The Case of the Speckled Sheep

So grateful for the presence of God in our midst when we’re able to sing songs about our Lord, how great He is. He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and He’s worthy of our honor, glory, and praise. So grateful to be worshipping the Lord with all of you this morning. As we continue with our series on the life of Jacob from deception to dependence, we find ourselves this morning in Genesis 30:25-43. We talked in quite detail last week about the conflict between Rachel and Leah that lasted for a period of 7 years, and during that time period, God would bless Jacob with 11 sons and 1 daughter. In the midst of all the chaos, God’s plan was still unfolding in the life of Jacob and his family. Even in the midst of their own rebellion against God, and unbelief, and strife, and a lot of independence upon God, God was still fulfilling His promise. So as we come to this verse in 30:25, 7 years have gone by, 11 sons, 1 daughter has been born, and the Bible says to us in verse 25, after Rachel gave birth to Joseph, so 14 years have gone by since Jacob has been with Laban. Jacob said to Laban, send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I have done for you.

So Jacob had had enough 14 years, long years of laboring for his uncle. I was kind of thinking like what Jacob’s resume would look like at the end of 14 years when he’s applying for a new job. What are your skills? Oh, I know how to tend to sheep. I know how to dig wells, and I have an unpaid internship for the last 14 years. That’s what his resume would look like if he was to apply to a new job. Not much to show for other than 11 wives, I’m sorry, two wives, 11 boys, 11 wives, that would be really hard, but a family of 14 to take care of. Now what is lacking in Jacob’s life, he has a big family, but not much wealth because Laban in all of his cunningness and cheating had made sure that he has gotten wealthy, but Jacob has found himself with nothing at the end of the 14 years. So we come to verse 27 in that context, verse 27 and 28, Laban said to him, if I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. So he comes to him and he says, I want to leave. I want to go back to my homeland. Just give me my other wives and children that I have. And Laban comes to him and says, no, no, no, please don’t go. Please stay with me. And here’s the reason why. I have learned by divination, and we don’t know exactly what he did here. I don’t know if it is the word of the Lord, but I don’t know why that word divination would be used. Probably being in the land of Canaan, he was probably given to much witchcraft, possibly some kind of a soothsayer or some kind of a magic arts by which he learned the secret behind the blessings that is in his life. Do you know that even evil spirits and demonic beings can sometimes speak a lot of truth? And that is so evident even in God’s Word as well. Laban has become exceedingly wealthy during these 14 years. And he was very, very curious because the wealth that he now has, he never had before. And he probably wanted to find out why he became so wealthy. So here’s what he did. He probably went to someone, probably not to the God of Jacob, but someone to find out the reason for his wealth. And here’s what he said, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. He added, so because of that, name your wages and I will pay them. He’s like the owner of a company that comes to an employee and says, please don’t leave. I want you to continue working for me because everything that I have, my company has become, is because of you. Tell me what kind of a race you want and I will give it to you. Just make sure that you stay here.

So Jacob likes the idea. Verse 29, he looks around, this is a big family to take care of. The only thing that is lacking in his life is money to feed them. So in verse 29, 30, Jacob said to him, you know, I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came, Laban was not wealthy before Jacob stepped foot in the land of Haran. But he has now become exceedingly wealthy in this 14 years. And he says, I came has increased greatly and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. Not only does Laban know the reason why he’s been blessed, Jacob also knows the reason why Laban has been blessed. He says to him, you have all of this increased in your life, even though you are a cheating person, a person given too much trickery in his life and probably not a true man of God. God has blessed you because I have been living in your household, taking care of the things that you have. We see a beautiful principle in the midst of this passage that God wants us to understand. It is this, children of God receive God’s blessings in such abundance that even deceitful people around them are blessed through them. We can see this in many passages of God’s Word. Potiphar’s house was blessed because Joseph happened to live in that home. What a great principle of God’s Word. Potiphar is an Egyptian. He’s a pagan. He’s not a man of God. But the Bible says his household was blessed because Joseph happened to live in that household. Not only that, we see in God’s Word that God was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah even if 10 righteous men were founded. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, there’s an interesting marriage that is there. Marriage between a believer and an unbeliever, which is not ordained in God’s Word. So thinking here is that one of them became a believer after marriage. You know what God’s Word says? I want to put that in quotation that the husband or the wife is sanctified because of the believing partner. What a beautiful concept of God’s Word. Even an unbeliever, not truly saved, but there is a certain degree of holiness and righteousness that come into their life because they happen to be married to a believer. Here’s what I’m trying to tell you. Your marriage is blessed because you are a believer. Your job place is blessed because you as a believer is working in that place. Your towns and cities are blessed to have you living in them. The town and the city does not know that yet, but they should be honoring you every single year for the blessing that is upon the town. Because there’s a prayer warrior, a man, a woman of God, of God’s Word is living in that community. The world does not realize it, but God’s people are truly the salt and the light of this earth. As a salt, they prevent the society from going to decay. As a salt, they preserve the righteousness in their communities. As a salt, they make sure that flavor and righteousness and right living is added even into the life of unbelievers. As the light of the earth, they are the ones that illuminate God’s light and righteousness into a dark world. They show a dark world what it means to live a godly life. I’m here to tell you, you are much more important to the world than ever you have realized in your own life. You are blessed and the blessings that you have from the Lord is in such abundance that even people who are given to deception and unbelief are blessed through them. Laban receives tremendous blessings because Jacob happened to be living with him for the last 14 years.

So now, here is Jacob’s ask of Laban, not much, and we see that in verse 30 and 31. But now he says, when may I do something for my own household? This is all wonderful. You are becoming rich, but the problem here is that my bank account is \$15. Yours is 15 million. You having 15 million hasn’t trickled down to me yet. I’m doing all the hard work. I have these daughters of yours to take care of, all these children that God has given to me. I have nothing to show for it on my own. What shall I give you, he asked. He told him, don’t give me anything, Jacob replied. But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them. He says, don’t give me any money right away. But here is what I want you to do going forward. This one thing that I want you to do for me, verse 32. Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark colored lamb, and every speckled or spotted goat. They will be my wages. When these words are being spoken to Laban, in the heart of Laban he probably thought, this nephew of mine is not very smart at all. Because around our region in the Middle East even today, sheep are primarily white in color. You never find dark sheep. In fact, they’re very rare to find even today in the Middle East. Goat, they are usually dark black or dark gray in color. They’re never speckled or spotted. Being speckled or spotted or a sheep becoming a dark color and not white is a recessive genetic trait. Which means that it only happens very, very rarely in the reproduction of sheep and goats. But when Jacob is looking through all the flocks that Laban has, he’s able to find a few here and there that are a dark lamb. A lamb that is not white colored of wool and some sheep that have speckled or spot on them. And he says to him, just give me those as wages. Maybe compared to the thousands of sheep and goat that he has, these probably number only about 40 or 50. And Jacob says, just give me those as wages. I will raise them as my own. And he says to him something else, verse 33. My honesty will testify for me in the future as well. Going forward also, my wages would be lamb that is not white and goat that is speckled or spotted. Whenever you check on the wages, you paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, any lamb that is not dark colored will be considered stolen. I will take care of all of your sheep and goats. But give me the lamb that is dark. Give me goat that is speckled or spotted. I will raise them. In the future, as I bring forth children, I will only take lamb that is dark and only goat that is speckled or spotted. Laban listens to this and says, this guy is not smart at all. Like produces like. A white lamb produces offspring that is also white. Goat that is dark, gray or black only usually produce offspring that is also of the same color. So Laban looks at this and says, look at verse 34. Readily again said Laban, let it be as you have said. I’m not sure if he smiled openly, but I’m sure he smiled in his heart and thought to himself, my goodness, I got one over him again. Here is about to work for him for measly wages. He has no idea what he’s talking about.

But look what, how deceiving and deceptive Laban is. Look at verse 35. The same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spot. What did Jacob ask for? Just give me the goats that you have that are streaked and spotted. They have this agreement. Probably they were pasturing out there in the open in a faraway land. I’m sure this happened at night. You know what Laban says? Thus he goes and removes every one of the goats that is speckled or spotted. And it takes all the lamb that is not white, dark colored lambs. And he placed them in the care of his own sons. And just to make sure that they never even have any more contact with lamb that is white or goat that is not speckled or spotted. Look at verse 36. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob while Jacob continued to tend to the rest of Laban’s flocks. So what did Jacob left with? Nothing. Wages were agreed on. But the next morning, Jacob would wake up to find maybe a few lamb and goats left in his care. But none of them really belonged to him. All of them belonged to Laban because none of them fit the description that he had given Teplo verses earlier. Because Laban in the middle of the night had removed all of them. And not only that, he made sure there was a three-day journey distance between Laban’s flocks and Jacob’s flocks. Why did he do that? He wanted to make sure that whatever offspring would be born to these sheep and goats in the years to come will all only match the description of the sheep and the goat that he is supposed to have. He wanted to make sure that his nephew never got rich again in his life. Or not again, never in his life at all. But the beautiful thing about this passage is that we need to understand this principle that we find in God’s word. The deception and evil of this world cannot stop or derail God’s blessings and plans for you. You need to believe that in your heart. You might have a supervisor that is not giving you a raise because of the color of your skin. Don’t start rebelling or not doing work in the job that God has given to you. Pray before the Lord. The Lord will change heart and move the hearts of the people of this world in your advantage or God will do certain things in your life that no one can stop the blessings that come towards you. You need to understand that if God wants to bless you, there is not a single force, a single person in the world that can stop the plans of God for you. Lot of times we are so afraid of man scheming and planning against us. But we need to remember what God’s word says. If God is for us, who can be against us? Children of God, you need to remember that. Too often we blame others and we often look at other people to pave the way for us. But I’m here to remind you even this morning, your source of blessing is not any man. Your source of blessing is God. And when he chooses to bless you, no man, no plans of man, no deception of man, no evil man can stand in the way of God blessing you. If God wants you to have a promotion at your work, you will get it. No man can stand against it. If God wants you to be blessed financially, you will be financially blessed. No man can stand against you. If God wants you to have blessings in your life, there’s nothing the world can do to stop you from having the blessings.

During this six years to come forth, this is not easy times. Look at what Jacob himself says in 31:6-7. He says to both Leah and Rachel, you know how hard I have worked for your father. But he has cheated me, changing my wages 10 times. You know what Jacob’s, Laban’s way of dealing with Jacob is? For you and me, every year we get a raise. For Jacob, every year, his wages are going down. Imagine walking into your boss’s office for annual review. And they do the review and you’re like eagerly waiting to see what percentage of raise you’re getting. Well, we’re actually going to take a pay cut. That’s exactly what happened to Jacob. He says himself, 10 different times, your father cheated me of my wages. But here’s the good news. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm. Laban, you are not in control of the blessings of Jacob. Laban, you don’t dictate how much blessing Jacob gets. There’s a promise that is upon this child of God. There is a blessing that is already upon this child of God. Laban, you decreasing his wages 10 times does not change the plans of God. And Jacob is able to say with all confidence, my God has not allowed him to do me any harm. What a testimony. What a great God we serve. What a powerful God we serve that overrides the declarations and the rulings and the deceptive practices of the people of this world. My God is not in the business of failure. If he intends to bless you, he will bless you.

Starting in verse 37 all the way to verse 43, you usually never preach in our churches. But I’m going to preach about that today because it is probably one of the most misunderstood passages in all of scriptures. God’s promise to Jacob is that Jacob will be blessed by the Lord. Jacob decides to do something starting in verse 37. Jacob, however, took fresh cut branches from three different trees, poplar, almond, and plain. In some translations it says chestnut or sycamore trees made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. So he takes these three branches and he takes the bark off. Now, when you take the bark off, it’s white. And he placed them, verse 38, placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. So all the flocks of goats and sheep are coming to drink and he puts his branches in the trough. And now this white stripe is facing towards the flock as they come to drink. Verse 39, when they mated in front of the white streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted. Doesn’t make any sense, right? By looking at white on a tree bark, you get to have children that are also streaked and spotted. In fact, this passage has been ridiculed by people who want to challenge the accuracy of God’s Word and have often been said, you know, look at this, Moses has no idea how genetics works. Jacob does not understand either. The Bible is all filled with fairy tales. What is this talking about? Here’s a summary, verse 43. As a result of this plan, God’s providence in working, Jacob became very wealthy with large flocks of sheep and goats. And not only that, now he needs what? Female and male servants to take care of the sheep and goat. That’s how large they became. And not only that, God also gave him something else. Gave him camels and donkeys as well. We read through, as we read through verse 39 onwards, we read that, he also made sure that only the healthy were mating in front of the troughs that had the branches. He also made sure that when they mated, they looked towards Laban’s sheep that were already speckled or spotted. There are many ways to look at this passage and understand or try to make sense of what is going on here.

God blessed him. And by the time six years is over with, Laban’s great flock of sheep and goats are filled with goats that are speckled and spotted and filled with sheep that is dark. Doesn’t make any sense to him. The Bible says all that Jacob did was put some branches in the troughs that were speckled and spotted and this sheep and goat who were mating looked at that and the offspring was born. So one way to interpret this passage is this conclusion, which is what most people arrive at. It is this. God graciously blessed Jacob in spite of his superstitious efforts. This doesn’t make any sense. Many people say that he probably learned it from the people in Canaan that this could be done and that’s why he did it. And he probably thought this is what is causing all these speckled and spotted animals to be born, but that’s not the reason why we know from biology that does not happen. And so we can make the conclusion that God blessed him even though he did things superstitiously. But I want you to think about another possibility here. And I want you to show it to you, the beauty of God’s word this morning. In 31:10, while talking to Leah and Rachel, Jacob says this. One time during the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted. Remember, these streaked and spotted goats were already part of Laban’s flock, which means that the recessive genetic trait was already in some of the goats that were dark on the outside. You and I have no way of looking at a goat and seeing what kind of a baby it is going to produce. But look what verse 10 is saying. He had a dream in which an angel appeared to him and pointed to him and said, these are the goats that have streaked and spotted genetic traits in them. That is a possibility. Look at verse 11 and 12. In my dream, the angel of God said to me, Jacob, yes, here I am. The angel said, look up and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you. What does this verse mean? On the outside, even if a goat looks dark, the angel of the Lord that appeared to him is pointing out to Jacob those that contain the recessive trait that is able to produce sheep and goat that fit the description of what he’s looking for you. Miraculously, God is making Jacob wiser in understanding the kind of goat and sheep that he should allow to mate to produce the offspring that he’s looking for. Then God says to him this, I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel. See, Laban is trying to cheat you, but I’m going to reveal to you the goat and the sheep that you should allow to mate on the trough because I’m going to tell you the kind of offspring they’re going to produce. I don’t think this was a random goat and sheep that were brought to the trough. I truly believe based on 31:10-11, he was divinely guided by the God of his fathers to point to the right sheep and goat to come to the trough to produce the kind of offspring that could be his.

What about the three tree branches that he used to put in the trough? Beautifully, science tells us today how beautifully Jacob did this. The first one is a tree branch by the name of Poplar. Poplar tree branch. You know what Poplar tree branch does? 20 to 30% better reproductive rate is seen in sheep that feeds upon Poplar tree branches. Who knew that? God did. God did. That’s why he made Jacob put this branch in the trough where the sheep and the goat were coming to mate. Not only are they drinking the water, they’re eating the branches and the leaves as well. Science now tells us Poplar tree branches increase reproductive rate by 20 to 30%. What about the next one? Almond tree branch. You know what it does? It treats urinary diseases, increase milk production in the mother, and decrease birth pangs, birth pain when a newborn is born. These are not random trees that he put in the trough. He was divinely guided by a God who made the Poplar tree and the almond tree as well. What about the third tree? The plain tree known as the sycamore tree? We know from science that they treat gastrointestinal diseases and they also have anti-inflammatory benefits. And you know one other fact? All three of these branches are the most effective when their bark is taken off and they’re put in water exposed to the sun. Did you hear what I said? All three of these branches produce their most benefit when they are put in water with their barks peeled off, exposed to the sun. The chemicals that are in them seep into the water that is drank by the sheep and goats providing them with all of these benefits. Only a God who created all these things that we know and one who created the sheep and the goats and even the plants could bring him this divine wisdom by which he did that that day. My point this morning is that your Bible is not a fairy tale. Your Bible is not a folklore. Your Bible is not made up scientific jargon. Your God knows science even before science finds out the benefit of these trees. Jacob did not do this in a vacuum. He was divinely guided by a God who is a creator of the ends of the earth.

What can we learn from this? This is this. We serve a God who delights to give practical wisdom, understanding to those who seek his face. Do you want practical wisdom in your life on how to live your life? Seek the face of the Lord. You don’t need to be a lot educated to have wisdom in your life. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Do you want to know how to properly raise your family? Pastor Leslie is wonderful and he does biblical counseling and that’s why there’s benefit in it. But any other counseling or any other philosophy are all bankrupt at the end of the day. Only those things of the Lord, the fear of the Lord that comes from the Lord himself is a source of true wisdom and understanding in your life. How did this man know how to do all these things? Because he had been changed by those 14 years of hard labor. We see him starting to seek the face of God and God is blessing him. I often say this to you and I want to repeat to you. Do you want to be wiser than your peers? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom in your life. Do you want to know how to properly raise your children? There is no magic potion. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Many people say, I don’t know the culture of these children. I don’t know how to deal with them. You don’t need to know any of those things. Pray, read your Bible, seek the face of God. God will direct you with wisdom. You don’t know how to talk to your children? God will give you the wisdom. You don’t know how to talk to your boss? God will give you the wisdom. You don’t know how to talk to your co-workers? God will give you the wisdom. He is wisdom personified. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Thirdly, it is this. We serve a God who even providentially ordained the stripes and spots on a sheep. At the end of the day, it is not the branches of Jacob that brought forth the right offspring. There’s a God who creates the sheep and the goats. Laban, you think only like produces like. But my God determines the color of the skin of the sheep and the goats inside the womb of the mother. Why? My God is determined to bless His child. Think about that for a second. When the sheep and the goat are mating, like is supposed to produce like. But when that embryo is being hatched inside the womb of that mother, there’s a God who determines what kind of a color skin with which it should be born into this world. Why? God is intended on blessing His child. My God controls even the stripes and spots on a goat and a sheep. I don’t know what kind of things are really troubling you this morning about your future, about your life. Remember this verse from Matthew 10:29. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father’s care. Are you not more important than them? He controls everything. He knows everything. He controls the spots, speckles. These are not random things to God. God knows everything. He controls everything. He is providentially and sovereignly in control of every moment of your life as well. If you are feeling troubled in your heart, if you are feeling anxious and depressed or concerned about the future, God’s word even is telling you this morning the God of Jacob is still alive today. The God of Jacob is still alive today. The God of Jacob is a promise keeping God. The God of Jacob is a blessing God. The God of Jacob’s plans are not thwarted by the plans of man. The God of Jacob’s purpose is not derailed by the purpose of ungodly men. God of Jacob is a faithful God. God of Jacob is a providing God. God of Jacob is an unimaginable amazing God. God of Jacob is a God of wisdom. God of Jacob is a God of understanding. God of Jacob is a God of providence and we trust in His holy name and in His provisions for our life as well. Yes, He feeds the sparrows. He clothes the lilies. Not one of them falls to the ground without His knowledge. Your life, my life is precious in the sight of the Lord. He knows you. He loves you. He cares for you. He will bless you and no one or nothing can stand in the way of God’s blessings in your life.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning, oh God. Oh God, God of Jacob, God who loved Jacob so much, graciously loved him so much, graciously loves us so much, in spite of our rebellion, our weaknesses, oh God, we receive so much blessings from you. You stood before us. You fight our battles. You open doors for us that no one can close. You are a God who is so amazing and we bow down and worship before you this morning. Help us, oh God, to count our blessings this morning. Name them one by one and to know how wonderful God has been in our life. Lord, most of us sitting here came to this country with nothing but you blessed us so much. Not because of our ingenuity, not because of our wisdom, not because of our abilities, but because you are a gracious God who made sure that your children were blessed before you, oh God. We praise you. We worship you. We love you, Jesus, and we give you the honor and glory that is due unto your holy name. Let your name alone be lifted up, oh God. For the name of the Lord Jesus, let me pray, amen.