Bible Shorts

I read today a very unusual story in Genesis 30 where Jacob, who has been working for his uncle Laban for a very long time, wants to leave and go back to his own country. As part of his 'leaving package', he's allowed to take from his uncle's flock any sheep that are spotted, or blemished. His uncle takes out of the flock any sheep that have any blemishes (no doubt in order to ensure that Jacob doesn't have anything to take - Laban was Jacob's equal in scheming).

Jacob, in order to get sheep to be spotted, makes poles of poplar and almond trees, cutting stripes into them. It would seem that that having the flocks to mate while looking at these poles caused them to give birth to give birth to spotted flocks.

This is a part of the Bible that's used by many Bible Critics to prove that it is wrong, and some people have even lost their faith over it (faith based on human wisdom isn't faith in the Biblical sense).

One thing to note, however, is that the Bible doesn't say that the sheep were spotted because of what Jacob did, it merely said that Jacob did such and such a thing and the sheep were spotted.

But it must be admitted that this is an interesting and potentially problematic issue, particularly for those who insist that everything in the Bible makes sense to Western values and culture. But let's look at the options;

Jacob was Performing a Pagan Ritual
The fact that what Jacob did was a pagan ritual seems to be accepted by most theologians. His uncle performed pagan rituals (divination etc) and Jacob had been under his influence for many years. Jacob's relationship with God is not partiuclarly close. Apart from the awesome dream he had of a ladder reaching from Heaven to Earth, the God of his father Isaac doesn't seem to have featured hugely in his thinking (while decieving his father for his brother's birthright, he refers to God as his father's God and not his own).

What must be understood is that nobody back then, or today, would follow Pagan beliefs if there was nothing in them at all, and if this was something revealed by a spirit to the people of the time, it may well have worked. Inasmuch as God works with and in those who open themselves up to Him, so also can the enemy and any spirit behind the religions of this world and in so opening himself to the ritual, Jacob could have found success (and don't think that it is beyond God to use His enemies to achieve His goals).

The Poles Caused Genetic Changes in the Sheep
This is so unlikely, it can be considered impossible. What we know of genetics today says that there is no scientific basis to suggest that what Jacob did would have changed the flocks (and anyway, Jacob would not have wanted a permanently speckled flock so the Bible is not suggesting that what Jacob did was a genetic modification).

Temporary Pollution
Inasmuch as women today are told not to smoke, drink or consume any number of other edible stuff while pregnant for fear of them affecting the unborn child, is it possible that the poles (which were stripped thus exposing the moist material beneath the bark) could have caused a change within the creatures as the moisture of the poles evaporated into the atmosphere? The Bible says that the animals were 'within sight' of the poles, which doesn't mean that anybody expected the sight of the poles to make the difference, any more than anybody saying that something is "only a stone's throw away" means that someone has actually thrown a stone.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about biology to know how likely this is - I suspect it's highly unlikely but, but the bottom line is that whether Jacob did this with or without God's approval, with ot without spiritual influence - it happened. It does not make the Bible any less (or more) reliable; it's simply stating the fact.


What I do find fascinating is that Jacob had to make the sheep blemished before he could take them as his own. The law of God was revealed to us so that our sin (blemishes) may become visible, but the Bible also says that where the sin increased as a result of the law, so did God's grace toward us! We need to be able to see that we are blemished and spotted and certainly not perfect before we can become part of the kingdom of God where we are made clean and spot-free by the work of Jesus for us.