The years had passed, and Jacob had served his time. Fourteen years of labor for his two wives. Six more years of tending the flocks of Laban, building the wealth of his uncle while his own household grew. Eleven sons had been born to him by his wives and their handmaids. Daughters too, though Scripture does not number them. The promise spoken at Bethel was beginning to unfold, the seed of Abraham multiplying in the land of Haran.
But Jacob was still a servant. The flocks he tended belonged to Laban. The tents he lived in stood on Laban’s land. The years of labor had made his uncle rich, and Jacob had nothing to show for it except a large family and a growing desire to return to his own country. He went to Laban and asked for his release.
“Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go. For thou knowest my service which I have done thee.”
Laban did not want him to leave. The presence of Jacob had brought blessing. The flocks had multiplied. The wealth had increased. “I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry. For I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.”
Jacob made his offer. He would take nothing from the existing flocks. He would take only the spotted and speckled animals, the ones that were not pure white or pure dark. The brown among the sheep. The spotted and speckled among the goats. These would be his wages. The deal seemed fair to Laban, because such animals were rare. He agreed quickly, and that same day he removed all the spotted and speckled animals from his flocks and gave them to his sons to tend, putting three days’ journey between them and Jacob. The deceiver was still deceiving, stacking the odds in his own favor.
But Jacob had a plan.
The Rods of Green Poplar
Jacob went out into the field and cut rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree. He peeled white streaks in them, stripping away the bark in long strips, making the white of the wood appear beneath. The rods were now striped, white and dark alternating, the sap still wet on the exposed wood.
He carried the rods to the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. The strongest animals, the healthiest sheep and goats, would come there to mate. And Jacob set the striped rods before their eyes in the gutters, in the watering troughs, so that when the animals came to drink, they would see the rods. They would mate before the rods. And the pattern of the rods would be imprinted on their offspring.
The Scripture records the method plainly. “And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.” The visual impression of the striped rods during the moment of conception produced spotted and speckled young. Jacob was using the natural laws of breeding that the Lord had built into creation, directing the strongest animals to produce the kind of offspring that would become his wages.
He did not use the rods with the feeble animals. The weaker flocks he left to breed without the visual aid, and their offspring remained solid-colored, belonging to Laban. But the stronger animals, the ones that would build his own wealth, he bred before the striped rods. And his flocks multiplied exceedingly.
The Wealth of the Supplanter
The man increased exceedingly. He had much cattle, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys. The spotted and speckled flocks grew larger than the solid-colored ones. The blessing of the Lord was upon him, and the wealth that Laban had tried to keep for himself was flowing to Jacob.
The sons of Laban began to murmur. “Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s. And of that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory.”
Laban himself looked at Jacob differently now. The smile had gone from his face. The welcome had faded from his voice. The uncle who had kissed him at the well and brought him into his house now regarded him with cold eyes. Jacob saw the change. He saw the way Laban’s countenance was toward him, and it was no longer as it had been before.
Then the Lord spoke to Jacob.
“Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred. And I will be with thee.”
The voice of God was calling him home. The twenty years of exile were coming to an end. Jacob had come to Haran as a fugitive with nothing but a staff in his hand. He would leave as a wealthy man with flocks and servants and eleven sons. The promise of Bethel was being fulfilled. The Lord had been with him in the place of his exile, and the Lord was bringing him back to the land of his fathers.
He called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were and told them what the Lord had said. He told them how their father had deceived him, changing his wages ten times, but God had not allowed Laban to hurt him. He told them of the dream he had, the angel of God speaking to him, showing him the striped and speckled animals and saying, “I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.”
Rachel and Leah answered together. “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.”
The wives were ready. The flocks were gathered. The striped rods had done their work, and the wealth of Jacob was ready to move. The long journey back to Canaan was about to begin.
Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels. He drove all his cattle and all his goods before him. And he stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, taking everything he had gained through twenty years of labor and cunning and the blessing of the Lord. The striped rods were left behind in the watering troughs, their purpose served, their white streaks fading in the sun. But the flocks they had helped produce were on the move, heading west toward the land of promise.
