacob tells Laban that he can even inspect the flock after he has separated it to make sure he only took what they agreed upon. Laban’s flock evidently had mostly solid colored livestock because he had no issue with this request at all. After the flocks were separated, Laban put his sons in charge of Jacob’s portion and moved them a three-day journey away. Laban did not want to give Jacob the chance to do anything deceitful.

 Jacob is now tending to Laban’s flock of only solid colored sheep, lambs, and goats. Jacob starts to breed the flock in a very unusual way. Jacob breaks sticks off a Poplar, an Almond, and a Plane tree. He then peels the bark back to reveal the white underlying layer. He sets these sticks in the watering trough where the flocks come to drink. As the flocks were watering, the males would mate with them. From this, these solid-colored animals were now giving birth to speckled and spotted offspring. Not only that, but the flock was producing more than usual, and they were strong and healthy. What!? How? Was Jacob guessing and hoping this would work? Was he diving into some occult ritualistic practices? Or was this partly because he understood how the flock would reproduce because of a lifetime of being around shepherds, and being given some foreknowledge from God?

One thing to understand before moving forward: Jacob was not cheating Laban, and God was not involved in dishonest dealings. Jacob tells Rachel and Leah, in Genesis 31:7, that Laban had changed his wages ten times. God was not cheating Laban. God was counteracting Laban’s deceitfulness with Jacob. Now, as far as the offspring multiplying at a greater rate than usual and being healthier…what’s going on with that? Studies have shown that there are chemical compounds in the Poplar tree that help increase reproductive rates in livestock [1]. Also, studies have shown that the chemical compounds in Almond trees have been used in livestock to help heal some urogenital diseases and disorders [2].

Ok, but what about the genetic altering? What about getting speckled and spotted offspring from solid-colored parents? Some studies show this, too, is possible, but this is also where Jacob had divine insight. Jacob tells Rachel and Leah that God gave him a dream. You can read about this in Genesis 31. God gives Jacob a dream that Laban’s flock would have spotted and speckled offspring. God would allow this to happen because God had “seen all that Laban had done to him.” So, what do we learn from all of this? One thing that I’m sure of…God is committed to keeping and blessing His own. If you need peace in your spirit, clarity in your mind, calmness in your soul, or for two black sheep to give birth to a speckled and spotted baby…God is there and ready to work it out for you. Don’t allow the enemy, or your own mind, to tell you that God is not able. Don’t allow anyone or anything to tell you that God does not care. If you are His, then He is yours, and He is committed to you…even when we are not so committed to Him.

By Pastor Barry Ginn

  1. Scott B. Noegel, “Sex, Sticks, and the Trickster in Gen. 30:31 43: A New Look at an Old Crux,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Society 25 no. 1 (1997): 7–8, https://janes.scholasticahq.com/article/2420-sex-sticks-and-the-trickster-in-gen-30-31-43.

  2. “Australian Researchers Decipher Sheep Coat Color Genes,” GenomeWeb News, July 11, 2008, https://www.genomeweb.com/archive/australian-researchers-decipher-sheep-coat-color-genes; and “Goat Color Genetics 101,” Minifluffs Caviary, https://minifluffsrabbitry.weebly.com/goat-color-genetics-101.html.

  3. Shashwati Chandrakant Mathurkar, “Pharmacology of Salicin Derivatives in Sheep,” (PhD Thesis, Massey University, New Zealand, 2016), 68, https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/12149.

  4. E. L. McWilliam et al., “The Effect of Different Levels of Poplar (Populus) Supplementation on the Reproductive Performance of Ewes Grazing Low Quality Drought Pasture During Mating,” Animal Feed Science and Technology 115, nos. 1–2 (July 2004): 2, doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2004.03.006.

  5. P. D. Kemp, T. N. Barry, and G. B. Douglas, “Edible Forage Yield and Nutritive Value of Poplar and Willow,” Grassland Research and Practice Series, no. 10 (2003): 61, https://www.grassland.org.nz/publications/nzgrassland_publication_2609.pdf.

  1. Mohd Khalid Abdullah and Mohd Kashif Hussain, “Badam (Prunus amygdalus Bail.): A Fruit with Medicinal Properties,” International Journal of Herbal Medicine 5, no.5 (2017): 115, http://www.florajournal.com/archives/2017/vol5issue5/PartB/6-5-22-166.pdf.

  2. Efraim Lev and Zohar Amar, Practical Materia Medica of the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean According to the Cairo Genizah, (Leiden, Boston, Brill Academic Publishers, 2008), 93.

  3. Syed Irtiza et al., “Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Platanus orientalis: An Oriental Plant Endemic to Kashmir Planes,” Pharmacologia 7, no. 4 (2016): 217, doi:10.5567/pharmacologia.2016.217.222.