I will pass through all thy flock to-day, to remove thence all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and [that] shall be my hire.
Jacob wanted to leave Laban, but Laban kept him and let him name his own pay. He asked only for the odd-marked animals in a flock of mostly plain ones — trust in God, or one more clever move?
Jacob had asked to leave. Laban had his own reason for keeping him.
Laban, however, pushed into the question, and in the end his thoughts won. He delayed Jacob, as it turned out, for six years. Laban was a shrewd man and recognised that Jacob's presence with him had brought blessing. He wished to keep that blessing, and was prepared to let Jacob set his own wages. As a result there followed a further battle of wits, and this time Jacob and not Laban gained the advantage.
The terms Jacob names sound almost too modest. One writer reads real trust in that.
Jacob suggested wages that seemed to be very low, asking for only the speckled and spotted sheep and goats and the black lambs. The normally coloured sheep and goats would therefore all belong to Laban. Laban saw himself as having the great advantage in this bargain (vv. 32-34). There is no doubt that Jacob wanted to show he was depending on God to give him what He wanted him to have. Faith in God was certainly there. We know that God answered such faith. Yet we see later that his faith was weak when he turned to human tricks in trying to make the sheep produce as he wanted (vv. 37-42).
Commentators differ on how much faith to grant Jacob here. Another writer finds no trust in this bargain at all. Jacob's name means supplanter — one who takes another's place by craft.
Jacob cannot allow God to settle the question as to his wives and his wages, but tries to settle everything by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Turn, for example, to Gen. 30:37-42, and say where you can find a more skilful piece of cunning. It is a perfect picture of Jacob.
Whatever Jacob's motives, the bargain did not decide the outcome.
Laban's greedy desire to profit by Jacob's strange bargain ended up impoverishing the self-occupied master. Meanwhile the long-defrauded servant gained new and growing wealth. Laban shows no regret for the advantage he had taken of his nephew. He shows not the least caring affection for his daughters or their children either. It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go in its way, to repay the evil-doer and to make up to the sufferer.
One writer sees more in the choice of the speckled and spotted than a shepherd's sums.
The servant is willing to take the speckled and spotted of the flock for his hire — Christ is willing to accept what the world despises.
Another writer sets Jacob's years of hired service beside Christ.
See the contrast with the Bridegroom! He longed deeply for the bride, yet He was content to be cut off and have nothing. He refused to serve the world for hire. He was content to be a stranger to His brothers, a foreigner to His mother's children. He served His Father in the appointed place, and so truly profited the world. He became obedient to death. He loved the wages of righteousness. He had a right to all, yet He took none, so that He might receive all in resurrection.
- Bargain. Jacob asked only for the speckled, spotted and black animals. The pay looked so small that Laban thought he had the better deal.
- Faith. Naming so little showed Jacob leaning on God to supply what He wanted him to have. God answered that faith.
- Flesh. The same man later turned to tricks with the flocks — the supplanter, settling by his own cunning what he could have left to God.
- Reversal. Laban's greed in agreeing emptied him. The long-cheated servant grew rich — a righteous repayment of the wrongdoer.
- Christ. The despised part of the flock pictures what Christ is content to receive. Unlike Jacob, He refused to serve the world for hire. He took nothing, so that He might receive all in resurrection.
And my righteousness shall answer for me hereafter, when thou comest about my hire, before thy face all that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, let that be stolen with me.
Jacob has just named his wages: he will take only the odd-coloured animals from Laban's flock. He then stakes his good name on a test anyone could run.
Jacob invited a future check: any plain animal found with him would count as stolen. On the face of it he asked for very little. Odd-coloured animals were few, and the rest of the flock stayed with Laban.
Jacob asked for wages that looked very low: only the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, and the black lambs. All the normally coloured sheep and goats would then belong to Laban. That share was small indeed, and Laban saw himself as having the great advantage in this bargain. There is no doubt that Jacob wanted to show he was depending on God to give him what He wanted Jacob to have. Faith in God was surely there, and we know God answered such faith. Yet we see later that his faith was weak, for he used human tricks to try to make the sheep breed as he wished.
The ESV says "my honesty"; older translations, which the writers below quote, read "my righteousness." Jacob wants the flock itself to speak for him later. Yet the standard he sets exposes his own. Laban had wronged him for years, and Jacob's answer was to out-manoeuvre him.
About this matter Jacob had said to Laban, "So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come." That seems to show he had a rather low idea of what is right in the sight of God. Laban had clearly taken advantage of him in the past. But to use counter-tricks to turn the tables is the way of the world, not the way of God.
Commentators differ here. Another writer sees craft from the start: the offer would pay Jacob far better than any wage Laban would have named.
In their last agreement Jacob made an offer that, if Laban accepted it, his craft would make far more profitable than any wages Laban would give. It was one of his meanest schemes. But notice his lack of conscience: "So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come." Laban is completely fooled. He jumps at the offer, but soon finds out his mistake.
The check Jacob invited never had to clear his name. The deal did turn in his favour — but not by Jacob's own management.
We are now allowed to see how God stepped in and made the agreement about the spotted and speckled cattle work in Jacob's favour. In the light of this, our thought would be this. If he had rested with confidence in God, and not used the tricks described in the last chapter, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And his "righteousness" would have answered for him far more convincingly.
Laban cheated Jacob again and again over twenty years of service. Repayment came quickly at the end, and it came from God.
In some five or six years God's providence paid Jacob the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years. Laban and his sons wanted to be rid of Jacob, but would not say so. After all, what did Laban own before Jacob came on the scene?
One writer reads the arrangement as a picture of Christ. The servant asks for the animals nobody wants, and that is what later stirs up his master's anger.
The servant is willing to take the speckled and spotted of the flock as his wages. So Christ is willing to accept what the world despises. But it becomes known that these animals grow strong and many by looking at the partly peeled rod — which may mean the word with its inner meaning partly opened. Then Laban's greed and hostility flare up. In the end he loses the man through whom he had received great wealth, and loses his wealth with him.
- The claim. Jacob invites Laban to check his flock. He calls the result his honesty, in a test set up so that only the odd-coloured animals can be his.
- The flaw. Answering a cheat with tricks of your own is the way of the world. It shows a low idea of what is right before God.
- The repayment. God's providence paid Jacob in five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty.
- The answer. God, not Jacob's skill, moved the flocks over to him. Had Jacob rested in God instead, his righteousness would have spoken for him far more convincingly.
- The greater Servant. Taking the despised part of the flock as wages pictures Christ. He accepts what the world throws away, and the world ends up poorer for losing Him.
And Laban said, Well, let it be according to thy word.
Jacob has just named his wages — only the speckled, spotted, and dark animals — and Laban agrees on the spot. Why did such a shrewd man accept so fast, and whose side was the deal on?
Laban did the arithmetic in his head and liked it. The animals Jacob asked for were the rare exceptions in the flock, which left the ordinary-coloured majority to Laban.
Jacob suggested wages that seemed to be very low, asking for only the speckled and spotted sheep and goats and the black lambs. The normally coloured sheep and goats would therefore all belong to Laban. Such a percentage for Jacob would seem to be low indeed, and Laban saw himself as having the great advantage in this bargain.
Laban had already worked out that Jacob's presence paid, which is why he let Jacob set his own price in the first place.
Laban was a shrewd man and recognized that Jacob's presence with him had brought blessing. He wished to retain that blessing, and was prepared to allow Jacob to settle his own wages. As a result there ensued a further battle of wits, and this time Jacob and not Laban gained the advantage.
Commentators differ on what was in Jacob's heart when he made the offer. Grant, in the passage quoted above, sees real trust in it — Jacob leaving the outcome to God rather than naming a guaranteed sum. Others read the same proposal as a trap Laban walked straight into, and they fasten on Jacob's confident talk about his own honesty.
In their last agreement Jacob made a proposition which if accepted would be made by his craft far more profitable than any wages Laban would give. It was one of his meanest schemes; but mark his want of conscience: "So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come." Laban, quite deceived, eagerly embraces the proposal, but soon finds out his mistake.
That appeal to "my righteousness" is itself a warning sign to some readers.
Jacob had said to Laban, "So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come." This seems to show that he had a low idea of what is right in the sight of God. It was quite clear that Laban had taken advantage of him in the past. But to use counter-tricks to reverse the situation is the way of the world, not the way of God.
Laban's "Good!" was the sound of greed closing on bait. The years that followed reversed the two men's fortunes completely.
Laban's covetous desire to profit by Jacob's strange bargain turned to the impoverishing of the self-occupied master, and the new and growing affluence of the long defrauded servant. Neither compunction appears on Laban's part for the advantage he had taken of his nephew, nor the least considerate affection for his daughters or their children. It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go in its way, to requite the evil-doer and recompense the sufferer.
Jacob went on to help the bargain along with peeled rods at the watering troughs. Looking back from chapter 31, where God tells Jacob it was He who transferred the flocks, one writer draws the obvious conclusion about the whole arrangement.
We are now permitted to see how God had intervened and caused the agreement as to the spotted and speckled cattle to work in his favour. In the light of this our reflection would be that if he had rested with confidence in God, and not used the devices related in the last chapter, the end God purposed would have been reached, and his "righteousness" would have answered for him in a much more convincing way.
None of this cancelled God's care for Jacob — though it does sit oddly beside the lives of the men before him.
Whatever the gracious intervention of God for His injured servant, we could not conceive either his father or his grandfather adopting such an expedient as Jacob employed to acquire the fruit of his long and patient service that was due. Yet God condescended to use what without His power had been, if not in vain, but very partial.
One writer traces that pattern through Jacob's whole life and finds grace in it.
It is in tracing out Jacob's real character, stage by stage of his remarkable history, that one gets a wonderful view of divine grace. Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes man up as he is, and deals with him in full knowledge of what he is. Nothing matters more than to grasp this about grace at the very start. It lets us face, with a steady heart, the later discoveries of how vile we are — discoveries that so often shake the confidence and disturb the peace of God's children.
- Greed agrees. Laban said yes at once. The terms looked tilted his way: Jacob took the few odd-coloured animals, Laban kept the rest.
- Greed loses. The bargain he grabbed at made him poor and made the servant he had cheated rich — a fitting repayment of the wrongdoer.
- Greed meets craft. Commentators differ. Some see faith in Jacob's low asking price. Others hear a low standard of right in his talk of "my righteousness."
- God gives anyway. God Himself moved the flocks to Jacob. Had Jacob rested in that instead of using tricks, his claim to be right would have spoken for him far more clearly.
- Grace begins low. God still stooped to use a man whose methods his own father and grandfather would never have used. Grace starts at the lowest point, so it can steady you when you discover your own.