Laban lack of integrity

Genesis 30:35-43

How often have you heard a businessman make this comment, “Life was so much easier in the old days when a man’s word was his bond.”  The truth we find in those words is only true when both men are men of integrity, and that was not the case with Laban.  Do you recall, how Jacob and Laban made an agreement that the speckled and spotted goats and the black lambs would all be Jacob’s and Laban is in total concurrence, until he gives thought to the agreement that he has just made.  The following is what that old snake did to his nephew who had served him some twenty years and married his daughter and had his grandchildren.  “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 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.”

Jacob is in somewhat of a predicament, whom can he turn to?  But do not forget that Jacob also is somewhat the scammer and it does not take him long to come up with a plan that will work.  Jacob has been in the business of breeding sheep for many years and God has blessed him with insight and knowledge on how to build a herd of sheep.  Jacob begins by using these methods; “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 place, where the flocks came to drink.  And since they bred when they came to drink, the flock bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.”

It is not clear what effect this had, it may have been to increase the breeding of the sheep, or to make them striped, speckled, and spotted, but this we do know that God was in charge and His plan for Jacob was not in Haran, but back to his father’s house in Beersheba.   The skills that Jacob had learned for many years began to produce a vast flock over three or four years of strong sheep that met the agreement Jacob had made with Laban.  Verse 43 gives this account; “Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.”  It is so important to grasp this truth, God has a plan for you, but the world and the enemy of your soul will often try to make you lose sight of the vision God has given to you.  So remember it is always better to trust God than your emotions, and roadblocks may be God’s way of blessing you.

From The Back Porch,

Bob Rice