Divine Providence and Human Ingenuity
Preparing for the Fourth Sunday of Easter: Three Days before Sunday (Year B)
Scripture
Psalter: Psalm 23
Old Testament: Genesis 30:25-43
Epistle: Acts 3:17-26
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Prayer
O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
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Reflection
When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know very well the service I have given you.” But Laban said to him, “If you will allow me to say so, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you; name your wages, and I will give it.” Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have fared with me. For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything; if you will do this for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it: let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and such shall be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black and put them in charge of his sons, and he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock.
Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the rods. He set the rods that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the rods, and so the flocks produced young that were striped, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and the completely black animals in the flock of Laban, and he put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob laid the rods in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the rods, but for the feebler of the flock he did not lay them there, so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. Thus the man grew exceedingly rich and had large flocks and male and female slaves and camels and donkeys (Genesis 30:25-43).
Jacob and Laban deserve each other. They are both connivers and deceivers engaging in trickery against one other.
Jacob and Laban have an agreement on livestock. After the birth of Joseph, Jacob expresses his desire to return to his own homeland. However, Laban recognizing that he has been blessed because of Jacob, asks him to stay and offers to pay whatever wages Jacob names.
Jacob, aware of Laban’s wealth proposes instead that he will continue to tend Laban’s flocks in exchange for all the speckled and spotted goats and all the black sheep among the flocks. Laban agrees, but then he removes those animals from the flock and puts them under the care of his sons, keeping them at a distance from Jacob in an attempt to limit Jacob’s potential wealth.
Jacob then uses a selective breeding strategy by placing peeled branches in the water troughs where the stronger animals came to drink. These branches had the bark stripped in such a way to create streaks and spots, which Jacob believed would influence the appearance of the offspring causing them to be speckled and spotted. The weaker animals were not given access to these branches. As a result, Jacob’s herds increased and he became exceedingly wealthy, acquiring large flocks, servants, camels, and donkeys.
Here we see the interplay between divine providence and human ingenuity. Jacob’s methods, which may seem superstitious coupled with the selective breeding of stronger animals, led to his increased wealth. Genesis tells an ongoing narrative of family dynamics, deception, and God’s blessings in the patriarchal stories. God manages to work in the midst of human frailties and foibles.
PRAYER: O God, Open our hearts to your power moving around us and between us and within us, until your glory is revealed in our love of both friend and enemy, in communities transformed by justice and compassion, and in the healing of all that is broken. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
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