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.
And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flock toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he made himself separate flocks, and did not put them with Laban's flock.
Jacob is building his own herds out of the flock he tends for Laban. Is this the care of a man trusting God, or the cunning of a man managing his own blessing — and if it is cunning, why does he still come away rich?
The verse describes a deliberate breeding plan. Jacob keeps his own animals apart, then controls what the rest of the flock sees when they mate.
Jacob separated the lambs that he could claim for his own and kept all of his own apart from the flock of Laban (v. 40). Then, when the stronger sheep of Laban were mating, he would use his peeled rods in the watering troughs. He would not do this with the weaker sheep. So he was able to secure the stronger sheep, while Laban ended up with the weaker ones (vv. 41-42). No doubt Laban was not aware of what Jacob was doing, and Jacob wanted Laban to think that Jacob was only depending 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!
Nothing here is left in God's hands. One writer reads this section as the clearest self-portrait Jacob ever painted.
True, God was with Jacob — for nothing can stop the shining out of divine grace. Jacob even owns God's presence and faithfulness in a measure. Still, he can do nothing without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot allow God to 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" all the way through. It is truly a perfect picture of Jacob. Instead of letting God multiply "the striped, speckled, and spotted cattle," as He certainly could have done had He been trusted, Jacob sets about multiplying them by a piece of policy that could only have come from the mind of a Jacob.
Jacob's problem was not that he despised what God had promised. He valued it — he just would not leave it with God. And the way he got it came back on him in the same coin.
As to Jacob's character, he was most certainly a believer, and what is more, a believer who valued God's promises… But we do not find in Jacob this character of faith — confidence in God to bring about the promises. So while he values the promises, he uses fleshly means to obtain them; he counts on human policy instead of counting on God. There is blessing in the end. But God could not approve his conduct. In His governmental dealing with Jacob, God measures back to him the measure he has used; Jacob himself is continually the object of the same kind of deceit.
Jacob had earned those wages over years of hard service. But the way he took them sets him apart from the men before him in his family.
Here God graciously stepped in for His wronged servant. Even so, we could not imagine either his father or his grandfather using such a device as Jacob used to get the fruit of his long and patient service, which he had earned. Yet God condescended to use what, without His power, would have been — if not useless — very limited.
The chapter ends with Jacob a wealthy man. The problem is not the wealth. It is that he got what he longed for and never noticed whose hand had given it.
At last Jacob has reached the furthest 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 little known or acknowledged. Jacob's hand, and thought, and fraud have gained it all; it is all his.
This unflattering story is not here to shame Jacob. It shows what God is like with people who are still this small.
Trace out Jacob's real character, stage by stage of his extraordinary history, and you get a wonderful view of divine grace. None but God could have put up with such a man, as none but God would have taken up such a man. 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.
- Method — Jacob keeps his own animals apart and breeds from the strong. Laban ends up with the weak flock and never sees the plan.
- Mask — he wants Laban to think he is leaving the outcome to God. We do the same when we call our own scheming "walking by faith."
- Motive — he is a real believer who values the promises. But he does not trust God to deliver them, so he reaches for human policy.
- Mirror — God measures back to him the measure he used; the same deceit meets him again and again.
- Mercy — God stoops to use a device Jacob's father and grandfather would never have touched. Grace begins at the lowest point and takes a man as he is.
And it came to pass whensoever the strong cattle were ardent, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might become ardent among the rods;
Jacob's years with Laban end with a breeding trick: he set peeled rods before the flock when the strong animals were mating, and kept them back from the weak. Was this faith, cunning, or God at work through a man who had not yet learned to wait?
A reference work gives the word behind "troughs":
rahat, water-trough for cattle. Genesis 30:38, 41.
The timing of the rods is the whole point. Jacob used them on one kind of animal and not the other:
Jacob separated the lambs he could claim as his own and kept them apart from Laban's flock (v. 40). Then, when Laban's stronger sheep were mating, he would use his peeled rods in the watering troughs. He would not do this with the weaker sheep. So he secured the stronger sheep, and the weaker ones went to Laban (vv. 41-42).
Jacob's cleverness sits beside a real sense that God was with him:
True, God was with Jacob — for nothing can stop divine grace from shining out. Jacob also owns God's presence and faithfulness in some measure. Still, he can do nothing 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. Turn to Genesis 30:37-42, and say where you can find a more skilful piece of cunning. It is truly a perfect picture of Jacob.
Commentators differ on how much the rods achieved. The lesson stands either way:
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. Whatever 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. This was bad for him spiritually, and made him selfish and underhand in his actions. But we can usually recognize such principles in natural things, while not seeing what they mean in our spiritual lives.
From the outside, the arrangement looked like trust:
No doubt Laban did not know what Jacob was doing. And Jacob wanted him to think that he was only depending 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!
Looking back, the increase traces to God and not to the rods:
We are now allowed to see how God had 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 the last chapter, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have spoken for him far more convincingly.
The repayment, when it came, was swift:
Divine providence paid Jacob in about five or six years the wages that Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years.
The tragedy is not that Jacob failed to prosper. It is that he walked away thinking the prosperity was his own achievement:
At last Jacob has reached the furthest 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 granted it in full. Yet in his own mind he has done it all himself — God is hardly known or acknowledged. Jacob's hand, his thinking, and his fraud have gained it all; it is all his.
Yet this is where grace shows itself:
No one but God could have put up with such a man, and no one but God would have taken up such a man. 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.
- The trough. Jacob put his peeled rods in the water troughs only when the strong animals were mating. He kept them back from the weak. The best of the flock became his.
- The scheme. Jacob owned God's presence in some measure. Yet he could not let God settle his wages; he had to have a plan of his own.
- The disguise. He arranged things so Laban would think he was leaving it all to God. We do the same when we call our own wits "walking by faith."
- The real hand. God was the one who made the flocks increase. He repaid in five or six years what Laban had cheated Jacob of over twenty.
- The grace. Jacob thought he had gained it all himself. God took up such a man anyway, and bore with him. Grace begins at the very lowest point.
but when the sheep were feeble, he put [them] not in; so the feeble were Laban's, and the strong Jacob's.
Genesis 30 ends with Jacob's flocks growing fast, and verse 42 gives the fine print of his method: he used the peeled rods for the strong animals only. So the chapter leaves one question open — did his wealth come from his own cleverness, or from God?
The verse describes a filter, not just a trick. Jacob timed his device so that the vigorous animals bred under it and the feeble ones did not, and he drew a lesson for himself in the process:
Jacob separated the lambs that he could claim as his own and kept them apart from Laban's flock. Then, when Laban's stronger sheep were mating, he would use his peeled rods in the watering troughs. He would not do this with the weaker sheep. So he secured the stronger sheep, and Laban kept the weaker ones. No doubt Laban did not know 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 the same thing is true of us! We persuade ourselves that we are walking by faith in God, while we use our own wits to help God out in supplying our needs.
One writer finds in these verses a portrait of Jacob the supplanter — the man who gets ahead by pushing others aside:
True, God was with Jacob — for nothing can hinder the outshining of divine grace. Jacob does, up to a point, acknowledge God's presence and faithfulness. Still nothing can be done without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot allow God to settle the question of his wives and his wages, but seeks to settle everything by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn to Genesis 30:37-42 and say where he could find a more skilful piece of cunning.
Jacob had told Laban that his honesty would speak for him later. The irony is that the outcome he engineered was already on its way without him:
In the light of this our reflection would be that if he had rested with confidence in God, and not used the devices described 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.
Later God gave Jacob the real explanation for his growing flocks, and it came in a dream:
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle. Laban's sons complained that he had "taken all that was our father's." So the contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, rather than 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.
The transfer of the strong animals also settles an old account. Laban had defrauded Jacob for years, and his own greed became the instrument that drained him:
Laban's greedy desire to profit by Jacob's strange bargain made the self-absorbed master poor. It brought new and growing wealth to the servant he had cheated for so long. It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go, to repay the wrongdoer and make up to the man who suffered. And one cannot fail to notice how fitting such a dealing from God was toward the one of Israel's fathers who, more than any other, pictures the chosen people. Israel took its name from him. Their ups and downs were like his own endless changes, failures and humiliations. At the end, divine mercy would turn all of it into everlasting blessing at the feet of their long rejected Messiah.
One writer draws a lesson for Jacob, and for us, from the sheep in front of the rods:
The sheep in front of the rods seem to show how "the eye affects the heart." Whatever object we keep before us shapes us, and shapes everything that comes from us. So the Lord connects the "eye" and the "master" (Matthew 6:19-25). Our object is what controls us, and in a world like this, how many objects compete to take hold of us! So if our mind is set on things above, the marks of a "life hidden with Christ in God" take shape in us (Colossians 3:1-3).
The story does not leave us admiring Jacob. It shows what God was toward a man like him:
This is a true picture, so far as Jacob was concerned. But it only gives us one side, and that the gloomy side. Blessed be God, there is a bright side too, for God had to do with Jacob. In every scene of his life, when Jacob was called to reap the fruits of his own plotting and crookedness, the God of Jacob brought good out of evil. He caused His grace to abound over all the sin and folly of His poor servant.
- Craft. Jacob used the rods only when the strong animals bred, so the vigorous stock went to him and the feeble to Laban.
- Cover. He looked like a man leaving the outcome to God, while his own wits were steering it.
- Cause. God later told him in a dream that the flocks moved from Laban to him by His hand, not by his schemes.
- Cost. Laban's greed drained him — a righteous repayment for the wrongdoer and relief for the man he had cheated.
- Grace. He reaped the fruits of his own crookedness, and still God brought good out of evil in every scene of his life.
And the man increased very, very much, and had much cattle, and bondwomen, and bondmen, and camels, and asses.
Genesis 30 ends with Jacob rich. He had served Laban for twenty years and been cheated of his wages, yet now his flocks, servants and camels are many. It reads like a happy ending. But the real questions are who made him rich, and what that wealth cost him.
Laban had cheated his nephew for twenty years. Then the bargain he thought would cost him almost nothing turned against him.
Laban's greed wanted to profit by Jacob's strange bargain. Instead it made the self-absorbed master poor, and gave new and growing wealth to the servant he had cheated for so long. Laban shows no regret for the way he took advantage of his nephew. He shows not the least caring affection for his daughters or their children. It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go in its way, to repay the evil-doer and make up to the sufferer.
The repayment came fast.
God's providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had defrauded him of for twenty years.
Kelly sees a larger pattern here: Jacob's story maps the story of a whole nation.
Notice how fitting God's dealing was with this man. Of all the fathers of the nation, he pictures the chosen people more than any other. They took their name as a nation from him. Their ups and downs were like his own endless changes of fortune, failures and humiliations — all to be turned at the end, by God's mercy, into everlasting blessing at the feet of the Messiah they had rejected for so long. … So no one will boast in himself; "let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
The verse does not say "Jacob." It says "the man." One writer stops on that word.
At last Jacob has reached the furthest 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 Jacob's own thinking he has done it all. God is hardly known or acknowledged. Jacob's hand, his planning, his fraud have gained the whole of it; it is all his. Jacob's cattle are strong. Note that word, "the man": "the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys."
Jacob's own account of the wealth gives him away.
Notice Jacob's thought! Has God given him anything? No, nothing. It is all his own gain, which he got for himself. If he had not looked after himself, he would have had nothing at all.
Jacob wanted to look like a man leaving the outcome to God. His own methods told a different story.
Laban surely did not know 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.
Measured against the men who came before him, the method stands out.
God stepped in graciously for His injured servant. Even so, we could not imagine either his father or his grandfather using the scheme Jacob used to gain what his long and patient service had earned him. Yet God stooped to use what, without His power, would have been — if not useless — very limited.
The commentators point past the scheme to its real cause.
Jacob prospered. But he should have realised that this came by the grace of God, not by his own cleverness. God had told him He would bless him, and He did so despite Jacob's trickery.
The wealth itself became the teacher. It turned Laban against him.
After all his planning, Jacob has to learn that it is the power of God to which he owes the increase. God has looked on his affliction and his toil, and appointed him a repayment. But his prosperity turns Laban against him. In the same way, spiritual growth separates a person from the world.
Wealth gathered this way could not stay.
"The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption." If Jacob has not received this from God, then he has been heaping up treasure for himself. God must strip it all from him, leaving him as bare as a withered branch. Only then can he become a worshipper of God, let alone a witness for His name.
- Repaid. God settled Jacob's twenty years of stolen wages in about five, turning Laban's greed into his own loss.
- Rebranded. Jacob called the wealth his own gain, won by his own hand — the gift arrived, but the Giver went unacknowledged.
- Rationalised. Jacob's scheme let him look like a man trusting God while he used his own wits. We do the same.
- Regardless. God had promised to bless him, and He did so despite the trickery, not because of it.
- Removed. God strips away treasure heaped up for self before a man can worship — the wealth was never the blessing.