Genesis 30:25–43 (ESV)
As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will give it.” Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.”
But that day 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 the charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock. Then 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 troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. 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. And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
This scene moves from the family rivalry we have been looking at to Jacob’s dealings with Laban. Jacob had served many years for his wives, and now with Joseph’s birth, he wanted to return home. Laban, however, had no desire to lose him, because Jacob’s presence had brought him prosperity. Laban had been blessed because of God’s hand on Jacob, but instead of honoring Jacob’s request, he tried to keep him for his own gain.
Jacob proposed a deal that seemed to favor Laban—he would take only the speckled, spotted, and black animals as his wages. But Laban immediately tried to tip the odds in his own favor by removing those animals from the flock entirely. This was outright deceit, a continuation of Laban’s pattern of exploitation. Yet, even with Laban’s manipulation, God caused Jacob to prosper.
Jacob’s use of peeled sticks at the watering places may sound odd to us, and scholars debate how much it was intended as a breeding strategy or as a visual marker to claim the animals God was giving him. The point of the narrative is not in the technique itself but in the outcome. Against the odds and in the face of dishonesty, Jacob grew exceedingly rich because the Lord blessed him.
There here is the temptation to secure our future by deceit or manipulation. Laban embodies that impulse. He knew God’s blessing was on Jacob, but instead of trusting God or dealing fairly, he schemed to get more for himself. Yet the passage also warns us that even when we are wronged, like Jacob, we are tempted to respond in ways that rely more on cleverness than on trusting God’s direct provision.
The hope in this text is that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted by the deceit of others. He can protect and prosper His people even in environments of unfairness and injustice. Jacob’s increase was not ultimately the result of sticks in a trough or selective breeding. It was the result of the covenant God made with him and the promises He had sworn to keep.
For us, this means we can trust God to provide for us without resorting to dishonest shortcuts. We may face workplaces, relationships, or systems that seem stacked against us. But our security does not depend on the fairness of others; it rests on the faithfulness of God. His blessing is not bound by human schemes.
Jacob’s growing wealth here is not the end goal of the story, but part of the larger plan of God to build a nation through which the Messiah would come. In Christ, we see the fullness of that blessing. He faced the ultimate injustice, dying at the hands of those who sought to destroy Him, yet through that very act, God brought salvation to the world. If God can turn the cross into victory, He can certainly work His good purposes in the midst of our own trials.
Prayer
Father, You see the situations where we feel wronged, overlooked, or taken advantage of. Thank You that Your plans for us are never at the mercy of human schemes. Forgive us for the times we have tried to secure our future by our own strength instead of trusting You. Teach us to walk with integrity, to wait on Your timing, and to rest in the certainty that You will keep every promise You have made to us in Christ. We pray this in His name. Amen.