| Subject: Genesis 30 vss 35-43 Post 157 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 13:55:40 08/28/11 Sun
Genesis 30:35-43 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. 37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had pilled 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 cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. 41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. 43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.
It's payback time for Jacob. Laban has deceived Jacob and treated him shabbily in his taking advantage of his "son in law" relationship. Laban has been enriched and now Jacob is about to get even. Jacob sets 3 days journey of distance between him and his father in law and goes to work. He has separated the flocks so that the only animals he has in his flocks are spotted and marked. He has left all the pure looking of the animals in the flocks of Laban and true to his word he will not allow a pure white animal in his flocks. What happens next is the subject of unbelief among many who claim to believe the Bible. Jacob takes poplar, hazel and chesnut saplings and peels (pilled) the bark in streaks around the poles or rods he has cut. This leaves white streaks to appear as the wood underneath the bark of these trees is very white. He places them in front of the watering troughs for the doe animals that are in season and ready to breed. They are bred in front of these poles and the result is "marked" offspring. Jacob chooses carefully the ones he wants bred and picks the best and strongest of the females to set in front of the "ringstraked" saplings. The offspring would without fail be marked in a similar fashion when they were born. The result was that Jacob wound up with huge and healthy herds and Laban's herd diminished and weakened due to the "selective breeding" that Jacob practiced with them.
Understand now I don't think this will work with just anybody. The question arises as to how Jacob knew to do this. My guess is that God told him what to do and God did the rest. Think a minute if you will about Naaman, the captain of the Syrian army. (2 Kings chapter 5) He was a leper and he was persuaded to go to Elisha to get healed. Elisha told him to go and wash seven times in the river Jordan and he would be healed. He did, after some hesitation, and was healed. Every other leper in the middle east could have done the same thing and they would not have been healed. Why? Because it was God who healed Naaman and not the water of the Jordan river. I have several goats. I could do the same thing that Jacob did and it would not work on my goats. Why? It was God that did the work and not the peeled rods.
Many of the "old timers" of of a few years back believed you could look often enough at something and it could mark your baby, especially if what you saw disturbed you. . I had a friend who had fingers that looked abnormally clubbish at the last joints of her fingers. Her mother swore that it was because she had stared at her brother's hands that looked the same way while she was carrying her baby in her womb. While I have grave doubts as to this being possible I do know that what took place with Jacob and his herds was real. It is an unusual story but then the Bible is an unusual book and God's ways to say the least are unusual.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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