37 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. 38 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. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. -Genesis 30:37-42

The Problem
The writer(s) of Genesis, having no knowledge of genetics, superstitiously believed that flocks would breed according to the peeled rods laying in front of them as they drinked.

The Answer

The argument is a deceivingly crafted straw man that unnecessarily blames the writer, Moses, for propagating a fallacious breeding regimen. Moses was only recording hiostry, therefore whether or not the people he writes of were superstitious is irrelevant to the question of scriptural inerrancy.

In defense of Jacob's intelligence, his experience with sheep, goats, and cattle spanned 104 years at this point, so he probably knew what he was doing. Perhaps the issue is lack of information. Moses really had no need to record in detail how Jacob might have selectively bred Laban's flocks to his advantage, therefore, his method may seem ridiculous to the 21st century eye.

Standard explanation: The superstition that Jacob employed reflected his lack of faith in God, who promised to bless Jacob for his service to Laban. For an excellent commentary on the spiritual implications of Genesis 30, visit here.

Bible Apologetics Index