And Jacob took fresh rods of white poplar, almond-tree, and maple; and peeled off white stripes in them, uncovering the white which was on the rods.
Jacob and Laban have struck a deal over the speckled and spotted animals in the flock. Here Jacob makes sure the deal pays. He cuts fresh branches, peels white streaks in them, and lays them where the flocks breed. Was this trust in God, or was Jacob scheming again?
The verse names the trees. Writers give the Hebrew name behind the first one, and explain what "fresh" means here:
The word is libneh. It was probably the white poplar (Populus alba) that Jacob used: it was "green" in the sense of being fresh, moist.
The second name has changed in English Bibles:
The word is luz, which is now thought to refer to the "almond," and is so translated in the Revised Version. Gen. 30:37.
The plan itself was simple, and it worked:
He took fresh rods from trees and peeled strips of bark off them. Then he put them in front of the sheep when they came to drink (v. 38). The sheep mated at this time, and the plan worked very well for Jacob. A very large number of striped, speckled or spotted lambs were born.
One writer finds here Jacob the supplanter at his most cunning:
There is no holy, lifted-up confidence in God here, no simply looking to Him and waiting on Him. True, God was with Jacob, for nothing can stop the shining out of divine grace… Still, nothing happens without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot let God settle the question of his wives and his wages. He tries to settle it all by his own cunning and management. In short, he is "the supplanter" all through. Look at Genesis 30:37-42, and say where you can find a cleverer piece of cunning.
Jacob wanted to look like a man leaving the outcome to God. The peeled rods told a different story:
No doubt Laban had no idea what Jacob was doing. Jacob wanted Laban to think he was only depending on God to decide how many sheep he should have. How often this is true of us too! We persuade ourselves that we are walking by faith in God, while we use our own wits to help God supply our needs.
His hard years away from home were not random. What Jacob had done to others came back on him:
Jacob was a man of faith, but he failed in spiritual life. So he comes under the Lord's discipline, so that he might bear more fruit, and better fruit. As he had cheated at home, he suffered abroad, and at the hands of his mother's brother most of all.
God Himself made the agreement turn out in Jacob's favour. That leaves a plain lesson for anyone reading this chapter:
Now we are 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 had not used the tricks described in Genesis 30, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have spoken for him in a much more convincing way.
There was a limit to what the scheme did. The trick Jacob used was one neither Abraham nor Isaac would have chosen, even though God acted kindly for His wronged servant (William Kelly).
after-note: DISCUSS
The chapter is humbling. Yet it also shows how grace works:
Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in the full intelligence of what he is. It is vitally important to understand this feature of grace right at the start. It lets us face, with a steady heart, the later discoveries of how bad we really are — discoveries that so often shake the confidence and disturb the peace of the children of God.
- The wood — Jacob used fresh, moist branches — white poplar (libneh), luz (now read as almond), and plane.
- The work — he peeled white streaks into them and set them at the drinking troughs at breeding time. Large numbers of striped and spotted young came.
- The man — writers call the plan a piece of cunning. Jacob was scheming instead of waiting on God.
- The mirror — he had cheated at home, and abroad he was cheated. We too can tell ourselves we are trusting God while using our own wits.
- The outcome — God gave the increase anyway. If Jacob had rested in Him, the same end would have come. Grace begins at the lowest point, and it met him there.
And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flock, in the troughs at the watering-places where the flock came to drink, and they were ardent when they came to drink.
Jacob has just made a wage deal with Laban, and now he sets peeled sticks where the flocks drink and breed. Two questions run through the rest of his story: was the growth of his flocks his own doing, and where was God while he schemed?
Distance from Laban's own flocks left Jacob free to work unwatched.
Because he was so far away, Jacob could carry out his cunning plan to make Laban's sheep bear striped, speckled or spotted lambs. He took fresh rods from trees and peeled strips of bark off them. Then he put them in front of the sheep when they came to drink (v. 38). At this time they mated, and the plan worked remarkably for Jacob: a very large number of striped, speckled or spotted lambs was born.
The word translated "troughs" means a plain piece of farm equipment:
rahat, water-trough for cattle. Gen. 30:38, 41.
Jacob owned that God was with him, yet he still managed every detail himself. One writer treats this passage as the clearest display of the man's character:
True, God was with Jacob — for nothing can hinder the outshining of divine grace. And Jacob in some measure acknowledges God's presence and faithfulness. Still, he can do nothing without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot let God settle the question of his wives and his wages, but tries to settle everything by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn, for example, to Gen. 30:37-42, and ask where he could find a cleverer piece of cunning. Instead of letting God multiply the striped, speckled and spotted animals — which He certainly could have done, had He been trusted — Jacob set about securing their increase by a piece of policy that could only have come from the mind of a Jacob.
The hidden rods let the whole scheme wear the look of trust:
Laban surely had no idea what Jacob was doing. Jacob wanted him to think he was depending only on God to decide how many sheep he should have. How often it is true with us too, that we persuade ourselves we are walking by faith in God while using our own wits to help God out in supplying our needs!
Commentators differ on whether the peeled branches had any real effect on the flocks. Some doubt they did, and read the episode instead as a mirror of Jacob's inner life:
Some question whether Jacob's trickery in verses 37-39 made any real difference. But whether it did or not, there is a spiritual lesson here that should have spoken to Jacob himself. The things we let occupy our attention most will affect us and everything that comes from us. Jacob was letting his desire for gain take first place in his thoughts. This was bad for him spiritually, and it made him selfish and underhand in what he did. We can usually spot such principles in natural things, while missing what they mean in our spiritual lives.
Another writer allows the trick its part, but puts the result down to God's power:
God graciously stepped in for His injured servant. Even so, we could not imagine his father or his grandfather using such a trick as Jacob used to get the fruit of his long and patient service, which he had earned. Yet God stooped to use a means that, without His power, would have been useless, or at best only partly effective.
Laban had cheated Jacob for twenty years. The growing flocks are not just a clever man's winnings. God is settling a debt.
Divine providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had defrauded him of for twenty years.
The chapter is unflattering, and that is where its comfort lies.
It is in tracing out Jacob's real character, stage by stage of his extraordinary history, that one gets a wonderful view of divine grace. None but God could have borne with such a man, as none but God would have taken such a man up. Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in full knowledge of what he is.
- Jacob's hand. He peeled rods and set them in the drinking troughs at breeding time — a plan he kept hidden from Laban.
- Jacob's name. The scheme is the supplanter being himself: he could not leave the matter of his wages with God.
- Jacob's mask. He looked like a man trusting God for his share. We do the same when we call it faith and use our own wits.
- God's hand. Commentators differ over whether the sticks changed anything. They agree the increase came from God. He repaid in a few years the wages Laban had withheld for twenty.
- God's grace. It began with Jacob at his lowest and took him up as he was — which is the only ground on which it takes anyone up.
And the flock was ardent before the rods; and the flock brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
Jacob's wages were the marked lambs, and here the flocks mate at the troughs in front of his peeled rods. Commentators ask whether the rods did anything at all, and what the scheme shows about Jacob.
The bargain looked safe for Laban.
Since Laban's sheep were all a normal colour, it was not likely that many would be born for Jacob to claim. But being so far away, Jacob could now put his cunning plan into action. It would make Laban's sheep bear striped, speckled or spotted lambs. He took fresh rods from trees, peeled strips of bark off them, then set them in front of the sheep when they came to drink. At this time they mated. The plan worked very well for Jacob, because a great many striped, speckled or spotted lambs were born.
Bethel was where God had revealed Himself to Jacob. One writer weighs that against how Jacob then lived in Haran.
If you wanted to learn what God was, you should go to Bethel; if to learn what man was, you should go to Haran. But Jacob had failed to take in God's revelation of Himself at Bethel. So he went to Haran, and there showed what he was — and oh, what scrambling and scraping, what shuffling and shifting! There is no holy and elevated confidence in God, no simply looking to Him and waiting on Him... Jacob cannot let God settle the question of his wives and his wages. He tries to settle everything by his own cunning and management.
Another writer points to Jacob's name, and to Laban's earlier wrong.
The closing verses of this chapter reveal the device he used to increase his flocks at Laban's expense. We notice how true he still is to his name — meaning Supplanter... It was quite clear that in the past Laban had taken advantage of him. But to use counter-tricks to reverse the situation is the way of the world, not the way of God.
Later God Himself told Jacob what had increased his flocks. It was not the rods.
Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle... So the contest went on until God stepped in again through a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business, back to Canaan.
So the scheming was not just wrong. It was needless.
This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this.
Laban had cheated Jacob for years. One writer reads the outcome as God settling that account.
Laban's greed made him want to profit from Jacob's strange bargain. Instead it impoverished the self-absorbed master and brought new and growing wealth to the servant he had long defrauded. ... It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go in its way, to repay the wrongdoer and make up to the sufferer.
The same writer sets Jacob's trick beside his father and grandfather, and beside the power behind it.
God did step in with grace for His wronged servant. Even so, we could not imagine either his father or his grandfather using such a trick. Jacob used it to get the fruit of his long and patient service — what he had earned. Yet God stooped to use what, without His power, would have been — if not useless — at best very partial.
Jacob got everything he set out to get.
At last Jacob has reached the limit of his desire by deceit, trickery and fraud. Through it all, and despite it all, the unseen God has heard the desire of Jacob's heart and given him his fill. Yet in his own thinking he has done it all. God is little known or acknowledged. Jacob's hand, his planning and his fraud have gained everything; it is all his.
Commentators differ over whether the rods had any effect at all. The lesson does not depend on settling that.
Some question whether Jacob's trickery in verses 37-39 made any real difference. But whether it did or not, there is a spiritual lesson here that should have spoken deeply to Jacob himself. The things we allow to occupy our attention most will affect us and everything that comes from us. Jacob was letting his desire for gain take first place in his thoughts.
- Blessing first. God would have blessed Jacob without the rods. The trick tried to seize by management what God was ready to give.
- Character shows. In Haran Jacob proved true to his name, Supplanter: he schemed instead of waiting on God.
- God, not rods. A later dream told Jacob that God, not his tricks, moved the flocks from Laban to him.
- Justice served. The bargain stripped the greedy master and enriched the servant he had defrauded — a righteous repayment, as far as it went.
- Gain, no gratitude. Jacob ended rich and gave himself the credit. What fills our thoughts shapes all that comes out of us.