Genesis 30:43

"And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses."

Thus, as God had promised, he was indeed "with Jacob," and blessed him abundantly. Several other interesting things appear in the chapter:

1. Jacob's sons were now grown up sufficiently to enable Jacob's employment of them as shepherds.
   
2. The ringstreaked, speckled, spotted and black sheep and cattle were separated from the main flock by a three days' journey, some fifty miles away. Jacob clearly did not trust Laban at all.
   
3. The semi-pagan beliefs of Laban appear in Genesis 30:27, where he said, "I have divined that Jehovah hath blessed me for thy sake." The Pharaohs of Egypt used sacred cups by which they divined, a thing mentioned by Joseph in Egypt when Jacob's posterity went to buy grain. We are not told here HOW Laban did it.
   

This exceedingly important section of Genesis presents the Twelve Patriarchs, fathers of the Twelve Tribes, from whom Christ himself named his holy church, calling it "The Twelve Tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28). Along with the Twelve Apostles of the New Dispensation, these are also symbolically presented in Revelation as "The Four and Twenty Elders on Their Thrones before God" (Revelation 11:16).

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

The providence of God is evident everywhere in the Bible, but especially in this narrative concerning Jacob and the beginnings of Israel. We noted that it was God's providence that caused the ring-streaked, spotted, and speckled cattle, along with the black sheep, having as its purpose the enrichment of Jacob. At the same time, the hardships of Jacob were designed to harden and temper his character for the responsibility incumbent upon him. But God also over-ruled the fertility of Jacob's wives, giving the greater number of children to Leah, who was actually more suitable to be the mother of patriarchs. We appreciate what Willis said about this:

"The statement here (Genesis 30:22) that God opened Rachel's womb again affirms the inspired Biblical faith that God is personally and actively involved in human conception and birth, and that this process is not merely a natural phenomenon."[2]

The divine force that shaped the destiny of the Chosen People was exercised without regard to human preference, using and overruling the most obstinate wickedness to achieve God's purpose. How wonderful it would have been if the chief actors in that historical drama had been able fully to trust God and to believe in their hearts that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:25). But we fear that, like ourselves, Jacob and his family were often resentful and fretful from the things they endured. Long after these events, while standing before Pharaoh, Jacob complained, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life" (Genesis 47:9). Our hearts reach out in sympathy and understanding in this poignant record of the tribulations of Israel in its beginnings.