“Laban said, “What should I give you?” “Nothing,” answered Jacob, “just do this one thing for me: once more I will pasture your flock and take care of it. I will also go through the flock and pick out every speckled, spotted or brown sheep, and every speckled or spotted goat; these and their offspring will be my wages.”-Genesis 30:31-32
So after putting in 14 years of faithful service for his two wives, Jacob is itching to leave.
However, Laban is reluctant to let Joseph go given how much he has prospered due to his labors.
He petitions Joseph to stay saying that he has been much blessed because of the “Lord“.
This should not be misconstrued as a statement of faith.
Laban is a full-fledged pagan who believes in many Gods.
In his mind, Jacob’s God is just one out of the many countless “gods” in existence that he worships.
This statement of Jacob’s is just a bit of mid eastern apple polishing.
Jacob agrees to stay under the condition that he gets to keep all of the stripped and speckled sheep and goats.
It would seem that Jacob is on the losing end of this negotiation because sheep were usually pure white and goats were normally black or dark brown.
However, the opposite turns out to be true, as the increase of Jacob’s flock increases to the point where it becomes an embarrassment to Laban.
There is much debate concerning the poplar rod method Jacob used to increase his flock.
Some have called it an ancient form of genetic breeding.
Others have claimed that it was just superstition and it was God working behind the scenes ensuring that Jacob’s flocks would supernaturally increase.
There is one interesting part of this negotiation that is overlooked if one doesn’t understand the original Hebrew.
During the negotiation, Jacob tells Laban that he can keep the white sheep.
Now the Hebrew word for white is “Laban“.
So in a kind of twisted form of irony and negotiation, Jacob informs Laban that he can keep his “own” sheep and then will proceed to beat him at his own game.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN GENESIS CHAPTER 31
I don’t know much about sheep like many Dinetah people do which makes US history sad in some ways …..it seems like discussing sheep would have made more sense than persecuting Dinetah people and saying that was Christianity,I only have guilt issues on this if I were too mean about and too Klee Benally…..but otherwise still think historically discussing sheep would make more sense than control and abuse …..but ?…..based modern on sciencewould Jacob end up with some white sheep after a generation or two even if it looked to Laban that he got the better deal?
Some Dinetah people think people who convert to Christianity who are Navaj/Dinetah betrayed their culture because of historical abuse from Christians who committed genocide against culture ,kind of like Jewish people /Jewish Christians… although a lot of Navajo people really love sheep and probably could explain a lot about sheep ….including if people actually cared about the pragmatic political concerns ….people were trying to get people to care through fb for awhile because of concerns for sheep on the Navajo Nation…..like Laban had etc
There are strong Christian pastors and believers who are Navajo/Dinetah who get looked down on by white Christians in Flagstaff AZ for example and devalued in culture similar to Messianic believers to Jewish culture…..Navajo culture is against greed like Isaiah /Isaiah 58 …..and has been polygamous…. just over Jacob etcetc the fact that Navajo people were persecuted by people professing Christ like Catholics did to people in Europe etc……its just heartbreaking that Europeans taught a form of Christianity……through violence …..and abuse …..instead of just talking to Dinetah people about similarities in culture to God’s heart…..although sheep for example ….Shepard’s etc …..are imagery through the Bible …and its sad people did not just meet people in the New World and discuss sheep etc….David Jacob Jesus
Sorry the sermon inspired me …..also ?….if Dinetah people think of white animals as special or how that compares to white sheep?
Modern day Western stereotypes of ethnic superiority connected to skin color are NOT in the Scriptures. So I don’t think its good to superimpose such notions onto the text. However, it is undoubtedly true that “westernized Christianity” does have problems with evangelism in certain parts of the world.