Hey Everyone,
It's no surprise that my mind is a rather wonky place to be. This was the result of some things I've been talking to God about lately.
As we watch all the craziness of the world around us, and especially, what some call economic collapse, I often think of the story of how Laban (the father of Leah and Rachel, and brother of Rebekah, Isaac's mother,) changed Jacob's (the father of the 12 tribes of Israel's) wages while he worked for him.
In Genesis 30 (starting at verse 31,) Jacob tells Laban that he will continue to watch Laban's flocks (which have increased greatly under Jacob's care,) and asks that he would receive "all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones from the lambs, and all the spotted and speckled among the goats, and these shall be my wages."
This was also proof that Jacob had earned these animals, as any among his flock without a speckle or spot would be considered stolen.
I've read that there is some debate as to how much Jacob's placement of various rods in front of the animals while they conceived had anything to do with it, but as one could guess, the flocks began producing streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring.
When Jacob eventually had to flee from Laban, he pointed out that: "You have changed my wages ten times. Unless the God of my father the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."
Likewise, as we watch things seem to always get worse around us, I always hold to the hope that God still sees the afflictions and labors of His people, that He will rebuke the ones who are cheating them, and that He will not send His people away empty-handed. (Not that we will be wealthy in this life, but that God will provide what we need.)
I'm convinced that if Laban would have said he'd give Jacob all the pink, polka-dotted, or star-patterned sheep, we all know what kinds of lambs those sheep would have started bearing!!
And so, just for fun (this is how my mind works)...
If Laban would have said that that Jacob's wages would be all the horizontally striped sheep -- which way would the sheep have to be facing in order for the stripes to count as horizontal?!
As a visual demonstration, the stripes on the left are horizontal -- the stripes on the right are vertical.
For human beings, it's said that stripes can make a person look taller and slimmer or shorter and heavier, depending on the direction and size of the stripes.
What about with sheep?
Now I'm guessing the sheep aren't too concerned about whether they look short and fat or tall and skinny, but which way would the sheep have to be in order to gauge if the stripes as horizontal or vertical?
Would the sheep have to be standing?
In these pictures, at first glance, these stripes look vertical.
But you can see in the first picture, on the back leg, some of those stripes COULD be seen as horizontal!
So which stripes would count?!
And, what happens if we turned the sheep from tail to nose?
If we turn the sheep this way, vertical stripes would then be seen as horizontal!!!
So which way do YOU think the stripes should go in order to be considered Jacob's proper wages?!
Yes, I know this is an outlandish, ridiculous question, but I don't know about you -- life has been pretty outlandish and ridiculous lately, so why not create a thread to match!
I'm going to write a multiple-choice, we-can-see-your-answers, just-for-fun poll -- but the number of answers are limited, so please come back to defend your choices -- and to voice any additional thoughts!
Thank you all for playing along in answering this VERY IMPORTANT question as we thank our God for ALWAYS providing...
No matter which way the stripes face!
It's no surprise that my mind is a rather wonky place to be. This was the result of some things I've been talking to God about lately.
As we watch all the craziness of the world around us, and especially, what some call economic collapse, I often think of the story of how Laban (the father of Leah and Rachel, and brother of Rebekah, Isaac's mother,) changed Jacob's (the father of the 12 tribes of Israel's) wages while he worked for him.
In Genesis 30 (starting at verse 31,) Jacob tells Laban that he will continue to watch Laban's flocks (which have increased greatly under Jacob's care,) and asks that he would receive "all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones from the lambs, and all the spotted and speckled among the goats, and these shall be my wages."
This was also proof that Jacob had earned these animals, as any among his flock without a speckle or spot would be considered stolen.
I've read that there is some debate as to how much Jacob's placement of various rods in front of the animals while they conceived had anything to do with it, but as one could guess, the flocks began producing streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring.
When Jacob eventually had to flee from Laban, he pointed out that: "You have changed my wages ten times. Unless the God of my father the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."
Likewise, as we watch things seem to always get worse around us, I always hold to the hope that God still sees the afflictions and labors of His people, that He will rebuke the ones who are cheating them, and that He will not send His people away empty-handed. (Not that we will be wealthy in this life, but that God will provide what we need.)
I'm convinced that if Laban would have said he'd give Jacob all the pink, polka-dotted, or star-patterned sheep, we all know what kinds of lambs those sheep would have started bearing!!
And so, just for fun (this is how my mind works)...
If Laban would have said that that Jacob's wages would be all the horizontally striped sheep -- which way would the sheep have to be facing in order for the stripes to count as horizontal?!
As a visual demonstration, the stripes on the left are horizontal -- the stripes on the right are vertical.
For human beings, it's said that stripes can make a person look taller and slimmer or shorter and heavier, depending on the direction and size of the stripes.
What about with sheep?
Now I'm guessing the sheep aren't too concerned about whether they look short and fat or tall and skinny, but which way would the sheep have to be in order to gauge if the stripes as horizontal or vertical?
Would the sheep have to be standing?
In these pictures, at first glance, these stripes look vertical.
But you can see in the first picture, on the back leg, some of those stripes COULD be seen as horizontal!
So which stripes would count?!And, what happens if we turned the sheep from tail to nose?
If we turn the sheep this way, vertical stripes would then be seen as horizontal!!!
So which way do YOU think the stripes should go in order to be considered Jacob's proper wages?!
Yes, I know this is an outlandish, ridiculous question, but I don't know about you -- life has been pretty outlandish and ridiculous lately, so why not create a thread to match!
I'm going to write a multiple-choice, we-can-see-your-answers, just-for-fun poll -- but the number of answers are limited, so please come back to defend your choices -- and to voice any additional thoughts!
Thank you all for playing along in answering this VERY IMPORTANT question as we thank our God for ALWAYS providing...
No matter which way the stripes face!
