Feeding Trough

Speckled and spotted

³⁷ Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. ³⁸ He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; ⁴² but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. (Genesis 30:37-43)

Jacob sets apart his herd from Labans and separates the lambs. He has the lambs focus on the herd he wanted them to be like which was the blemished flock. While the strong blemished flocks came together to reproduce, he gave them an image of what he wanted, blemished, by showing them peeled rods (stripes). When the unblemished weaker flocks came together to reproduce, he gave them no direction. However, whenever either flock came to drink water, they received direction (rods). To my understanding this makes no scientific sense, but he lived by faith.

¹⁸ Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,
But happy is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18)

²⁰ O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— ²¹ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

References

Genesis 30:37-43

Proverbs 29:18

1 Timothy 6:20-21

Hebrews 11:1

113 The spirit of Babylon

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