I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 29-30.

Laban did his daughter Leah no favors by tricking Jacob into marrying her.  Perhaps things would have gone better if he had negotiated with Jacob from the beginning for Jacob to marry both of his daughters, but I get the impression that Laban was one of those people who always try to get one over on others.  We see the same sort of behavior on Laban’s part when he negotiated for Jacob to get the speckled, spotted sheep and goats, and black goats as his own.  As soon as they had struck this deal, Laban had all of the sheep that met the criteria removed from the flocks managed by Jacob.  However, Jacob knew a trick to increase the likelihood of sheep and goats being born which met the criteria to be his.  We know that the trick described would not have the results described, at least not for the original herd which had no speckled or spotted sheep.  But the people who passed this story down were shepherds, so they would have know that as well.  Perhaps there was a little more to Jacob’s trick then described here.  Or perhaps, in the course of time as the normal distribution resulted in a limited number of speckled and spotted animals it increased the likelihood of other animals breeding with them.  In any case, Laban cheated Jacob in both of the deals they made.  I like to think that Jacob’s experience with Laban  caused him to be less of a cheater going forward.  Jacob’s trick with the animals, assuming it was not just the hand of God which enlarged his flock, was underhanded, but did not go against that to which he had agreed.  In both the case of giving Leah to Jacob to be his wife and in removing certain animals from the flocks Jacob tended, Laban broke the agreement he had made.