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34 And Laban said, "Oh, that it were according to your word!" 35 So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. 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. ~ Genesis 30:34-39
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 30 where Jacob has just asked his father-in-law to allow him to return to Canaan with his wives and their children. Jacob offered Laban such a great deal that Laban incorporated humor in his response. In the background to all of this is Jacob's growing trust of God, as we will see. Our trust in God only grows as we interact with Him through His abiding Spirit as well as by abiding ourselves in His word. When we abide in the Lord's word, we will be better tuned to recognize His voice when He speaks to our hearts.
In v.34-36 of today's passage we read, "34 And Laban said, 'Oh, that it were according to your word!' 35 So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks."
The deal that Jacob offered Laban was so good that Laban himself removed the less-desired sheep and goats from the herd. Then, Laban gave the sheep and goats to his sons, not to Jacob. It was an act of trust in God when Jacob deferred the separation of the animals to Laban. Not only was he fair in his offer, Jacob was making sure that Laban alone was in charge of the selection of the offer, even though Laban was a deceptive man. After separating Jacob's less-desired animals, Laban gave them to his own sons to tend and to keep. Laban had a hard time trusting others because he himself was so deceitful.
After taking the animals from his flocks which would otherwise benefit Jacob, Laban then puts a 3-day journey between them and Jacob’s flocks. By putting such a distance between the two of them, there would be no chance of them meeting up and mixing. And, if they did, then the offspring of Jacob’s flocks would more likely bear odd-colored ones. Laban made sure this would not happen. There was a clear separation between them and Laban's herd. So Jacob was now at the mercy of God and his own resourcefulness to provide for his family.
In v.37-39 of today's passage we read, "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."
Jacob walked among His flock and tended to them. He was a shepherd and a caretaker of them. The branches mentioned here, the poplar, the almond, and the chestnut all paint a picture for us. These branches had to be stripped, they had to be made bare, to be useful to Jacob. After peeling the rods, Jacob placed the branches in watering troughs where the water washed them clean. These particular pieces of wood were known for their aphrodisiacal qualities, and thus their use would have stimulated mating among Jacob's herd.
In this otherwise unusual practice, we have a picture of Jacob's story with God. You see, back in Canaan Jacob struggled to trust God, but for the past fourteen years God had been slowly changing Jacob while he was at Laban's house. This long arduous period that yielded some transformation in Jacob's life, impacted the lives of Jacob's herds resulting in blessing to Jacob and his growing family.
Throughout the Bible water is analogous of the word of God. It was through God's word spoken to Jacob that Jacob was being changed and now Jacob was in the position to impact others with the culture of God. Billy Graham said it so many years ago and to this moment God uses Graham's words to motivate me into what I do daily. Those words were: "There are only two things in this world that will last into eternity, the word of God and the souls of people. Our job is to bring the two together." We dare not export the truth to others until it has been imported into our souls and it has found safe haven there.
Jacob was becoming a changed man as seen in the fact that he took the less-desired sheep and goats from the herds, trusting God with the outcome. Jacob did this because he had two dreams. The first was in Genesis 28 where God had promised him blessings, and no doubt the covenantal faithfulness of God motivated Jacob to wait until the Lord would do what He had promised. The other dream, recorded in Genesis 31 could have been given to him before he bargained with Laban. Being defined by God's word obviously turned Jacob's life around and this is God's goal in our lives as well. We must be diligent to read the word of God in order to encounter God, the One who desires to change us from the inside out for His glory and our good.
