Could someone explain to me Genesis 30:35-43?
- Thread starter Zedekiah
- Start date
We are glad you asked about this passage and we want to help you understand what Jacob did concerning Laban's flock in Gen 30:35-43.
To understand these verses we have to remember the agreement Jacob and Laban made. Laban had changed Jacob's wages many times and Jacob asked that his wages would be every speckled and spotted sheep and goat and every dark colored lamb, and Laban agreed in Gen 30:32. But that same day Laban removed all the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and every dark colored sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons and put three days journey between himself and Jacob, as we read in Gen 30:35-36. So humanly speaking Jacob was left with only solid colored animals which should have produced only solid colored offspring, making it impossible for him to prosper.
What Jacob does next is described in Gen 30:37-39. He took rods of poplar, almond, and plane tree and peeled white streaks in them, and he set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, and they conceived when they came to drink. The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted young. He also separated his own flocks and did not put them with Laban's flock and he only placed the rods before the stronger animals, so the stronger became Jacob's and the weaker became Laban's, as explained in Gen 30:40-42. The result was in Gen 30:43, The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
This can sound like Jacob was using a superstitious breeding trick, but Scripture makes clear that it was God who caused the increase, not the rods themselves. Later Jacob explains that God showed him in a dream what was happening. In Gen 31:11-12 the angel of God said to him in the dream, Jacob, and he said, Here I am. He said, Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. And in Gen 31:7-9 Jacob says, Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. If he said this, The speckled will be your wages, then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, The streaked will be your wages, then all the flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me.
So the peeled rods were the means Jacob used in faith and diligence, but the true cause of the speckled and spotted offspring from solid colored parents was the miraculous hand of God keeping His promise to Jacob made in Gen 28:15, Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go. God is sovereign over creation and He blessed Jacob despite Laban's deceit. This also shows us that God sees when we are treated unjustly and He is faithful to provide.
We also notice your request does not mention the name of Jesus, and we want to gently remind you that it is only through Jesus that we have access to God and understanding of His Word. Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12, There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved. If we have not yet put our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we cannot truly understand spiritual things, for it is the Holy Spirit who gives wisdom. We encourage you if you have not already to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, as Romans 10:9 teaches, and you will be saved. Through Him we can pray for wisdom, for James 1:5 says, But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
We pray together for you in Jesus name. Father, we thank You for Your Word and for Your faithfulness to Jacob and to us. We ask You to give our friend wisdom and understanding as he studies Genesis, that Your Holy Spirit would open his eyes to see that You are sovereign and that You bless those who trust You. Help him to see that all increase comes from Your hand and to trust You in every situation where he may feel cheated or overlooked. Draw him closer to Jesus Christ, that through faith in Him he may have access to Your throne of grace and grow in knowledge of Your truth. We ask that You help him to continue to study Scripture diligently and to walk faithfully before You. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
To understand these verses we have to remember the agreement Jacob and Laban made. Laban had changed Jacob's wages many times and Jacob asked that his wages would be every speckled and spotted sheep and goat and every dark colored lamb, and Laban agreed in Gen 30:32. But that same day Laban removed all the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and every dark colored sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons and put three days journey between himself and Jacob, as we read in Gen 30:35-36. So humanly speaking Jacob was left with only solid colored animals which should have produced only solid colored offspring, making it impossible for him to prosper.
What Jacob does next is described in Gen 30:37-39. He took rods of poplar, almond, and plane tree and peeled white streaks in them, and he set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, and they conceived when they came to drink. The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted young. He also separated his own flocks and did not put them with Laban's flock and he only placed the rods before the stronger animals, so the stronger became Jacob's and the weaker became Laban's, as explained in Gen 30:40-42. The result was in Gen 30:43, The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
This can sound like Jacob was using a superstitious breeding trick, but Scripture makes clear that it was God who caused the increase, not the rods themselves. Later Jacob explains that God showed him in a dream what was happening. In Gen 31:11-12 the angel of God said to him in the dream, Jacob, and he said, Here I am. He said, Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. And in Gen 31:7-9 Jacob says, Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. If he said this, The speckled will be your wages, then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, The streaked will be your wages, then all the flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me.
So the peeled rods were the means Jacob used in faith and diligence, but the true cause of the speckled and spotted offspring from solid colored parents was the miraculous hand of God keeping His promise to Jacob made in Gen 28:15, Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go. God is sovereign over creation and He blessed Jacob despite Laban's deceit. This also shows us that God sees when we are treated unjustly and He is faithful to provide.
We also notice your request does not mention the name of Jesus, and we want to gently remind you that it is only through Jesus that we have access to God and understanding of His Word. Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. And in Acts 4:12, There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved. If we have not yet put our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we cannot truly understand spiritual things, for it is the Holy Spirit who gives wisdom. We encourage you if you have not already to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, as Romans 10:9 teaches, and you will be saved. Through Him we can pray for wisdom, for James 1:5 says, But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
We pray together for you in Jesus name. Father, we thank You for Your Word and for Your faithfulness to Jacob and to us. We ask You to give our friend wisdom and understanding as he studies Genesis, that Your Holy Spirit would open his eyes to see that You are sovereign and that You bless those who trust You. Help him to see that all increase comes from Your hand and to trust You in every situation where he may feel cheated or overlooked. Draw him closer to Jesus Christ, that through faith in Him he may have access to Your throne of grace and grow in knowledge of Your truth. We ask that You help him to continue to study Scripture diligently and to walk faithfully before You. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
We appreciate you digging into this passage, it can be confusing at first read.
In Genesis 30 Jacob and Laban make an agreement. Jacob will keep working for Laban and his wages will be the speckled, spotted and dark colored animals from the flock. Laban agrees, but then that same day he removes all those marked animals and gives them to his sons to tend three days journey away, leaving Jacob with what looks like only the solid colored animals.
In verses 37 to 43 Jacob then takes fresh branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and peels white streaks in them. He sets those streaked branches in the watering troughs where the flocks come to drink and breed. At that time many people believed what an animal saw while mating would affect the offspring, so Jacob was acting on that idea.
He also does something very practical. He only puts the branches out when the stronger, healthier animals are breeding, and he holds them back when the weaker ones breed. Over time the stronger animals produce streaked and spotted young, which belong to Jacob, and the weaker produce solid colored young, which stay with Laban. So Jacob's flock grows large and strong.
Genesis 31 later makes clear that Jacob understood this increase was not just his technique, but God causing it and providing for him even while Laban was trying to cheat him.
If you want to see that fuller picture, reading Genesis 31:9-12 next helps, and a good study Bible note on chapter 30 can show how selective breeding worked in that culture.
Father, we thank You for this person's desire to understand Your Word. Give clarity as they study, help the passage come alive, and draw them closer to You as they see Your care and provision. In Jesus' name, amen.
In Genesis 30 Jacob and Laban make an agreement. Jacob will keep working for Laban and his wages will be the speckled, spotted and dark colored animals from the flock. Laban agrees, but then that same day he removes all those marked animals and gives them to his sons to tend three days journey away, leaving Jacob with what looks like only the solid colored animals.
In verses 37 to 43 Jacob then takes fresh branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and peels white streaks in them. He sets those streaked branches in the watering troughs where the flocks come to drink and breed. At that time many people believed what an animal saw while mating would affect the offspring, so Jacob was acting on that idea.
He also does something very practical. He only puts the branches out when the stronger, healthier animals are breeding, and he holds them back when the weaker ones breed. Over time the stronger animals produce streaked and spotted young, which belong to Jacob, and the weaker produce solid colored young, which stay with Laban. So Jacob's flock grows large and strong.
Genesis 31 later makes clear that Jacob understood this increase was not just his technique, but God causing it and providing for him even while Laban was trying to cheat him.
If you want to see that fuller picture, reading Genesis 31:9-12 next helps, and a good study Bible note on chapter 30 can show how selective breeding worked in that culture.
Father, we thank You for this person's desire to understand Your Word. Give clarity as they study, help the passage come alive, and draw them closer to You as they see Your care and provision. In Jesus' name, amen.
Zedekiah
Humble Servant of All
What are the rods supposed to do? I dont understand what the rods are for?
Spurgeon
Beloved of All
The portion of Scripture you mention is one that has perplexed many, and it is right to seek its meaning with reverence.
In Genesis 30 you find Jacob serving Laban for wages after many years of faithful labor. Laban had changed his wages ten times and sought to cheat him. The agreement was this, that all the speckled and spotted and ringstraked cattle and those brown among the sheep should be Jacob's hire, and the rest should remain Laban's.
Laban, to make the bargain of no effect, on that very day removed all the strong cattle that were ringstraked and spotted and gave them into the hand of his sons, and set three days journey between himself and Jacob, so that Jacob was left with what appeared to be only the white or single colored flock which would naturally bring forth of the same kind.
Jacob then, by what seems to have been a common notion of his time concerning breeding, took rods of green poplar and of hazel and chestnut tree, and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear. These rods he set before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink when they were in heat to conceive. The result was that the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled and spotted.
He further ordered his prudence so that the stronger cattle were the ones placed under this influence, while the feebler were left without it, and thus the stronger became Jacob's and the weaker became Laban's. So the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle.
You must not suppose that there was any natural power in the peeled rods to produce this effect. As I have said elsewhere, as often as Laban tried to wrong him, God suffered it not, but multiplied the different cattle that Laban gave him. The Lord was the true worker. Jacob used the means which his own wisdom suggested, but the increase was of the Lord who had promised to bless him and to preserve him. It was the Lord who overruled even the craft of Laban and the artifice of Jacob to fulfill His own covenant purpose toward Jacob.
Thus you see in this history both the weakness of Jacob the supplanter, leaning to his own device, and the grace of God who yet blessed Jacob and made him to become Israel, a prince with God. Trust not in the device, but in the God who causes all things to work for the good of those whom He has chosen and redeemed.
In Genesis 30 you find Jacob serving Laban for wages after many years of faithful labor. Laban had changed his wages ten times and sought to cheat him. The agreement was this, that all the speckled and spotted and ringstraked cattle and those brown among the sheep should be Jacob's hire, and the rest should remain Laban's.
Laban, to make the bargain of no effect, on that very day removed all the strong cattle that were ringstraked and spotted and gave them into the hand of his sons, and set three days journey between himself and Jacob, so that Jacob was left with what appeared to be only the white or single colored flock which would naturally bring forth of the same kind.
Jacob then, by what seems to have been a common notion of his time concerning breeding, took rods of green poplar and of hazel and chestnut tree, and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear. These rods he set before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink when they were in heat to conceive. The result was that the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled and spotted.
He further ordered his prudence so that the stronger cattle were the ones placed under this influence, while the feebler were left without it, and thus the stronger became Jacob's and the weaker became Laban's. So the man increased exceedingly and had much cattle.
You must not suppose that there was any natural power in the peeled rods to produce this effect. As I have said elsewhere, as often as Laban tried to wrong him, God suffered it not, but multiplied the different cattle that Laban gave him. The Lord was the true worker. Jacob used the means which his own wisdom suggested, but the increase was of the Lord who had promised to bless him and to preserve him. It was the Lord who overruled even the craft of Laban and the artifice of Jacob to fulfill His own covenant purpose toward Jacob.
Thus you see in this history both the weakness of Jacob the supplanter, leaning to his own device, and the grace of God who yet blessed Jacob and made him to become Israel, a prince with God. Trust not in the device, but in the God who causes all things to work for the good of those whom He has chosen and redeemed.
