SCIENCE & THE BIBLE by Bolton Davidheiser, Pb.D., Chairman of the Science Division, Biola College
f ACOB had worked a long time for his uncle Laban, t e n d i n g h i s flocks. His love for Rachel was so great that he bargained for nothing else, and now that he was ready to return to Canaan he had a family but no resources. Laban did not wish to see him go, for he had prospered greatly through Jacob’s management of his flocks and he proposed that Jacob re main and work for wages. Jacob suggested that he would re move from the flock all animals of certain specified types and that his wages would be all such thereafter born into the flock. Laban agreed, and to be sure not one would be left with Jacob, he himself separated the speci fied animals. He then put them into his sons’ care at a considerable dis tance. Apparently these types were rather rare in his flocks and perhaps he even thought that no more like them would be born by the animals left in Jacob’s care. But Jacob had a plan. He took branches of young trees and peeled off some of the bark. The light-colored wrood was exposed at places where the bark was removed and it made a pattern with the darker bark which was left unpeeled. He made patterns resembling the coats of the animals which were to be his, and he placed the rods where the ewes would see them at breeding time. He even went so far as to remove the rods when weaker animals were breeding and replaced them when the stronger ani mals were present. Before long he had become wealthy at Laban’s expense, even though Laban did not abide by the original terms of the agreement and kept changing the specifications regarding the patterns which should designate Jacob’s animals. A study of thirty Bible commen taries reveals that most of the authors seem to consider this a natural phe nomenon, with the implication that it would work the same way now if repeated by modem herdsmen. A number attribute it to experience gained by Jacob during the previous years of tending his uncle’s flocks. A
few believe he was instructed by God in a vision to use the rods, while others consider his prosperity was due to God’s blessing. Of the thirty commentaries exam ined, half were published in the 19th century, before the scientific world accepted Mendel’s discovery of the fundamental laws of heredity. The other half are from 1910 to the pres ent year, including five from this decade. In each of these two categories twelve of the fifteen state or imply that Jacob’s results were the natural outcome of the method he used. Six of the thirty, three in each group, attempt to present some evidence that the result is to be expected. One of these was published as recently as 1950. It hardly seems necessary to say that this is not correct. Only three of the thirty say that it would not hap pen this way if repeated now, and contrary to what one might suppose, these are among the earliest of the commentaries. The inheritance of spotting and of various color patterns in these ani mals is rather complicated and be yond the scope of this article. It is sufficient to say that if these heredi tary factors are present in a flock, as they were in Laban’s, such animals may appear again in the very first generation after all spotted and pat terned animals have been removed. Indeed, with the appropriate crosses the flock could soon become predomi nantly any pattern desired, which is what happened. Many miracles are recorded in Scripture but each is done through divine authority. The rods seem to have been Jacob’s idea. The explana tion is given in the next chapter. Jacob’s rods did not cause the results — God saw that Jacob had been un fairly treated by Laban, and He made the appropriate crosses. Jacob was under God’s special care, as in deed are all Christians. It is a poor testimony before the world to resort to questionable means to gain a de sired end. The end does not justify the means. “Vengeance belongs to me and I will repay, saith the Lord.”
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