And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle.
40. set the faces Laban ] This is a very obscure sentence in the original. It probably describes a second device practised by Jacob. At the breeding time he caused the ewes which belonged to Laban to pasture within view of his own parti-coloured and black animals, in order to increase the tendency of Laban’s flock to produce spotted and parti-coloured lambs. The difficulty, however, of the language has made some scholars suppose that the words “and set of Laban” are a gloss. As they stand, they seem to contradict Gen 30:33 ; Gen 30:36, according to which Laban had already removed to a distance the parti-coloured animals.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 40. Jacob did separate the lambs, c.] When Jacob undertook the care of Laban’s flock, according to the agreement already mentioned, there were no party-coloured sheep or goats among them, therefore the ring-streaked, &c., mentioned in this verse, must have been born since the agreement was made and Jacob makes use of them precisely as he used the pilled rods, that, having these before their eyes during conception, the impression might be made upon their imagination which would lead to the results already mentioned.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Jacob did separate the lambs, such as were ring-straked and brown from the white, as it here follows. He caused
the ring-straked and all the brown to go foremost, and the white to follow them, that by the continued beholding of them in the time of their conjunction, they might have their colour more imprinted upon their fancies, and thereby convey it to their young ones. He
put them not unto Labans cattle; which he did upon the same reason, lest the constant beholding of them should make them bring forth the like, i.e. single-coloured ones.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Jacob did separate the lambs,…. The ringstraked, speckled, and spotted;
and set the faces of the flocks, that were all white,
towards the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; either to go before those that were all white, that they by looking at them might conceive and bring forth such, which was another artifice of Jacob’s to increase his own sheep; or else he set at the water troughs the white sheep on one side of them, and on the opposite side the speckled ones, c. that the same effect might also be produced the more successfully both by the rods and by the speckled lambs:
and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle partly that they might not be mixed together, but kept distinct, that what was his property might be discerned from Laban’s; and partly, lest his spotted ones, being mixed with Laban’s white sheep, by continual looking at them, should conceive and bring forth such likewise, and so his flocks be lessened.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(40) Jacob . . . set the faces of the flocks toward . . . As the speckled lambs and kids would for some time remain with Labaus flocks, this may perhaps mean that, when driving them to water, Jacob placed all the striped kids and dark lambs together, that, by being in a mass, they might work upon the imagination of the ewes and she-goats. Finally, after these had conceived he drove the parti-coloured young away to his own flocks.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
40. Separate the lambs That is, the lambs produced after the separation mentioned in Gen 30:35. These ringstreaked lambs were, as a second artifice, made like the rods to serve his purpose .
Put his own flocks by themselves As he had a right to do . Laban’s cattle here denote those of uniform color in the flocks tended by Jacob .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 30:40. And Jacob, &c. After the success which attended his use of the pilled rods, he took care to keep what belonged to Laban separate from those lambs which, by agreement, belonged to himself; at the same time placing his ring-straked, &c. in the face or front of Laban’s flock, that by that means also the flock might continue to bring forth party-coloured lambs. And now, finding his cattle increase, he began to be more curious about the breed; and therefore, Gen 30:41 he placed the rods only before the stronger.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 30:40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle.
Ver. 40. And set the faces of the flocks, &c. ] That by the sight of the speckled cattle they might bring forth lambs like them that were in their eye.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 30:40. Jacob set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked Having used the pilled rods by divine direction, and seeing the effects they produced, he here employs his own natural sagacity, and turns the faces of Labans flocks toward the ring-streaked and the brown, that by looking frequently on them, they might be disposed in their conception to bring forth the like. And he put his own flocks apart, lest, by looking at Labans, their young might fall off from being ring-streaked and brown.