Genesis 30 Study Notes

30:25-36 Jacob, now with a dozen children and four wives but very little else, demanded release from his responsibilities in Laban’s household so he could return to his homeland, where he would be the head of a wealthy clan. Though Jacob was poor, Laban’s wealth had increased because the Lord had blessed him through Jacob, just as the Lord had promised (28:14). Laban, who had learned by the abominable practice of divination (Lv 19:26) that God had blessed him because of Jacob, realized the great advantages of keeping Jacob around, so he offered to pay Jacob whatever wages his son-in-law would name.

Jacob asked for two things: the right to continue to shepherd Laban’s flock, and all of Laban’s sheep and goats that had rare and unusual markings. Laban readily agreed to the terms and virtually assured Jacob’s financial failure by removing from the flocks every animal that possessed the traits Jacob had specified. To guarantee that Jacob could not use them, he drove them a three-day journey—forty to fifty miles—away and put his own sons in charge of them.

30:37-43 Jacob began a six-year effort (31:41) to increase his wealth at Laban’s expense. During that time he used at least three different techniques to make the flocks produce sheep and goats he could keep: (1) he separated the strong animals from the weak, using only the strong ones for his breeding purposes; (2) he set . . . peeled branches . . . in the water channels where the sheep bred; and (3) he made the flocks face the streaked and completely dark sheep in Laban’s flocks. Though the latter two practices have no scientific value, God himself (31:7-8,42) and the angel of God (31:11-12) caused Jacob to become very rich.