Genesis 30: Love the Black Sheep!

 Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as we discover new insights and new perspectives from a very old book.

Genesis 30

The Black Sheep

I am reading from Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Of note is that Laban and his family, including son-in-law Jacob, does not live in Canaan, but to the East. The maids of Leah and Rachel, whom Jacob took as "wives" to father more children, aren't described as slaves like the Egyptian Hagar, nor would they have been Canaanites like Esau's first wife who made life miserable tor Isaac and Rebecca.

I couldn't follow what was happening with the business between Joseph, Laban, and the sheep and goats even after re-reading, so I looked elsewhere to understand what happened. One thing that's obvious is that Jacob knew the flocks better than Laban, but it took this paper by William J. Schepp  from 70 years ago to get it to click in my head. From verse 35::

 Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons; 

Which meant, Jacob still had the black sheep. 

Schepp goes into detail about rods put in the water, and concludes,

Jacob deliberately crossed black and white animals by employing aphrodisiacs whenever they were paired at the watering trough, but withheld stimulants when solid-colored pairs were present. Thus the spotted offspring were greater in number then [sic] the solid-colored, type.

I don't know if subsequent scientific research discredits such findings, but it's fair to say that Jacob took advantage of the presence of however few black sheep were in the flock to mate with the white. In short, he maximized his earnings.

Laban tried to double-cross Jacob by taking the spotted and striped animals from him, but still left Jacob the means to make more of the spotted and striped, and so he did.

This chapter and the previous suggests a very strained relationship between Jacob and his father-in-law (and uncle) Laban. 

When a partner in a transaction has shown himself to be untrustworthy, perhaps the best one can do is fulfill one's end of the bargain to the letter. Don't respond to cheating by cheating, and Jacob did not cheat.

Even if others can't be trusted, one can still prosper. Perhaps there's no excuse not to. 

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: TyshkunVictor)