Genesis 30: Love the black sheep!

Prospering even after being double-crossed.

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.

I am reading 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;