JACOB'S JOB

You know Jacob wasn't an outdoors-man before he went to Haran, but he learned a lot and was clever about it, as well as being blessed by God. The Lord gave him wisdom to work through the trials and tribulation that he faced in his life. See, all the animals drank at the same trough, both Jacob's and Laban's alike. So Jacob took some tree limbs and peeled them to make them look striped. He put the limbs in front of the animals in the gutters of the watering troughs.

When they came to drink, they conceived looking at the limbs and their babies were born speckled and spotted, so, as part of the deal, they became Jacob's property. As time passed he chose only the stronger animals to set these limbs in front of, and his spotted flocks and herds grew stronger and Laban's were feeble. Jacob's livestock grew and grew and he had many servants and camels and donkeys. He was ready to leave his father-in-law's now and raise his family on his own land, the land that God promised he would return to.