Genesis 30:38

38 And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink.

Genesis 30:38 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 30:38

And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks,
&c.] Opposite them, in the view of them: in the gutters in the watering troughs, when the flocks came to
drink;
that is, in places of water, where troughs or vessels were made, into which the water ran convenient for the cattle to drink out of; and here he placed his party coloured rods right over against the flocks: that they should conceive when they came to drink;
as it was most likely they should when they were together at the water, and had refreshed themselves with it; and being "heated" ^F17, as the word signifies, with a desire of copulation, might conceive in sight of the above rods; which were set to move upon their imagination at the time of their conception, in order to produce cattle of different colours; to which no doubt he was directed of God, and it had, through his blessing, the wished for success, as follows:

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (hnmxy) "incalescebant", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius; "ut incalescerent", Junius & Tremellius.

Genesis 30:38 In-Context

36 And he set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 And Jacob took rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut tree and peeled white strakes in them and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink.

39 And the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted sheep.

40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and put with his flock the ringstraked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them together with Laban’s sheep.