Jacob Enriched
Jacob Enriched
Image by Gianni Crestani from Pixabay
Jacob’s Request
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Allow me to return to my homeland. Let me take my wives and children and leave. I served you for them, and you know how hard I’ve worked for you.”
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With the birth of a son to Rachel, Jacob wanted to return home. He had paid the bride-price for the only wife he considered legitimate, and she had given him an heir.1 So he approached Laban, the head of the household, and asked permission to leave.
The conversation between Jacob and Laban depended heavily on implied information. Jacob asked to take his wives and children with him since he had finished his fourteen years of service. Technically, Laban owed him nothing else according to their agreement, and it would have been rude for Jacob to directly ask for more. But in a culturally appropriate way, he indirectly asked for more.2
Jacob didn’t have the means to support his family during the long trip from Harran to Beersheba. All the profits from his work had gone to Laban. By pointing out how hard he had worked, Jacob gently opened the door for Laban to express his gratitude. Laban had prospered while Jacob cared for his flock and could respond appropriately by giving Jacob a generous parting gift—at least enough to help him get home.3
Wages
“Please do me the favor of listening,” Laban replied. “I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me because of you. Name your wages. I will pay it.”
“You know how well I have served you and how your livestock have fared in my care,” said Jacob. “The little you had before I came has increased abundantly. Yahweh has blessed you through everything I’ve done. So when do I get to take care of my own family?”
“What do you want me to give you?”
Laban ignored Jacob’s request and quickly changed the subject from Jacob leaving to Jacob staying. Instead of expressing gratitude to Jacob for his prosperity, Laban used it as a reason to not let Jacob leave. He had “divined” that Yahweh had blessed him because of Jacob’s presence.4 Since Jacob needed his help to get home, Laban had the power to make him stay.
Instead of a gift, Laban offered Jacob wages. Though Laban’s offer for Jacob to name his wages sounds generous, it was nothing more than a nicety used to begin negotiations.5 Jacob protested, reiterating how much Laban had prospered and arguing that he needed to take care of his own family. That meant returning to his inheritance and the inheritance he would pass to his sons in Canaan.
Laban should have desired the best for Jacob’s family because they were Laban’s family too. But Jacob’s protest fell on deaf ears. He would receive nothing without additional years of service. Once again, Laban had trapped him, and Jacob had no choice but to agree.6
Spots and Patches
So Jacob answered, “You don’t need to give me anything. I’ll continue to care for and protect your flock if you’ll do this one thing. Let me go through your whole flock today to remove every animal with spots and patches. The black sheep and the goats with spots and patches will serve as my wages.
“When you come to check on my wages later, my integrity will be obvious. If you find any goat in my possession that doesn’t have spots or patches or any sheep that isn’t black, it’s stolen.”
Image by Gianni Crestani from Pixabay
Recognizing he would have to stay with Laban a little longer, Jacob gave in. Laban wouldn’t give him what he needed to provide for his family, so Jacob agreed to continue serving Laban in exchange for the right to earn it. Hired shepherds often received a percentage of the young and of the by-products from the flock, such as wool and milk. But instead of a straight percentage, Jacob requested those with a recessive trait.7
In the ancient Near East, most sheep were white, and most goats black. Because Jacob took the black sheep and spotted goats, his flock would grow slowly. But his own animals would always bear young with the recessive trait as long as he bred them only with each other, a fact Jacob would know from experience. Jacob’s offer ensured he could eventually leave while putting off that day long enough to satisfy Laban.
This deal benefitted Laban in two other ways. First, Jacob would likely gain fewer animals from Laban’s flock than what a hired shepherd would receive, especially since Laban would no longer have any black sheep or spotted goats.8 Second, Laban could easily see if Jacob tried to cheat him. All of Jacob’s sheep would be black, and all of his goats would have spots. If not, Laban would know Jacob had stolen them.
Laban’s Deception
Laban agreed. But that same day, he removed all the male goats with stripes and patches and all the female goats with spots and patches—all that had white on them. He also removed all the black sheep. Then he gave them to his sons to take care of and moved a three-day journey away from Jacob.
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Laban readily agreed to Jacob’s offer. He expected to continue prospering while having to pay Jacob very little. But he didn’t realize Yahweh would retract his blessing if Laban didn’t bless Jacob in return.9 Yahweh had blessed Laban for welcoming and providing for Jacob.10 He had even overlooked Laban’s deceit in tricking Jacob to marry Leah.11 But this time, Laban went too far.
No sooner had Laban and Jacob reached their agreement than Laban broke it. Before Jacob could collect his fledgling flock, Laban went through and removed all the black sheep and all the goats with any white on them. Then he gave them to his sons. Jacob’s wages would come only from the part of the flock he cared for. By transferring these animals to his sons, Laban effectively stole them.
Jacob would know the animals he shepherded and would have every right to reclaim them. So Laban and his sons took the animals away from Harran. They left Jacob with a flock that belonged entirely to Laban, forcing him to start from scratch. He had to breed a recessive trait from animals that all had the dominant trait.
Imitative Magic
So Jacob took care of the rest of Laban’s flock. He cut fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and made white marks by stripping pieces of the bark away, exposing the white underneath. He placed the stripped branches in the troughs that held the water the goats would drink. So the branches were in front of the goats when they bred and came to drink. The goats bred near the branches and gave birth to young with stripes, spots, and patches.
But Jacob separated the sheep and made them face the striped and black goats belonging to Laban.
After Laban cheated him a second time, Jacob would certainly have left if he could. But because he didn’t have the means to take his family back to Canaan, he had to make the best out of the situation. God had promised to take him back, but instead of trusting the promise, Jacob took matters into his own hands.12 Like Rachel, he tried to solve his problem through a superstition.13
There is no scientific basis for Jacob’s odd breeding method. Rather, it exemplifies the ancient practice of imitative magic, a belief “that a desired result . . . can be brought about or assured by mimicking it.”14 Jacob took branches from trees with white wood underneath the bark and then peeled away pieces of the bark to create white spots on the branches. Jacob hoped seeing the spotted branches while they bred would cause the goats to give birth to spotted kids. Likewise, when the sheep bred, Jacob would have them face Laban’s black and striped goats so they would give birth to black lambs.15
Though a modern understanding of science considers this “magic,” Jacob would not have thought of it that way. He based his logic on a common cultural belief, and Scripture neither condemns nor condones him for it. But it also never credits tree branches with bringing prosperity. Jacob would eventually acknowledge Yahweh as the true source of his wealth.16 Prosperity is a gift from God, not the result of human effort and ingenuity.17
Jacob’s Wealth
He set apart his own flocks and did not mix them with Laban’s flock.
Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would set the branches in the troughs in front of them so they would breed near the branches. But when the weaker females were in heat, he would not set them out. Then the weaker kids belonged to Laban and the stronger kids belonged to Jacob. Jacob grew exceedingly wealthy and had large flocks, servants, camels, and donkeys.
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As Jacob’s flock started to grow, he separated his animals from Laban’s animals. This prevented them from interbreeding while also ensuring Laban could not steal Jacob’s flock a second time. Jacob also started selectively breeding Laban’s animals to make the stronger goats have spotted kids and the weaker goats have black kids. Jacob went from legitimately trying to build up his own flock to vengefully trying to weaken Laban’s.
After a few years, Jacob had the larger, stronger flock and had become wealthy. He was able to buy servants, camels, and donkeys—everything he needed to return home and more. God had fulfilled his blessing despite the bickering and scheming of Leah and Rachel, and now he fulfilled it despite the bickering and scheming of Jacob and Laban.18
- Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 258.
- Kempf and Kuhn, Notes on Genesis 25:19–50:26, Gen. 30:25; Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 255.
- See Deuteronomy 15:12–14.
- Divination is a type of sorcery that uses signs and omens to consult a god. It was forbidden in Israel. Deuteronomy 18:10.
- See Ephron’s Field.
- See Rachel.
- Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 30:32–33.
- Walton, “Genesis,” 110; Walton et al., Bible Background Commentary, Genesis 30:32–33.
- Genesis 12:3.
- See A Warm Welcome.
- See Leah.
- Genesis 28:15.
- See Mandrakes.
- Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, “imitative magic,” accessed September 19, 2022, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imitative%20magic.
- At first, there were no striped goats, since Laban had removed them from the flock. So those referred to here must have been born later. According to the original agreement, the striped goats did belong to Laban. See Genesis 31:7–8.
- Genesis 31:42.
- See Job 1:21; Ecclesiastes 7:14.
- Genesis 29:31–30:24.