I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire.
32. I will pass, &c.] Jacob’s proposal to Laban is that he should serve for a wage, to be given, not in money, but in animals. The sheep in Syria are nearly always white, and the goats black; cf. Son 4:1. Jacob asks that his wage should consist of the sheep that were not white and the goats that were not black. Laban’s flocks would be, according to this arrangement, the great mass of the animals. To Jacob’s share would fall the exceptions, the spotted and black among the sheep, the spotted and speckled among the goats.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 32. I will pass through all thy flock] tson, implying, as we have before seen, all smaller cattle, such as sheep, goats, c.
All the speckled and spotted cattle] seh, which we translate cattle, signifies the young either of sheep or goats, what we call a lamb or a kid. Speckled, nakod, signifies interspersed with variously coloured spots.
Spotted] talu, spotted with large spot either of the same or different colours, from tala, to patch, to make party-coloured or patch-work see Eze 16:16. I have never seen such sheep as are here described but in the islands of Zetland. There I have seen the most beautiful brown, or fine chocolate colour among the sheep; and several of the ring-streaked, spotted, speckled, and piebald among the same; and some of the latter description I have brought over, and can exhibit a specimen of Jacob’s flock brought from the North Seas, feeding in Middlesex.
And all the brown] chum. I should rather suppose this to signify a lively brown, as the root signifies to be warm or hot.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Speckled and spotted cattle, which may seem to be thus distinguished; speckled with little spots, and spotted with greater spots or stains, both of diverse colours from the rest of the body. Or, the speckled may be the same with the ring-straked, by comparing this with Gen 30:35.
All the brown cattle; or black, or dark-coloured; for the Hebrew word signifies also great heat which produceth such a colour.
Of such shall be my hire; or, then shall be my hire; and for then, as is frequent in Scripture. The sense is: Then, when the speckled, and spotted, and brown are separated, and none but white remaining, my hire shall be out of those white ones, and that in such manner as is expressed in Gen 30:33, all the white young ones shall be thine, and the speckled, and spotted, and brown which shall be brought forth by those white ones shall be mine.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. I will pass through all thyflock to-dayEastern sheep being generally white, the goatsblack, and spotted or speckled ones comparatively few and rare, Jacobproposed to remove all existing ones of that description from theflock, and to be content with what might appear at the next lambingtime. The proposal seemed so much in favor of Laban, that heat once agreed to it. But Jacob has been accused of taking advantageof his uncle, and though it is difficult to exculpate him frompractising some degree of dissimulation, he was only availing himselfof the results of his great skill and experience in the breeding ofcattle. But it is evident from the next chapter (Ge31:5-13) that there was something miraculous and that the meanshe had employed had been suggested by a divine intimation.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will pass through all thy flock today,…. Not alone, but Laban and his sons with him;
removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle; that is, such as were black and had white spots on them, or were white and had black spots on them; and the “speckled”, according to Jarchi and Ben Melech, were such as had small spots on them; and the “spotted” were such as had larger:
and all the brown cattle among the sheep; the russet coloured ones, or the “black” o ones, as some render it; and so Aben Ezra, and who makes mention of another sort, called “barud”, which signifies spotted with white spots like hailstones, but is not to be found in the text here, but in Ge 31:10; and besides coincide with those before described:
and the spotted and speckled among the goats: that had larger and lesser spots upon them as the sheep;
and [of such] shall be my hire; not those that were now in the flock, but such as were like them, that should be brought forth for the time to come; which seems to be a strange proposal, and what was not likely to turn out much to the advantage of Jacob; but he knew what he did, and very probably was directed of God, if not in a vision, yet by an impulse on his mind, that such a method would be right, and would succeed; see Ge 31:10.
o “nigrum”, Montanus, Fagius; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 98. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(32) The speckled and spotted cattle (sheep).In the East sheep are generally white, and goats black or brown. Jacob, therefore, proposes that all such shall belong to Laban, but that the parti-coloured should be his hire. By speckled are meant those sheep and goats that had small spots upon their coats, and by spotted, those that had large patches of another colour. Besides these, Jacob is to have all brown cattle, that is, sheep, for the word cattle is usually now confined to kine, which was not the case 200 years ago. This translation is taken from Rashi, but the word usually signifies black. Philippsohn says that black sheep are seldom seen in the East, but that sheep of a blackish-red colour are common. In Gen. 30:35 we have another word, ring-straked, that is, having the colours in stripes. This is never the case with sheep, but goats often have their coats thus definitely marked.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. Brown cattle among the sheep spotted and speckled among the goats The Syrian sheep are said to be usually all white, and the goats black or brown . This seems to have been the case with Laban’s flocks, so that Jacob’s proposition would leave Laban with by far the larger proportion of the flocks and their probable increase .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 30:32. Speckled and spotted The speckled cattle were those marked with little points or pricks, which the Greeks called . The spotted were those marked with broader and larger spots, such as are often seen in the Eastern cattle especially. There were two other sorts (see ch. Gen 31:10.); 1st, The ring-straked; that is, marked with spots or strakes, as by binding with cords. Symmachus renders it white-footed; and the Targums, having marks on their feet. Bishop Patrick says it signifies, most properly, spots, or rather circles or rings about their feet and legs. 2nd, The Grisled, which signifies marked with white spots, like hail upon black or any other colour, for (barad) is hail.
Of such shall be my hire Jacob’s bargain was this: that all the party-coloured sheep and goats should be removed from Laban’s flocks under his care, and that he would from that time require for his wages only such party-coloured ones as should be produced by the white or uniformly coloured cattle: a bargain apparently so advantageous, that Laban joyfully acquiesced in it, Gen 31:34. Accordingly the division was made, and the flocks were separated three days journey from each other, that they might have no intercourse. The bargain too was no less acceptable to Jacob, as it would afford a visible demonstration of God’s interposition in his behalf, and consequently a full proof of his righteousness, Gen 31:33 i.e.. his fair and just dealing with Laban. Nor do I conceive that the least reasonable charge of over-reaching and treachery can be brought against Jacob for what he did, as mentioned in the subsequent verses: for it is evident that the whole was the work of God, who punished the injustice of Laban by giving the best of his flocks to Jacob. And as it is clear that a vision was made to Jacob, (see ch. Gen 31:10, &c.) probably before he thought of the method used, so it is reasonable to believe that God himself instructed him in the use of that method. But then, it may be asked, Is that method really efficacious or not, to produce the end which we are informed it produced? We think not: but God might be pleased to enjoin it on Jacob as a trial of his faith, and as an external and visible sign of his immediate interposition; as he has been often pleased to attach efficacy to signs, otherwise and in themselves utterly unavailable to the end proposed. In this view Jacob is wholly exculpated, and we cannot well account for the transaction upon any other hypothesis; since, had it been a merely natural effect of the pilled rods that such cattle were brought forth, it is probable Laban would not have been ignorant of it, and that similar effects would have since followed from the same cause. Shuckford is of the same opinion with us: “God being determined,” says he, “to reward Jacob’s fidelity, and punish Laban’s injustice, revealed to him in a dream, (ch. Gen 31:10.) that the cattle should be speckled and spotted, and directed him to use these pilled rods as a testimony of his dependance on God. Jacob accordingly obeyed; no more thinking that the laying pilled rods was a natural way to cause the cattle to bring forth speckled young, than Naaman did, that washing in the river Jordan was a cure for the leprosy.” See ch. Gen 31:16.
There follows, between this and the thirty-seventh verse, in the Samaritan copy, a paragraph similar to that in the next chapter, Gen 31:11, &c. concerning the angel’s appearance to Jacob: and as that event is related by him there as a matter which had he fallen him before, it is not improbable that the relation might be in its proper place here: in which view, it still more confirms our opinion of God’s revealing this method of proceeding to Jacob; by which he is entirely exculpated; though, without this insertion from the Samaritan, the whole appears sufficiently plain from ch. Gen 31:11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 30:32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire.
Ver. 32. And of such shall be my hire. ] As white and black sheep were most set by in Mesopotamia, so were the variously coloured in Palestine, Jacob’s country; whence the shepherds there are called Nochudim , Amo 1:1 that is, keepers of spotted cattle. This might be a reason why Jacob desires to be paid in such; and, perhaps, had learned that skill there which he used in the following verses.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
of such: Gen 30:35, Gen 31:8, Gen 31:10
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 30:32. Removing all the speckled and spotted He does not mean, that those cattle which were already speckled and spotted, &c., should be given him; for that does not agree with what went before: Thou shalt not give me any thing, that is, I will take nothing that is now thine. Besides, it would have been no wonder if those that were spotted already should bring forth others like themselves. But the sense is, that he would separate all the spotted sheep and goats, and then, out of those which were of one colour, would have all that should fall hereafter of the before-mentioned variety. Jacob desired to make a clear bargain, about which they might have no disputes. Had they agreed for a particular number of cattle every year, there might have been room for cavil and suspicions; for if any of the flock had by accident been lost, they might have differed whether Jacobs or Labans were the lost cattle. But, to prevent all possible disputes, Let me, says Jacob, have all the speckled and spotted cattle, and then, whenever you have a mind to look into my stock, my integrity will come before your face, or be conspicuous, which is the meaning of the next verse.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
30:32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: {i} and [of such] shall be my hire.
(i) That which is spotted, from now on.