wAfter Rachel gave birth to Joseph,
Jacob told her brother Laban that he wanted to go home - back to Canaan. He said, “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.” Genesis 30:26 This sounds to me much like Moses, when he told the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. But Laban responded in a different way. He said, "Please stay." "I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake. “Name me your wages, and I will give it to you.” Genesis 30:27 Jacob agreed with part of his message. He agreed with the increase that Laban mentioned through the livestock that was entrusted to him. But he did not agree that he should stay. Jacob said, “And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?” Laban continued to beg, and said, “What shall I give you?” This is where the story usually gets confusing to me. I have never quite understood the story of the spotted sheep. Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: 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. So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.” In my opinion, this is such a strange thing to say to the question, “what shall your wages be?” In essence Jacob is saying, let me take the goats and the sheep that are tainted, and if in the future, if you find me with livestock that are perfect - those that are not brown or speckled or spotted, then you can punish me. Seriously? What kind of response is that? Yet, Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” To me, Laban's response shows the condition of his heart - it's evil and full of greed. "That very day, Jacob removed all the goats that were speckled and spotted, male and female alike. Every single one that had white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons - the eleven sons that Jacob had. Then Laban put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks." Why Laban went - I do not know - other than to say that I noticed “the three days of separation.” While Laban was away, and Jacob was as tending to Laban’s livestock - he set up a trick - he found a way to fight evil with good. "Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and chestnut trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 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, speckled or spotted. Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban.” In this way, Jacob separated a perfect young flock for himself, and kept the old for Laban. “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. In this way Jacob grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.” Genesis 30:37-43 So I have to say, this is the very first time that I have read this passage, and it made some sense to me. In the past, it never did. I still don’t not understand how the branches worked and I don't comprehend the intricacies of the whites in the trees - but I finally get that Jacob still needed his name, because Laban was a crook - and he needed to fight evil with good. Laban was a wolf in sheep’s clothing - every step of the way! But Jacob had become an honest man who used deception to take out what the enemy had planned. Morality is not a concept we can figure out on our own. Morality comes from the very Word of God. Perfection does not exist among the human flock. There are only the strong in Spirit and the old at heart. The only way to reflect righteousness is to follow the Word of God in our daily lives. If we take bits and pieces and share the truth without love, then we are merely a clanging cymbal or a resounding gong. This is called human judgment - looking at the speck in another without looking at the log in your own. If we are affectionate and love our fellow man - but do not fear God - then I am rebellious at heart and full of selfish pride. This is called humanism - where man’s opinion is at the center of his heart- instead of the Word of God - the River of Life. When we come to Jesus, the River of Life, we have to pause and take a deep look inside. None of us are perfect - we all have speckles and spots. We are all like filthy rags in the eyes of God. But the Lord always leaves a remnant. Those who fear God more than they love themselves. These are the pure in heart. These are flock who will follow the God of Jacob - these are the sheep who listen to the good Shepherd’s voice. These are the few, the chosen Children of God. These are the ones who worship the Creator instead of the creation. We must remember that Only God is good. Only Jesus is righteous - we are not. This is why the blood of Jesus is the only way to cover our spots. Praise God that he remembers our names.
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