Genesis 30:43 | 71
30:20 q Ge 35:23; 49:13; Mt 4:13
30:22 r Ge 8:1; 1Sa 1:19-20 s Ge 29:31
30:23 t ver 6 u Isa 4:1; Lk 1:25
30:24 v Ge 35:24; 37:2; 39:1; 49:22-26 w Ge 35:17
30:25 x Ge 24:54
30:26 y Ge 29:20, 30; Hos 12:12
30:27 z Ge 26:24; 39:3, 5
30:28 a Ge 29:15
30:29 b Ge 31:6 c Ge 31:38‐40
30:30 d 1Ti 5:8
30:32 e Ge 31:8, 12 30:35 f Ge 31:1
30:43 g ver 30; Ge 12:16; 13:2; 24:35;
26:13‐14
19 Leah con ceived again and bore Ja cob a sixth son. 20 Then Leah said,“ God has presented me with a pre cious gift. This time my hus band will treat me with honor, be cause I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zeb u lun. a q 21 Some time later she gave birth to a daugh ter and named her Di nah. 22 Then God remembered Rachel; r he lis tened to her and en abled her to con ceive. s 23 She be came preg nant and gave birth to a son t and said,“ God has taken away my dis grace.” u 24 She named him Joseph, b v and said,“ May the Lord add to me an other son.” w
Jacob’ s Flocks Increase
25 Af ter Ra chel gave birth to Jo seph, Ja cob said to La ban,“ Send me on my way x so I can go back to my own home land. 26 Give me my wives and chil dren, for whom I have served you, y and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ ve done for you.”
27 But La ban said to him,“ If I have found fa vor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by div i na tion that the Lord has blessed me be cause of you.” z 28 He added,“ Name your wages, a and I will pay them.”
29 Ja cob said to him,“ You know how I have worked for you b and how your live stock has fared un der my care. c 30 The lit tle you had be fore I came has in creased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wher ever I have been. But now, when may I do some thing for my own household? d” 31“ What shall I give you?” he asked.“ Don’ t give me any thing,” Ja cob re plied.“ But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tend ing your flocks and watch ing over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks to day and re move from them ev ery speck led or spot ted sheep, ev ery dark-col ored lamb and ev ery spot ted or speck led goat. e They will be my wages. 33 And my hon esty will tes tify for me in the fu ture, when ever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my pos ses sion that is not speck led or spot ted, or any lamb that is not dark-col ored, will be con sid ered sto len.”
34“ Agreed,” said La ban.“ Let it be as you have said.” 35 That same day he re moved all the male goats that were streaked or spot ted, and all the speck led or spot ted fe male goats( all that had white on them) and all the dark-col ored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. f 36 Then he put a three-day jour ney be tween him self and Ja cob, while Ja cob con tin ued to tend the rest of La ban’ s flocks.
37 Ja cob, how ever, took fresh-cut branches from pop lar, al mond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peel ing the bark and ex pos ing the white in ner wood of the branches. 38 Then he placed the peeled branches in all the wa ter ing troughs, so that they would be di rectly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speck led or spot ted. 40 Ja cob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-col ored an i mals that be longed to La ban. Thus he made sep a rate flocks for him self and did not put them with La ban’ s an i- mals. 41 When ever the stron ger fe males were in heat, Ja cob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the an i mals so they would mate near the branches, 42 but if the an i mals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak an i mals went to La ban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43 In this way the man grew ex ceed ingly pros per ous and came to own large flocks, and fe male and male ser vants, and cam els and don keys. g
a 20 Zebulun probably means honor. b 24 Joseph means may he add.
30:22 – 24 After her sister Leah has given birth to six sons and a daughter, Rachel’ s prayer is eventually answered by God, and she gives birth to Joseph. The threefold reference to God in these verses underlines that he is the one who enables the matriarchs to have children. Childlessness in Genesis is an important motif, especially in the light of God’ s promise in 3:15 that salvation will come through the offspring of Eve. The divine gift of children to those who are barren takes on added significance, which is reflected in the importance of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in the Genesis story. 30:25 – 43 Jacob’ s Flocks Increase. After a period of at least 14 years, Jacob makes plans to return to Canaan. However, his father-in-law, Laban, does not want him to go, for Jacob’ s presence has been a source of blessing. As the patriarchal stories reflect elsewhere, the“ firstborn” members of the family lineage mediate God’ s blessing. Laban yet again acts deceitfully toward Jacob and pays the consequences. 30:27 by divination. Laban discovers that God has blessed him because of Jacob. Later, God bans the practice of divination( Deut 18:10) because it uses inappropriate means( e. g., reading omens) to interpret present events or discern the future. the Lord has blessed me. Laban readily acknowledges Jacob’ s role in this. The motif of blessing is important in Genesis, especially in view of how humanity comes under God’ s disfavor because of their sinfulness. Having received the blessing of the“ firstborn,” Jacob brings blessing to others. 30:31 – 34 The sheep and goats in Laban’ s flocks would have been variously colored, with only some being speckled or spotted. 30:35 Although Laban agrees to Jacob’ s proposal, he deliberately removes from his flock all the animals that should have belonged to
Jacob, giving them to his own sons. Laban’ s self-seeking attitude is very much a match to Jacob’ s, for Jacob deceived his own father through the use of goatskins( 27:1 – 29, especially v. 16). 30:38 peeled branches. How these influenced the outcome of the breeding is not immediately apparent. 30:39 streaked or speckled or spotted. By manipulating the breeding activity of Laban’ s flock( vv. 37 – 39), Jacob succeeds in creating for himself a large flock of animals. 30:40 – 42 By selective breeding Jacob ensures that the strongest animals in Laban’ s flocks produce streaked or dark-colored animals. Although Laban deliberately attempted to keep Jacob’ s wages to a minimum, Jacob succeeds in becoming very wealthy. Having arrived in Paddan Aram with little( 32:10), he now has abundant possessions, resembling those of Abraham( 12:16; 24:35).