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Genesis 30b:

Reading #125  More years of work

Now it became obvious that it was time to go, even to Jacob.

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Genesis 30: 

25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go: for you know my service which I have done you.”

27 And Laban said to him, “I pray you, if I have found favour in your eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake.” 28 And he said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.”

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This was Jacob’s first request for permission to leave and came at the end of the fourteen years of service.  But crafty Laban wasn’t about to let that happen and suggested that Jacob would need some financial backing before he could go.  After all, he had four wives, eleven sons and at least one daughter to support!   Laban also knew which side of his bread was buttered, for although he did not follow Jacob’s God he wanted a share in the blessings the man was receiving.

An aside: 

My attention has been drawn to the accuracy of the figures I have been using for the ages of the patriarchs.   To some they seem amazing.  Since then I have searched out more information and include this for your consideration.

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Genesis 41:

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah [possibly, “the God speaks and he lives”]; and he gave him to wife Asenath [“the one belonging to the goddess Neith”] the daughter of Potipherah [“the one whom the sun-god Ra has given”, the high] priest of On [also known as (aka) Heliopolis, the city of the sun]. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt [he became the overseer of the harvests].

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.  47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. 

Genesis 47:

7 And [some years later] Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”  9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 

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So here we have Joseph the son of Jacob being 30 years old when he met Pharaoh, getting married, and passing through the seven years of plenty in Egypt.  Then two years into the seven of famine, he brings his father and family into safety in Egypt which makes him about 39 years old.  At that point Jacob tells Pharaoh that he is 130.  Working backwards, we can see that Jacob was about 91 when Joseph was born.  He had worked 14 years for his two wives by that time which means he was about 77 and still single when he left home!

We tend to believe that either the numbers are wrong or that the men and women of those days were different to us.  (They did live longer and healthier than us.)  But it is we who are different!  We do not realise how far we are from God’s plan for us which includes abundant life!  Jesus said:

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John 10:

9 “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture [to which I will lead him as his Shepherd].

10 The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

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Here He tells us that if we allow Him to lead us He will guide our lives so much day by day that He will be responsible for where we go and what we eat!  Following His guidance we will live much longer and healthier (abundantly) than those who choose their own way.  Think on that. 

Jacob had (thought on that), and acknowledged that he was not living as he should have been therefore he was not as fit as he could have been, nor did he think he would live as long as his father and grandfather.  He died at 147, his father Isaac at 180, his grandfather Abraham at 175.   Yet all he had to do was be obedient and follow his Shepherd!  Abraham, incidentally, remarried after Isaac married Rebekah and would have been over 140 at that time. Genesis 25:1.

Back to our story now.

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Genesis 30: 

29 And he [Jacob] said to him [Laban], “You know how I have served you, and how your cattle was with me. 30 For it was little which you had before I came, and it is now increased to a multitude; and the LORD has blessed you since my coming: and now when shall I provide for my own house [family] also?”

31 And he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “YOU shall not give me any thing [God will provide].  If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flock [He obviously had helpers but he was the manager]. 32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [yet] of such shall be my hire [wages].

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The plan was to leave only the “pure” animals in the main flock, and if there were born any speckled or spotted ones from then on, Jacob could keep them for they were considered as being of less value.  Laban, of course, who doesn’t seem to have known much about genetics, thought that this was a good thing.  He believed that Jacob would be the loser in such a position.

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Genesis 30: 

 33 [Jacob continued] So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before your face [at roundup time]: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me [if I keep them].”

34 And Laban said, “Behold, I would it might be according to your word [O.K].” 35 And [then] he [Laban, who didn’t trust Jacob] removed that day the he goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. [They have not been mentioned before].

36 And he set three days' journey between himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks [the pure coloured ones].

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Another devious trick by a very shrewd man!  No way was he going to pay out by allowing the flocks to mingle.  But the Spirit can meet all the craftiness of men and so outwitted him.

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Genesis 30: 

37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel [almond] and chestnut tree; and pulled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had pulled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted.

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The Spirit of God suggested this picture to Jacob.  Although a physical sign was there, it was a law of God that controlled the mating results.  There is no power in stripped bark!

I presume we all know about Gregor Mendel’s wrinkled and smooth garden pea experiments.  If not, try these:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel

    http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/Gregor_Mendel.html

Through this law Jacob quickly became capable of supporting his family and was prepared to make the long journey home and face his brother Esau.  Because of the separation between the flocks which Laban himself had instituted, it was easy for Jacob’s animals to be identified.  Although Laban tried many times to change the rules, he could never win against God.

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Genesis 30: 

40 And [over the years] Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not to Laban's cattle. 41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger cattle [among the unmarked ones] did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods [and produce marked ones]. 42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses [the church was constantly growing].

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The Spirit of God did NOT suggest the latter part of Jacob’s behaviour. 

It is not necessary for Christians to cheat or manipulate to be successful and there is plenty of room for all in God’s kingdom as we have seen in the matter of the priesthood.  But Jacob was still adding his “inch” to God’s “mile”.  Oh, how slow we are to learn that only as we show TOTAL reliance on God’s ways can we really be satisfied, and show a correct example to the watchers, which is our “reasonable service”.  Romans 12:1.

It is often written that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that He made the covenant with them.  e.g. 2 Kings 13:23.

This is so because their stories cover all the experiences of sinning Christians.  All that we need to know from beginning to end of the Christian life is in their records the Spirit has preserved for us.  

We should be aware of this as we continue in our study of the end of Jacob’s exile and his metamorphosis into Israel, the overcomer.

Bye for now,

Ron

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