Genesis 30 & 31 (selected verses)
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Summary
- God blesses Jacob, no matter what others do. (He also blessed Laban, until Laban began to mistreat Jacob.)
Details and Comments
God - Providentially Using Superstitious Practices, in Order to Accomplish His Purposes
- Unless there are factors (perhaps non-genetic), which are not mentioned in the text, this is an example of God's God's Providence: God accomplishing his purposes through events that occur in this world.
- In Genesis 31:9 (+), Jacob gives God credit for what happened. But were the actions themselves a reflection of superstitious beliefs, or did he do this by God's direction? Either way, God used the actions to accomplish his purposes. The genetically stronger animals (regardless of color) "just happened" to be the ones who were mating, and would become Jacob's.
- The fact that it "worked" does not necessarily prove it was the actual cause.
Scripture
Section 1 - Jacob, a blessing to others; now also be be blessed by God
Genesis 30:25-43 - Laban has been blessed (by God) because of Joseph; now Jacob is about to be blessed by God.
- This passage may illustrate an instance in which God uses a superstitious practice to accomplish his purposes... PROVIDENCE works behind the scenes, even when things don't make sense to us (today)!
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Gen 30:25 ... Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.
Gen 30:26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you." Gen 30:27 Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake." |
Jacob is blessed - he came with nothing, but now has wives, children, etc. He is also a blessing to others, i.e., Laban. This is related to the promise God made to Abraham.
Laban is not a follower of the God of the Bible (the God who requires the rejection of all other gods - since they are fakes). Instead, Laban believes in many gods. In his mind, the God of the Bible is just one of many. (Later, Laban's daughter will steal some of his gods - Genesis 31:19!) |
| Gen 30:28 He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."
Gen 30:29 He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. Gen 30:30 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?" Gen 30:31 He said, "What shall I give you?" |
Jacob acknowledges that it is God who blessed Laban. This is what the covenant promise God gave to Abraham would lead us to expect. "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you." Genesis 12:3.
So far, Laban has treated Jacob well... but he had better be careful about mistreating him! |
| Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
Gen 30:32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. Gen 30:33 So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen." Gen 30:34 Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word." |
"Let God decide how much I'll be paid!"
Jacob chooses to receive as pay all the sheep and goats that have certain colors. This will make an obvious distinction between his animals and Laban's animals. There will be no way to accuse him of taking extra animals, since any "extras" would be the wrong color! In all this, Laban will be using deception, constantly changing Jacob's wages, etc.; but God will be constantly overruling in behalf of Jacob. (See Genesis 31:6-12.) |
| Gen 30:35 That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
Gen 30:36 He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. |
Laban removed the animals, and his (Laban's) sons would take care of them. Was he secretly removing them (an act of deception), or was it part of the agreement, with them taking care of the animals that belonged to Jacob? Either way, God will bless Jacob. |
| Gen 30:37 Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Gen 30:38 He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. Gen 30:39 The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. Gen 30:40 Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock. Gen 30:41 It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; Gen 30:42 but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. Gen 30:43 The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys. |
Jacob is being exceedingly blessed by God.
Does Joseph think that these branches would influence what type of offspring the animals had? Or did God tell him to do it (compare to 31:9+)? Whatever the cause or reason, and whether it was mere superstition, or if there was some natural cause behind it, God was providentially working in a way that would result in increased blessings to Joseph. |
Section 2 - Jacob, blessed by God, and all acknowledge it
Genesis 31:1-29 - Blessings in the midst of conflict and rivalry.
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Gen 31:1 He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this wealth."
Gen 31:2 Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. Gen 31:3 Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you." Gen 31:4 Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, Gen 31:5 and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. |
Envy in others because of God's blessings to Jacob. |
| Gen 31:6 You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.
Gen 31:7 Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt me. Gen 31:8 If he said this, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked. Gen 31:9 Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me. Gen 31:10 It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. Gen 31:11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' Gen 31:12 He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. |
No matter what Laban did, God blessed Jacob.
God tells him that he was behind all what happened (and Jacob acknowledges it to be true). This is the reason, whether or not branches had something to do with it, or were a irrelevant superstition! |
| Gen 31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.' "
Gen 31:14 Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Gen 31:15 Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money. Gen 31:16 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do." Gen 31:17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, Gen 31:18 and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. Gen 31:19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim [idols] that were her father's. Gen 31:20 Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was running away. Gen 31:21 So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. Gen 31:22 Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. Gen 31:23 He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. |
Leah and Rachael acknowledge that it was God who blessed Jacob, and that he (God) took them from Laban, and that it was a fitting judgment for his greedy heart.
No reason is given for Rachael stealing the idols. Was she still at this time influenced by her idolatrous past? Or did she want to prevent Laban from using them? |
| Gen 31:24 God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad."
Gen 31:25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead. Gen 31:26 Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? Gen 31:27 Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; Gen 31:28 and didn't allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly. Gen 31:29 It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad.' |
God protects Jacob by warning Laban to do nothing to him. |
Genesis 31:38-44
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Gen 31:38 These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.
Gen 31:39 That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Gen 31:40 This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. Gen 31:41 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. Gen 31:42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night." Gen 31:43 Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? Gen 31:44 Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you." |
A description of God's providential activity in blessing Jacob, no matter what Laban would do to him.
The covenant would be one of peace - once they separated, neither would return to the other for reasons of harming them. |
Scripture Passages
(Only books that have relevance to this study have active links. The others are in italics.)
Genesis • Exodus • Leviticus • Numbers • Deuteronomy • Joshua • Judges • Ruth • 1 Samuel • 2 Samuel • 1 Kings • 2 Kings • 1 Chronicles • 2 Chronicles • Ezra • Nehemiah • Esther • Job • Psalms • Proverbs • Ecclesiastes • Song of Solomon • Isaiah • Jeremiah • Lamentations • Ezekiel • Daniel • Hosea • Joel • Amos • Obadiah • Jonah • Micah • Nahum • Habakkuk • Zephaniah • Haggai • Zechariah • Malachi Matthew • Mark • Luke • John • Acts • Romans • 1 Corinthians • 2 Corinthians • Galatians • Ephesians • Philippians • Colossians • 1 Thessalonians • 2 Thessalonians • 1 Timothy • 2 Timothy • Titus • Philemon • Hebrews • James • 1 Peter • 2 Peter • 1 John • 2 John • 3 John • Jude • Revelation |
—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——
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The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.
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Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.
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