May the mumbling commence!
Laban took Jacob’s pay right from under his nose. After years of tending the flocks, Jacob had
to know it was so. How would he respond?
It would be easy to steal away in the night with his
family and head to the land of his birth, as he had asked permission to
do. But, other than his family, Jacob
would go empty-handed – something that should not have been the case. Read about the response of Jacob to this
deception from Peterson’s The Message:
But Jacob got fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and
peeled the bark,
leaving white
stripes on them. He stuck the peeled branches in front
of the watering troughs where the flocks came
to drink. When the flocks were in heat, they
came to drink and
mated in front of the streaked branches. Then they gave birth to young that were streaked or spotted or speckled. Jacob placed the ewes before the dark-colored animals of
Laban. That way he got distinctive flocks for himself which
he didn’t mix
with Laban’s flocks. And when
the sturdier animals were mating, Jacob placed branches at the troughs in view of the animals so
that they mated in front of the
branches. But he wouldn’t
set up the branches before the feebler animals. That way the feeble animals went to
Laban and the sturdy ones to Jacob.
The man
got richer and richer, acquiring huge flocks, lots and lots of
servants, not to
mention camels and donkeys. (Genesis
30:37-43)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them
by peeling the bark
and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he
placed the peeled branches
in all the watering troughs, so that they would
be directly in front of the flocks when they came
to drink. When the flocks were in heat
and came to drink,
they mated in front
of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the
rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus
he made separate
flocks for himself and
did not put them
with Laban's animals. Whenever the stronger females were
in heat, Jacob
would place the branches
in the troughs
in front of the animals so they would
mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not
place them there. So the
weak animals went to
Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly
prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants,
and camels and
donkeys. (Genesis 30:37-43)
Jacob used his knowledge of animal husbandry and his
expertise in knowing a strong animal from a weak one to bolster his flocks
while weakening Laban’s flocks. I know
very little about animal husbandry.
There are differences between the two translations, but I am not certain
about how the differences affect the meaning.
So I will content myself in noting that Jacob began to
beat Laban at his own game. With his superior
knowledge, Jacob was prospering himself at the expense of Laban. Fourteen years had gone by with Laban
prospering at the expense of Jacob. Now
the tables are turned for a brief period of time.
Jacob labored hard and long under slave-like
conditions. But, how would Laban and his
family react to the tables being turned.
We will soon begin finding out… like tomorrow.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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