Genesis 30:40

_AND JACOB DID SEPARATE THE LAMBS, AND SET THE FACES OF THE FLOCKS TOWARD THE RINGSTRAKED, AND ALL THE BROWN IN THE FLOCK OF LABAN; AND HE PUT HIS OWN FLOCKS BY THEMSELVES, AND PUT THEM NOT UNTO LABAN'S CATTLE._ Set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked ... in the flock of Laban. This was the same stratagem continued by different means. Formerly he had made use of peeled rods of diverse colours; but now that ringstraked and black (brown) sheep had made appearance in Laban's flock, he set the faces of his white she-goats and ewes toward them, and the anticipated result followed....

25-43 The fourteen years being gone, Jacob was willing to depart without any provision, except God's promise. But he had in many ways a just claim on Laban's substance, and it was the will of God that he should be provided for from it. He referred his cause to God, rather than agree for stated wages with Laban, whose selfishness was very great. And it would appear that he acted honestly, when none but those of the colours fixed upon should be found among his cattle. Laban selfishly thought that his cattle would produce few different in colour from their own. Jacob's course after this agreement has been considered an instance of his policy and management. But it was done by intimation from God, and as a token of his power. The Lord will one way or another plead the cause of the oppressed, and honour those who simply trust his providence. Neither could Laban complain of Jacob, for he had...

Verse Genesis 30:40. _JACOB DID SEPARATE THE LAMBS, C._] When Jacob undertook the care of Laban's flock, according to the agreement already mentioned, there were no party-coloured sheep or goats among them, therefore the _ring-streaked_, c., mentioned in this verse, must have been born _since_ the agreement was made and Jacob makes use of them precisely as he used the _pilled rods_, that, having these _before their eyes_ during conception, the impression might be made upon their imagination which would lead to the results already mentioned....

- Jacob’s Family and Wealth 6. דן _dān_, Dan, “judge, lord.” 8. נפתלי _naptālı̂y_, Naphtali, “wrestling.” 11. גד _gād_, Gad, “overcoming, victory.” בגד _bāgād_, “in victory or” =גד בא _bā'_ _gād_, “victory cometh.” גוּד _gûd_, “press down.” גדוּד _g__e__dûd_, “troop.” 13. אשׁר _'ǎashēr_, Asher, “prosperity, happiness.”

EXPOSITION GENESIS 30:25 AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN RACHEL HAD BORN JOSEPH,—either at or about the expiry of the second term of seven years. Jacob's family now consisted in all of eleven sons and one daughter, unless Dinah's birth occurred later in the next term of service (Keil). Since these were all born within seven years, the chronological cannot be the order observed by the historian in recording the events of the preceding paragraphs. Rather the births of the children are arranged in connection with the mothers from whom they sprang. Hence the possibility of acquiring so large a family in so short a time. The six sons of Leah might be born in the seven years, allowing one year's complete cessation from pregnancy, viz; the fifth; Bilhah's in the third and fourth years; Zilpah's in the beginning of the sixth and seventh; and Rachel'

AND JACOB DID SEPARATE THE LAMBS,.... The ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; AND SET THE FACES OF THE FLOCKS, that were all white, TOWARDS THE RINGSTRAKED, AND ALL THE BROWN IN THE FLOCK OF LABAN; either to go before those that were all white, that they by looking at them might conceive and bring forth such, which was another artifice of Jacob's to increase his own sheep; or else he set at the water troughs the white sheep on one side of them, and on the opposite side the speckled ones, c. that the same effect might also be produced the more successfully both by the rods and by the speckled lambs: AND HE PUT HIS OWN FLOCKS BY THEMSELVES, AND PUT THEM NOT UNTO LABAN'S CATTLE partly that they might not be mixed together, but kept distinct, that what was his property might be discerned from Laban's; and partly, lest his spotted ones, being mixed with Laban's white sheep, by continual lo...

CHAPTER 30 JACOB WITH LABAN _ 1. The sons of Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 30:1)_ 2. The sons of Zilpah: Gad and Asher (Genesis 30:9) 3. The children of Leah: Issachar, Zebulon and Dinah (Genesis 30:14) 4. The birth of Joseph (Genesis 30:22) 5. Jacob's request to return (Genesis 30:25) 6. Laban's confession and Jacob's prosperity (Genesis 30:27) Little comment is needed on this. The avarice and dec

JACOB GROWS RICH BY OVERREACHING LABAN. This is a difficult section. It is taken from JE. The analysis is uncertain. To J may be assigned Genesis 30:25; Genesis 30:27; Genesis 30:29; Genesis 30:35 f., to E Genesis 30:26; Genesis 30:28; Genesis 30:33 f., while Genesis 30:32 is to be divided

_set the faces … Laban_ This is a very obscure sentence in the original. It probably describes a second device practised by Jacob. At the breeding time he caused the ewes which belonged to Laban to pasture within view of his own parti-coloured and black animals, in order to increase the tendency of Laban's flock to produce spotted and parti-coloured lambs. The difficulty, however, of the language has made some scholars suppose that the words "and set … of Laban" are a gloss. As they stand, they seem to contradict Genesis 30:33_; Genesis 30:36_, according to which Laban had already removed to a distance the parti-coloured animals....

AND JACOB, &C.— After the success which attended his use of the pilled rods, he took care to keep what belonged to Laban separate from those lambs which, by agreement, belonged to himself; at the same time placing his _ring-straked,_ &c. in the face or front of Laban's flock, that by that means also the flock might continue to bring forth party-coloured lambs. And now, finding his cattle increase, he began to be more curious about the breed; and therefore, Genesis 30:41 he placed the rods only before the stronger....