After working for his uncle Laban for 14 years, Jacob expresses to Laban his intention to head back home to Canaan. "Send me away, " Jacob says to Laban, "that I may go to my own home and country" (Ge 30:25). Commentator Nahum Sarna notes that the expression "send away" in this verse is the same one used when an indentured servant is freed after the agreed-upon time is finished. Laban has treated Jacob more like a hired servant than like a family member.
Laban, who has prospered through Jacob's work with his flocks, hopes that Jacob will stay longer. When he asks Jacob what wages will induce him to remain, Jacob replies, "You shall not give my anything." His response has been compared to the one that Abraham gave to the king of Sodom in Genesis 14:22-24. Jacob does not want Laban to be able to say that he made Jacob rich. They agree to a plan where Jacob will stay, taking as his wages all the black sheep and spotted goats born in the flock after that (verse 32). That way it will be easy to determine which animals belong to Jacob.
Laban immediately took away all the black sheep and spotted goats from the flock. He wanted to minimize Jacob's share. Jacob, meanwhile, practiced a mixture of superstition and selective breeding to try to maximize his share. In particular, he hoped that if animals mated in front of striped sticks, they would give birth to striped goats and black sheep.
This superstition reminds us of the supposedly fertility-promoting mandrakes and was just as far-fetched. The important thing, though, is that is was God's will to bless Jacob. Jacob became very properous (Ge 30:43), and unfortunately, friction with Laban and his family followed (31:1-2).
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