Jacob worked for his uncle Laban a total of
fourteen years to get his two wives. It was
obvious that he loved Rachel more than Leah.
The Lord saw that Leah was unloved, so he
kept Rachel from having children. After Leah had
four sons, Rachel was so jealous that she yelled
at Jacob, “Give me a son or I’ll die!”
He said, “I’m not God. I didn’t make you
barren.”
With this, Rachel gave him her maidservant.
She said, “Sleep with my servant. She can have
children for me.” Jacob agreed and soon the
servant started having children.
Suddenly Leah was unable to bear children.
So she gave her maidservant to Jacob. Soon,
with three women, Jacob had ten sons and one
daughter. At that point God allowed Rachel to
give birth to a son. She called him Joseph. He
was the eleventh son.
At this point, Jacob went to Laban and said, “I
want to return to my home. Give me the freedom
to take my wives and children and go.”
Laban said, “Oh Jacob, be kind to me
and don’t leave. I’ve learned that the Lord
has blessed me because of you. I’ll pay you
whatever you want.”
Jacob said, “You don’t have to pay me
anything. Instead, allow me to build up my wealth
by keeping a part of the flock.”
“I’ll oversee your flocks, but I’ll keep all the
goats and sheep that are born speckled, spotted,
or streaked. You keep the rest. In this way, you’ll
know if I’m stealing from you. Simply check my
flocks and see if they all have the right markings
on them.”
Laban agreed to these terms. So they
separated the flocks according to those
markings.
Jacob had a way of making the lambs be
born speckled, spotted, and streaked. Using this
process, he made sure all the strongest of the
flock were his, and all the weakest of the flock
were Laban’s. In frustration, Laban changed their
agreement ten times in order to gain the advantage.
Even so, Jacob became very rich over the years.
One day, he overheard a conversation
between his brothers-in-law. They said, “Jacob
has built his wealth by taking what really belongs
to our father.” He also noticed that Laban’s
attitude had changed towards him.
The Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land I
gave to your fathers, and I’ll be with you.”
© God Child