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Let's pick up the story at the point where they have agreed how they are going to divide the flocks in the future. The first part of the passage we looked at yesterday is the deal they made. The second part of the passages is how they are now going to implement the deal, and how it works out from this point forward. We will pick up the text in verse 35.

“So he[Laban] removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons

(Genesis 30: 35).

Now, if we back up the verse 32, Jacobs said,

“Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages”.

(Genesis 30: 32)

So, the deal was that Jacob would separate them, but when they get down to implementing the deal and dividing the sheep, Laban does it not, Jacob. This immediately tells us Laban does not trust Jacob and if that’s not bad enough, the deal was that that Jacob would care for his flock, that is how he’s going to earn his wages, right? So instead of letting Jacob have his flock, he gives his part of the flock to his sons and the other indication that he doesn’t trust him at all is in the next verse. 

. “Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks”

(Genesis 30: 36)

So, Laban takes what should have been Jacob’s sheep and gives them to my sons and then puts three days journey between his family and Jacob. He clearly is taking steps to guarantee that Jacob does not deceive him in any way, he's simply does not trust Jacob. Remember, we’re dealing with two deceivers, so it’s now Jacob’s turn. Now we’re going to get to something real interesting, because now we see how Jacob will attempt to manipulate this situation to his advantage. It's a little involved and rather convoluted, so we need to navigate through these verses rather carefully. We pick up the story in verse 37. 

“Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods”.

(Genesis 30: 37)

He takes the branches from these three kinds of trees and stripped the bark from them so that the white part of the branch is showing.

“Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink”. They mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-coloured animals that belonged to Laban.

(Genesis 30: 38-40)

So, the sheep and goats in heat gather before the stripped branches around the water trough and mate and when they give birth they give birth to speckled and spotted offspring. This is not what normally happens, so what is going on? Let’s see if we can sort this out, however keep in mind that Jacob only had Laban’s sheep at the beginning? He took branches of popular almond and chestnut trees, peel back the bark so that the white branches appeared and placed those stripped branches in the watering trough and in the fullness of time the normal coloured sheep conceive and give birth to mixed coloured offspring. Does that strike you as odd? What in the world is going on? Is it possible that stripped branches in drinking water could produce odd, coloured sheep? That’s the question. As you can imagine, Bible commentators go absolutely crazy trying to explain this.

This is where studying the Bible gets to be really interesting. To see all the possible gymnastics people come up with to try and explain this. Let me tell you some of the theories offered over the years, this is what they say. One said this was a popular superstition at that time. There was a common belief that a vivid sight during conception or pregnancy would have an effect on an embryo. Another theory says this was founded upon a fact frequently noticed, particularly in the case of sheep. That whatever fixes their attention in copulation is marked up on the young at birth. Some other have argued that chemicals in the wood of those trees may be capable of affecting the animals, one commentator I read said that new scientific evidence suggests that this was possible.

There’s another option was Jacob could have used selective breeding, which would eventually develop a flock predominantly of spotted and speckled animals. Perhaps the peeled branches were just a strategy to draw the sheep to the area, the animals thinking they were something they could eat. Therefore, the whole thing was just a trick to use a superstitious practice to cover up his secret breeding practices.

Whatever the explanation, and I’m not sure I know the right explanation but people who get wrapped up on trying to work this out can end up missing the main point that this was an act of deception. It was designed to mislead Laban, one commentator said, when , and Jacob later will explain to his wives what really happened. But, what we know for sure is he was trying to manipulate the situation and gain an advantage over. Laban. So, he comes up with this really interesting scheme, I’m going to call it the scheme to get rich quick. It’s the ancient version of a get rich quick scheme. 

I’m going to peel the bark of branches and put them in the water trough and, and that’s going to produce speckled and spotted animals, which has been agreed he gets to keep and if that happens, he will be a very rich man. I suspect some people are going to come to this passage and say that is pure fantasy. So, what was the end result of this scheme, what was the outcome? 

“Thus, he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So, the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 

(Genesis 30; 39-42)

So, he again is manipulating or trying to manipulate the situation so that he comes out a wealthy man because of the reproduction of the animals. He deliberately took the stronger ones and let the week ones for Laban, and the conclusion is in verse 43 

“In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys”.

(Genesis 30: 43)

It worked, his get quick, rich scheme worked, and he ends up exceedingly wealthy. Notice the text doesn’t bother to explain exactly how this selective breed program worked but work it did. That’s what happened. But if you keep reading, you will discover what really happened. Would you like to know the rest of the story? Well, it’s explained to some degree in chapter 31. What happens is when Jacob has to explain to his wives what went on as a way of saying why they’re going to leave, in the process of explaining that, he says this to Rachel and Leah.

“God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me”.

(Genesis 31: 9)

Was it the scheme that worked, did he think it was the stripped branches that made them reproduce in odd colours? No, not at all, when it came down to Jacob himself explaining what happened, he said God did it. God blessed me; God made me wealthy. So let me put all this together and let me make some observations. The story is rather simple, though surprising. Jacob and Laban made an agreement and they each tried to take advantage of each other. They both were deceivers and they both tried to scheme the other one, but God overruled all of that and made Jacob a very wealthy man. So, what are we to conclude from this passage?  What can we learn from all this? Let me make several observations. Firstly, Jacob worked for his wealth, regardless of what he did, he still had to care for all those animals, he had to manage the sheep and the team of shepherds and servants. I think you could draw from this passage that the normally the way to wealth his work, and that's involved in this passage, though it’s not highlighted, but it’s there. It’s implied. 

Secondly, his scheme was not the primary reason it worked in his favour, based that on the fact that in the next chapter he says it was the Lord that did this and not his trickery. 

In the final analysis, this get rich quick scheme is not what worked, which is usually the case in get rich quick schemes. Anyway, it wasn’t the scheme, it was the Lord. So that brings me to the last point I want to make, namely, the Lord did this and the important part for us is Jacob acknowledged that. When the story was over and he had to tell it to his wives, he admitted that it was the Lord and not his cleverness.  One commentator says God blessed Jacob in spite of his actions, not because of them. Many worldly people prosper materially for the same reason. Material prosperity is not necessarily a reward for godliness.

Jacob made his own fortune, but the text says that God allowed Jacob to become wealthy through both hard work and no doubt an element of deception, God probably would have done more for Jacob than he had done for himself. If Jacob had placed himself under God’s authority, he probably would have been blessed even more, that is what God usually does.

The reason for this section is that people who experience God’s material blessing need to acknowledge that it comes from him rather than their own abilities.  I think this really puts the finger on the pulse of this passage.

Let me repeat the lesson of this section is that people who experience God’s material blessing need to acknowledge that it comes from him rather than their own abilities. That's not to deny that you should work hard but you should always acknowledge that God is the one who blesses and prospers, his children. One commentary I read said, “those who experience material prosperity must acknowledge that it is a blessing from the Lord, not the product, of their own limited ability”. The lesson is not so much a rebuke for the use of superstitious practices as it is a call to acknowlede the true source of success. If God promises to bless his people, nothing can stop him and if God determines not to bless someone, nothing alters his decision. 

Here’s what I want you to walk away with today. Has God blessed you. Have you worked hard? Has God blessed you, and both of those things are true? That is what this passage is teaching us is it bleeds into the next chapter is that we need to acknowledge the blessing of God. Next time you drive your car, acknowledge where it came from?  When you sit in your home at night is that just a result of your hard work? I’m sure it is, that’s involved, but what this passage is teaching us is that we shoudd acknowledge that it’s the Lord is the source of blessing. We just need to acknowledge the Lord for everything we have. 

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but when I get in my car and it starts, I thank the Lord because as a young man I got in a car many times and it would not start. So, you just acknowledge the Lord. It all depends on us working hard and using our abilities, and it depends on the Lord. So always acknowledge and thank him for blessing you.