History of God’s Blessings through the spotted Goats!
There was once a man named Jacob who deceived his brother and his father. He basically tricked his brother into giving him his birthright and then at his mother’s prompting tricked his father into giving him a special blessing meant for his brother. Furious his brother consoles himself with the thought of killing Jacob (Gen 27:42 ) So Jacob flees to the land where his mother grew up.
When he arrives in this new land he meets a beautiful shepherdess named Rachel down at the well with her fathers sheep. He kisses her and they immediately fall in love and she runs to tell her father, Laban. Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful and Jacob was in love with her (Gen 29:18) Jacob agreed to work for her father for 7 years in order to earn her hand in marriage. It seemed like only a few days to him though because of his love for her.
After the 7 years pass he asks for his wife Rachel but in the night after a big feast the father slips Rachel’s older sister Leah into the bridal tent! In the morning Jacob exclaims “what is this you have done to me?” I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” The father then explains that it is not their custom to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one! The father, Laban, agrees to give him Rachel also as a wife for another 7 years of work. And so Jacob did so. Both sisters have children with Jacob but as you can imagine there is quarreling betweens the sister/wives!
Then Jacob proposes that he be able to leave with his wives and children but Laban asks him to name his wages to stay on and work because the Lord had blessed him greatly with increased flocks through Jacobs hard work. So Jacob says,“I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them but let every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark colored lamb and every speckled or spotted goat be mine, they will be my wages. Laban agrees to the deal but then goes through the herd and separates out all his streaked or spotted goats and dark colored lambs and puts them in the care of his sons in another herd!
Jacob however had a plan of his own. He held an early belief that whatever object a sheep or goat looked at while mating would affect the genetic characteristics of their young. So he cut fresh branches and made white stripes on them, cutting into the inner wood. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. SO THE WEAK ANIMALS WERE UNSPOTTED AND WENT TO LABAN AND THE STRONG ANIMALS WERE SPOTTED AND WENT TO JACOB. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks….Gen30:43.
Then Jacob said to his wives, “I have worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages 10 times. However God has not allowed him to harm me. If your father said the spotted goats will be your wages then all the flocks gave birth to spotted young….God has taken away your fathers livestock and has given them to me. In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, spotted or speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am God ….now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’ “ Gen 31:13