Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #22 of Genesis 30, and we will read Genesis 30:28-36:

And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and JEHOVAH hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

In our last study, we were looking at some of the similarities between Jacob’s situation in Haran working under his father-in-law Laban and Israel’s situation in Egypt when they had to serve Pharaoh.  We saw very definite links, like Jacob being in a strange land, and Israel being in a strange land in Egypt.  (And God will give Jacob the name of “Israel” in a short time.)   And we saw that just as Jacob was serving Laban, Israel was serving Egypt, and they were afflicted, just as God says that Jacob experienced affliction, and so forth.

So that helped us to see the spiritual picture of Laban as a figure of Satan.  Again, I am not saying that everywhere we read of Laban he is a type and figure of Satan, but in this particular portrait, he is.

But now we wonder what is going on with the new and last contract for six years where Jacob is going to work.  He wanted to leave, but Laban is beseeching him: “Do not leave.  I understand the Lord is blessing me for your sake.  Appoint me your wages – tell we what you want, and I will give it.”  Then Jacob responded, “I do not want you to give me anything, but if you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flock.”  Then Jacob said to him, “Here is the deal.  Here is what our arrangement will be.”  Then it says in Genesis 30:32:

I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

So, in all probability, animals with these types of markings were rare, or at least they were much fewer than the rest of the animals of the flocks, and that would explain Laban’s quick agreement to these terms.  He does not hesitate, but he responds in Genesis 30:34:

And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

The deal was made.  He had said he would give anything.  Yes, he was eager for Jacob to stay and work, but we know that Laban was often looking out for himself and his own welfare, and this sounded like a good deal to him.  We cannot visualize the flocks to see how many among the sheep actually had these types of markings, but I think it would be safe to assume that these were the fewest of these animals, the ones that had the particular markings Jacob spoke of.  Then all the animals with these markings were removed out of the herd, and it says of Laban, in Genesis 30:35-36:

And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

Some theologians have commented that the removal of the animals with the markings Jacob described was another of Laban’s underhanded tactics.  They think he was showing himself to be selfish ad crafty, according to his nature.  While I think that is true regarding Laban’s nature (as he was a man that changed his son-in-law’s wages 10 times) and that he was definitely crafty, underhanded, and deceitful, it was not true in this case.  If we go back to verse 32, Jacob said, “I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.”  Then Laban agreed, and then he had his sons carry it out. 

That was the deal Jacob was making, and the deal was concerning the future, beginning that day and for the next six years.  But if these special cattle and sheep he described would remain, then they would be counted as his, but he was yet to work for them.  The cattle were all grown, and they had been there for some time, so that would have been like getting paid in advance.  But the contract was for the next six years of work, so it was appropriate, and according to this arrangement, they took all the cattle described and removed them.  So Laban did nothing wrong, and Jacob did not protest because it was his idea.  Although he said he would do it, Laban had his sons do the actual work, and all the sheep with those markings were removed from the herd, leaving the flock without any cattle of the sheep or goats being Jacob’s animals.  None of them are Jacob’s, but they are all Laban’s, and Laban may have thought, “Well, this will benefit me all the more because the cattle that have been removed will have offspring, there will be a higher likelihood that the offspring will have the same markings as the ones giving birth to them.”  It would have appeared more likely, so the deal seemed very favorable to Laban.

In order for the cattle to be as Jacob described, cattle with markings would have to come from animals that did not have those types of marking.  Yes – it could still happen, but the likelihood is decreased.  So it seemed very reasonable to Laban, and he makes the deal, and the next period of Jacob working for the cattle began.

We have to wonder, “What is going on, spiritually?”  Again, that is our task as Bible students.  We come to the Bible, and we read and study, and we can learn the historical part of it, but what would be the purpose of God writing so extensively about this?  You know, there is a lot of information here that is being revealed to the reader, but what does it have to do with the Gospel that this deal was made concerning certain types of cattle?  We always have to find the Gospel meaning, and we have to be consistent.  We do not have to just look for Bible meaning in the highlights, like when David slew Goliath.  But even in those Scriptures where there are seemingly common historical details regarding whatever it may be, we want to look at what the spiritual meaning could be.

And, here, the spiritual picture that really begins to form and show itself is of God’s election program.  What is in view is God’s predestination program regarding those whom He would save.  Jacob as the shepherd is a type of Christ Himself, and the sheep are a type of all those Christ has saved, as it says in Isaiah 53:6:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and JEHOVAH hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Or, as we read in Psalm 23:1:

JEHOVAH is my shepherd; I shall not want.

So the cattle or the sheep can definitely represent God’s people, or they can represent people in general. 

Jacob had made a determination, and we will read later about how he decided that his hire would be cattle of sheep and goats that had these special markings, and we will see that God’s hand was in view.  But this was his determination, and he had said, “These will be my hire,” so he was choosing these cattle over all the other cattle.  And that is one reason I think we can understand that these cattle were fewer in number, and God’s elect are the few, as we are told in a few different places, such as Matthew 22:14:

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Out of the many that are called, few are the elect.  So Jacob had made a choice.  He had selected the cattle with these characteristics, and none other, just as God made a choice in His salvation program that we read about in Romans 9, and here God reveals it in relationship to the twin sons of Rebekah.  It says in Romans 9:10-13:

And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

God chose before they were born, and that is the situation here.  Before the cattle in these herds of sheep could conceive and give birth, Jacob had chosen which ones would belong to him.  No, it was not all of them.  Many would be born that would not be his, but when one came along that fit the description, it would be his, and that completely identifies with how God saves sinners, as the Lord Jesus declared in John 15:16:

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you…

That is the true Gospel of the Bible.  Christ has chosen us, and the Bible tells us when that choice was made in Ephesians 1:4-5:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Before the foundation of the world this was done before anyone was born.  God made choice whom He would save.  In regard to these animals, Jacob had determined the characteristics, but it would be God that would “knit them together” and form them, as they were conceived and developed and, finally, came forth.  If they matched that description, then God did it, did He not?  God was the one that arranged for them to have their markings, so it is a picture of God’s salvation program.

One other thing we can learn can be found, and let me read, again, Genesis 30:35-36:

And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

There were already some cattle of the sheep and goats that matched the description that Jacob gave, and they were removed.  So there would come a “second herd” that would likewise match the description and would be cattle that belonged to Jacob.  Now that is interesting, and we wonder, “What could that point to spiritually, or represent?”  And I think we can say this much, and these are just some observations that may apply since there are two groups of cattle that have the markings that Jacob described, and the first group had also been shepherded by him.  But when it came time for the last contract and the work for the other cattle, we must remember that in verse 30 Jacob had said, “…and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?”  And keep in mind how God uses the figure of a “house” in speaking of building up the body of believers, where we read in Hebrews 3:6: “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we.”  Or, in 1Peter 2, it very pointedly declares that we are living stones in a spiritual house that God has constructed.  And now Jacob wants to provide for his own house, and this “second flock” will be far greater than the first flock.  Far more will end up being gathered together by Jacob and come to be owned by him as he provides for his house with this last contract than with the former. 

And that is leading us to think in the direction of what we know about God’s program of two outpourings of the Holy Spirit.  The first would be established and fulfilled over the course of the church age.  And after the end of the church age, the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit would go forth during the season of the Latter Rain.  So there were two groups of fruit, which is how we are accustomed to thinking of it: 1) the firstfruits were saved during the church age; and 2) the final fruits were saved during the last part of the Great Tribulation during the Latter Rain.  But they are also flocks.  They are  God’s sheep, and the greater number came in at the last part of God’s overall salvation program.

So that does seem to match up.  And, again, these are observations.  Then concerning the first group, Jacob said that he would remove them, but it was actually Laban and his son that did the removing.  In other words, Jacob (a type of Christ) had turned them over to Satan.  And remember, we have begun to see Laban as a type of Satan.  Jacob is turning the flock that he shepherded over to Laban, and we can relate that spiritually to Christ turning over a flock to Satan.  When did Christ ever do that?  The answer is that it was at the end of the church age when God loosed Satan.  The Lord had departed out of the midst of the congregations, and Satan entered in under the permissive will of God as God utilized him as a destroying weapon to wreak havoc and bring the corporate church into desolation.  So the turning over of these sheep to Laban and his sons (Satan and his emissaries) is something that I think we can see would also relate.

In Isaiah 54, we read of two groups of children, and we have looked at this before.  I will read Isaiah 54:1:

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith JEHOVAH.

And it says in Isaiah 49:20:

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

Of course, it is to strait or too confining because there are more children, and a bigger space is needed.  It is the same idea as Isaiah 54:1: “…for more are the children of the desolate…”  So there would be a multitude of sheep that Jacob would have after he had lost this first group.  And, again, it all fits in.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next study, we are going to continue in Genesis 30 and see how this spiritual picture continues to develop.