The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Genesis 30:30-34, “’For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?’
31 So he said, ‘What shall I give you?’ And Jacob said, ‘You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock:
32 let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
33 ‘So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.’
34 Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’”

Jacob’s conversation with his father-in-law, Laban, is mysterious, to say the least. Laban has asked Jacob what wages (other than Laban’s eldest daughter) should be Jacob’s. Surprisingly, Jacob responded saying, “…my honesty will answer for me later…”

The difficulty determining Jacob’s wages is not easily understood. Jacob had devised a scheme: he would allow Laban to survey the entire flock of sheep and goats. Jacob would accept only the “speckled and spotted sheep, lambs and goats” as his wages.

What Laban did not know was that Jacob had cleverly devised a means whereby the speckled and spotted animals of his choosing mated more often than the non-spotted animals, giving him a decided advantage in the numbers comprising his wages. Yet, he had said, “my honesty will answer for me later.”

We need to be careful how we behave when we insert “honesty” into our bargains. In fact, we need to be careful saying “I know” or even intimate knowledge of things of which we are not fully aware. We will one day stand before the Judge of all the earth and give an account.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom