Jacob Makes A Spotted Flock
By James Donahue
Anyone with any knowledge of farm animals knows that spotted, striped or black sheep and goats are rare, although they do exist. But in Genesis 30, we have a business agreement between Jacob and his uncle Laban, to whom he had been bound in a form of slavery for 14 years, to divide the flocks of sheep and goats by the coloring of their fur.
Jacob agreed to take only the animals with white spots and stripes, plus the black colored animals. Laban was to keep the other animals as his own.
Apparently Jacob’s time of endowment to Laban was not yet over because he remained to attend the flocks for yet another season. During this time, according to Genesis 30:37-39, Jacob “took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.
“He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the (watering troughs.) And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled and spotted” lambs.
It was Jacob’s belief that the sheep, by just looking at the stripes while they were mating, would produce striped and spotted offspring. In the Bible story this worked. He also did this with only the strongest and finest animals in the flock so that the sheep and goats he took home with him were the best of the flock.
The question we must ask here is whether this was biologically possible. Would just looking at white stripes on some sticks standing in the water trough while breeding cause the sheep to produce striped offspring? Of course it would have no effect.
Bible believers and theologians seem to have no trouble with the story, however. They argue that God’s intervention would have produced the striped and spotted offspring. This then, was Jacob’s reward for the 14 years of labor he spent, just to win the hands of Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rebekah.
But when you think about it, what Jacob did was some dishonest dealing with his uncle. He worked for the daughters. He tended and increased Laban’s flock. And the agreement was that he take only the animals with spots and stripes when he left for home. But through trickery, Jacob apparently turned all of the newborn animals into striped and spotted animals. Why would God honor this?
What difference would it make?
You decide. It is a strange story at best.
By James Donahue
Anyone with any knowledge of farm animals knows that spotted, striped or black sheep and goats are rare, although they do exist. But in Genesis 30, we have a business agreement between Jacob and his uncle Laban, to whom he had been bound in a form of slavery for 14 years, to divide the flocks of sheep and goats by the coloring of their fur.
Jacob agreed to take only the animals with white spots and stripes, plus the black colored animals. Laban was to keep the other animals as his own.
Apparently Jacob’s time of endowment to Laban was not yet over because he remained to attend the flocks for yet another season. During this time, according to Genesis 30:37-39, Jacob “took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.
“He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the (watering troughs.) And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled and spotted” lambs.
It was Jacob’s belief that the sheep, by just looking at the stripes while they were mating, would produce striped and spotted offspring. In the Bible story this worked. He also did this with only the strongest and finest animals in the flock so that the sheep and goats he took home with him were the best of the flock.
The question we must ask here is whether this was biologically possible. Would just looking at white stripes on some sticks standing in the water trough while breeding cause the sheep to produce striped offspring? Of course it would have no effect.
Bible believers and theologians seem to have no trouble with the story, however. They argue that God’s intervention would have produced the striped and spotted offspring. This then, was Jacob’s reward for the 14 years of labor he spent, just to win the hands of Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rebekah.
But when you think about it, what Jacob did was some dishonest dealing with his uncle. He worked for the daughters. He tended and increased Laban’s flock. And the agreement was that he take only the animals with spots and stripes when he left for home. But through trickery, Jacob apparently turned all of the newborn animals into striped and spotted animals. Why would God honor this?
What difference would it make?
You decide. It is a strange story at best.