# 280 Be Honest and Be Cheerfully Generous

The Book of Genesis

Day 280

Ge 30:25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country.  26 "Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you."  27 And Laban said to him, "Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the LORD has blessed me for your sake."  28 Then he said, "Name me your wages, and I will give it."  29 So Jacob said to him, "You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me.  30 "For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the LORD has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?"  31 So he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks:  32 "Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages.  33 "So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me."  34 And Laban said, "Oh, that it were according to your word!"  35 So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons.  36 Then he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

Jacob has completed his 14 years of service to Laban, (the price he agreed to pay for Rachel) and he wants to go back home. But Laban pleads with him to stay a little longer because he has experienced great financial gain, as the Lord apparently has blessed Jacob’s work under Laban. He makes a generous offer to Jacob,,,,”name your wages.”

Jacob, who obviously was very gifted in animal husbandry, had turned Laban’s meager flocks into a great money making enterprise. So now in order to eventually return home with enough provision to start a new life for his large family, Jacob makes the unusual request of taking only the speckled and spotted sheep, only the brown lambs, and only the speckled and spotted goats. In short Jacob would take the less than perfect livestock, and leave all the good ones for Laban. Even those perfect ones that would come out of his imperfect flock would be given back to Laban.

Why would Jacob want to raise imperfectly colored livestock? Well, he was returning to Canaan and the markets for livestock amongst the Canaanites didn’t care about speckled, spotted, or pure.

Laban can’t contain his excitement over such a deal. You can almost picture him, rubbing his greedy hands together as he brazenly removes all the imperfect ones and gives them to his sons, basically leaving Jacob with nothing.  Then he removes them from Jacob by a full three days journey lest the imperfect pollute the perfect left in Jacob’s hands.

What a louse! How in the world is Jacob suppose to breed spotted livestock out of the unspotted? Stay tuned as we shall see God provide for Jacob even in these conditions that seem impossible in which to thrive.

In the meantime, beware of the Laban in all of us for God’s Word says: Jer 22:13 "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness And his chambers by injustice, Who uses his neighbor's service without wages And gives him nothing for his work,

And in Jas 5:1-6 we read, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!  2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.  4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

If you are an employer. pay a fair wage for your laborers and for services rendered! (And even if you are not an employer, that includes tipping where it is customary.)  I think all of our wage paying and gratuities would sweeten up bit if we realized the truth of these passages. God watches what we do with our money more carefully than we do, and we all know that He loves a cheerful giver!