Genesis 30 — Sketch

Well, This Is Weird

Big idea:

• Rachel and Leah compete for Jacob’s love by providing him with children — sometimes with surrogate mothers.

• In the end, Jacob has 11 sons and one daughter.

• Jacob wants to leave Laban and return home with his new family, but Laban convinces him to stay by letting him take the speckled livestock for himself.

• Laban cheats Jacob by giving the speckled flocks to his own sons before Jacob can claim them.

• Jacob peels stripes into the bark of tree branches and places the striped branches by his flock’s watering troughs.

• Somehow, this encourages his flocks to mate, and he breeds strong, speckled flocks for himself.

• Jacob becomes wealthy.

Jesus in This Chapter:

This is a stretch, but Jacob used stripes on wood to create an abundance of life among his flocks. Jesus had his back "striped" with whips and was then killed on a wooden cross, and that act has given abundant life to His flock — us.

(Originally drawn August 8, 2010)