Spotted And Streaked - Genesis 30:25-43
INTRODUCTION:
(Come down the aisle hitting two sticks together.) Have Kevin ask: “What are you doing?” Keeping the cougars away. Kevin says: “There are no cougars in here.” Works, doesn’t it.
If you hit these two sticks together and get success is it because you hit the sticks together? If you carry a rabbit’s foot in your pocket and have good luck is it because of the rabbit’s foot? Say you ate fried chicken on the day the Seahawks played and they won, so the next time they were to play you again ate fried chicken and they won, is it because you ate fried chicken that they won?
We have a lot of superstitions, we may say that we don’t believe them, but subconsciously we might wonder if they are true. But for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, agreeing with God that we are sinners and that He must punish sin because He is holy and there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to Him, but we believe that God sent His Son to die in our place, to pay the punishment for our sin and He died and was buried and rose from the dead, and we now have our sins forgiven and we are made right with God because we believe that Jesus died for us and rose again. Because of our faith we understand that God’s love is so great and His promises so sure that everything that happens in our life is because of Him, nothing happens by accident. Nothing happens because of something I do or don’t do.
Jacob needed to learn this lesson, there was a time in his life that he thought success would come to him if he did certain things. He learned when you do certain things and success comes, it is not because you did those certain things, it because God is committed to you and His love is so great for you and His promises so sure that even when you bumble about in your own feeble attempts to bring about God’s blessings, the things you really want and God has promised, that God will fulfill His promises despite your attempts in your own flesh.
Success does not come because of something you do, but because of what God does. Let’s pray and then open our Bibles and read our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 30:25-43 our passage for this morning. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Genesis 30:25-43,
“Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ‘Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.’ But Laban said to him, ‘If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the Lord has blessed me on your account.’ He continued, ‘Name me your wages, and I will give it.’ But he said to him, ‘You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?’ So he said, ‘What shall I give you?’ And Jacob said, ‘You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.’ Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’ So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.” (Genesis 30:25–43, NASB95)[1]
LABAN’S PROPOSAL (Genesis 30:25-33)
When Rachel had given birth to Joseph it was near the end of the 14 years which Jacob had served Laban for his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Having served Laban for free for 14 years Jacob had nothing to show for it, but four wives and 11 children. Jacob begins to think about his life and his future and the future of his family and he goes to Laban and tells him that he has served him for fourteen years and he asks Laban to send him away with his wives and his children so that he might go back home, back to his own country. What Jacob is asking for here is more than just his wives and children, but also for their portion of their inheritance so Jacob has money when he arrives back in the land of Canaan to make a start for himself and his family. He reminds Laban, just in case Laban does not want to give the inheritance that He has served him well these 14 years.
Laban knows very well how Jacob has served him and he does not want to lose such a valuable servant. Laban begins to sweet talk Jacob, hoping to get him to stay. By his words it is clear that he is not going to part with any money for Jacob to make a start elsewhere. If it pleases you, or literally if I have found favor in your eyes stay with me and continue to work for me. Then he tells Jacob that he knows that he has divined that the Lord has blessed him on account of Jacob. There is debate over what this word divined means, sometimes it means that the one divining perceived or came to know through observation in this case that because of Jacob the Lord was blessing Laban. That is one meaning of this word, but it can also mean that he consulted a fortune-teller, or any other ways that he might have divined, tarot cards, reading tea leaves but whatever way Laban was informed that the Lord was with Jacob and that was why Laban was being blessed. Laban does not want to lose that blessing, he wants to continue to grow wealthier because of Jacob. Again as he had 14 years earlier, he says, “Name your wages, and I will give it if you will just stay with me and serve me.” Jacob acknowledges that the Lord has blessed Laban through him. Reminding Laban that he had only a small operation when Jacob came, but since he has taken over the flocks they have increased and you have become a wealthy man. The word translated “increased” is a word that literally means “to break forth” and has the meaning of something increasing so much that whatever is holding it back finally gives way and the abundance behind what was holding back floods forth. Think of it like a dam where the water continues to build behind it until the dam cannot hold it anymore and it bursts and the water flows out in a flood. This is what had happened to Laban’s little sheep operation after Jacob began shepherding the flock, God blessed it and it burst forth in abundance and had grown into a very lucrative business for Laban. He did not want to lose this source of blessing. Jacob acknowledges this, but also wants to know when he can begin providing for his own family and not just working for Laban. Laban says, “What can I give you?” Remember that the last time this happened Jacob did not get exactly what he had agreed too, and I believe he had learned much in his 14 years of servitude and was wary of his deceiving father-in-law, but if this was how it was going to be then Jacob could be as cunning and sly as Laban. Laban is not going to give Jacob money, but he is willing to enter into a new contract with him whereby Jacob can earn what he needs to make a start for himself. Jacob does not want a salary, he wants a percentage of the profits, in this case sheep and goats. Jacob proposes that he go through Laban’s flock and remove all the spotted or streaked goats and sheep and all the dark colored lambs and this will be his wages and if Laban’s sheep or goats produce any spotted or streaked or dark colored lambs then these will be Jacob’s. But in turn if Jacob’s flock produce any whole color goats or sheep then these he will put into Laban’s flock. In the middle-east almost all sheep are white and all goats are solid brown or black. That was the normal coloring for the flocks of that time. The sheep are born solid white and the goats are born solid dark—brown or black. That is what was normal, but there is a recessive gene that occasionally shows up, and when it does, the animal is born with odd coloring or marking, such as white streaks or spots in a goat or lamb or a completely dark lamb. But because this gene is recessive the births were rare. Jacob proposes that these odd colored animals be his wages and to begin with he will go through the flock and take the few that are already there. Jacob also said, “You can inspect my flock anytime and if you find a solid colored animal in my flock it will be considered stolen.”
LABAN’S DECEPTION (Genesis 30:34-36)
Laban cannot believe what he is hearing, he never dreamed he would get this sweet of a deal out of Jacob. But the wheels are also turning trying to figure out how he can even sweeten this deal further. Laban is about to deceive Jacob again, Laban knows that at best Jacob is only going to get one or two percent of new births, because that recessive gene does not show up very often. Laban cannot believe this deal, it will take Jacob years to build a flock big enough for him to venture out on his own, and Laban will be getting the blessing all that time. Laban is quick to seal the deal, because all he can see for his future is a continuation of what has happened the last 14 years, he sees himself growing richer and richer.
Then to make sure Jacob gets off to a slow start we read that Laban went through his flock and removed all the speckled and spotted male and female goats, those already showing the recessive gene and all the dark colored lambs and he gave them into the care of his sons and put a three day journey between them and where Jacob was pasturing the rest of his flock. Laban again has acted deceptively and has put Jacob at a disadvantage, but Jacob has not come into this contract with his eyes closed, he has a plan that he believes will bring him wealth and the success he wants so that he can return to his own place, to his own country. And sure enough, when Jacob begins to do the things in his plan, his flock begins to grow and he begins to accumulate wealth and have success. Jacob assumes that his success and wealth are due to the things that he is doing, but that is not the case. The success and wealth are not because of what he did, but something else entirely. Do you see anything missing from this whole passage? God is missing, Jacob has forgotten God’s promise to him. Yes the Lord is mentioned as the One who is blessing Laban through Jacob, but Jacob does not acknowledge that it is the Lord who is blessing him with success and wealth. Instead Jacob believes it has to do with what he is doing.
GOD’S BLESSING (Genesis 30:37-43)
Jacob in his own feeble way began to try and do what he thought would bring him success. Since he was starting with nothing but solids, since Laban had taken all streaked and spotted and dark colored animals away, he had to come up with a way to breed odd colored animals from them. How could he get dark goats to give birth to white-splotched or striped goats, and how could he get white sheep to give birth to dark sheep. He came up with a plan for both. For the goats he took small branches of several trees and he peeled the bark off of them in such a way that the white wood underneath was in stripes. He then placed these branches in the watering troughs and gutters where the sheep and goats came to get water and they mated there in front of the striped branches and had spotted and striped offspring. All the streaked and spotted offspring became Jacob’s goats. Jacob arranged the white sheep when they were mating so that they were looking at dark or spotted or striped animals, either Laban’s dark goats or one of Jacob’s own odd colored animals, and the result was that the solid white sheep gave birth to dark or spotted or streaked lambs, and these became Jacob’s sheep. Jacob only did this when the strongest, healthiest of the sheep and goats were mating. If the sheep or goats were weak or unhealthy he would remove the branches and not make them look at dark colored or odd colored animals. Thus the sheep and goats that Jacob acquired were the strongest and healthiest of Laban’s flocks and Laban got those that were feeble and unhealthy.
Over the next six years Jacob uses this plan to get Laban’s solid colored goats to have spotted or streaked offspring and his solid white sheep to give birth to dark lambs or lambs with dark splotchy markings. Laban’s flock dwindles and Jacobs grows larger and larger and fills the land. We read that Jacob became exceedingly prosperous and had to invest in male and female servants to care for his vast holding and he acquired camels and donkeys most likely to transport his wool and meat to markets throughout the area.
Jacob put his plans and schemes to work and he got the wealth and success that he wanted. He does these things, and it works. But is it because of what he did? Is it his plan, his scheme, his work that brought him success?
I don’t know about you, but I read about what Jacob did here and I don’t claim to know a lot about breeding sheep, but I do know a little science and I’m fairly sure that it doesn’t work this way, that you don’t get a spotted or streaked or dark colored lamb or kid because of something the animals looked at while mating. This sounds more like the tabloid headlines we sometimes see in the checkout line at the grocery store. “Pregnant mother frightened by wolf—gives birth to a baby with fangs! And we say, “I don’t think so!”
So is it because of what Laban’s animals were looking at when they mated that Jacob ended up with his vast spotted, streaked and dark colored flock? If I hit two sticks together and no cougars come, is it because I hit the sticks together? Jacob did these things because he thought it would bring him success, and success came, but was it because of what he did?
The answer to that is no, and Jacob had to learn that as well. He had to remember that God had made some promises to him, and God was working His plan so that He could take Jacob back to the land that He had promised to him and his descendants. This blessing was not because of Jacob’s schemes and plans or his cleverness or skills. This blessing was because of God’s love for Jacob. We will learn next week that near the end of six years God appeared to Jacob in a dream and the Lord told Jacob that it was not what Jacob was doing that was giving him success; no that was not the case. The truth was that it was what God was doing that gave him success. In the dream God has Jacob look at the animals of Laban’s that he is caring for, and Jacob notices that they are not really solid colors, they all are showing the recessive gene, they are all speckled and spotted. Jacob this dream tells you, that I, the Lord, am altering the genetic code, I am controlling the hereditary traits. Jacob, it’s Me, the Lord controlling the birthing patterns. Your success, Jacob, is not because of what you have done, but because I have determined to bless you, because my love for you is so great. We will look at this in more detail next week.
If success comes, it is not because of your skills, not because of your schemes and plans, it is because of God’s love. The good, the success that comes in your life is because God has determined to bless you.
CONCLUSION:
All of us do things that we think will bring us success or luck rather than trusting God that He loves us and is determined to bless us. Because God’s love for us is so great, and His promises so sure; instead of trusting in sticks to keep the cougars away or a rabbit’s foot to give you good luck, or your plans and schemes to help you succeed; trust in the Lord’s great love and abundant goodness. Our Scripture reading this morning says, “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.” (Psalm 37:4–6, NASB95)[2] This was the lesson that Jacob needed to learn, that nothing happened in his life that God was not in it using it to teach him or bless him despite what Jacob did or did not do. God loved Jacob and was determined to bless him. Whatever has come to us, it is the Lord’s goodness that has brought it to us. When we were in the hospital with Daniel God began to show us that He was in all of what had happened, if Daniel had not broken his leg the cyst that was there may have gotten even worse. God kept bringing two verses to my mind that reminded me that I just needed to trust in Him, because He was working His plan for Daniel, He was working His plan for me, He was working His plan for our family. The verses are found in Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, verses that we all have heard, but often need to be reminded of: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5–6, NASB95)[3] We need to trust the Lord, we need to acknowledge Him in all that we do, to know that He is there working His plan, making our paths straight, because He loves us and is determined to bless us.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995