#86 Odds Genesis 30

So he said, "what shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "you shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages. So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me." And Laban said, Oh that it were according to your word!" So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, everyone that had some white in it, all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hands of his sons. Then he put three days journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. Genesis 30: 31-36 NKJV

It would appear that Jacob's request is a favorable one to Laban because the odds are genetically against Jacob. Both men seem to be knowledgable in this, but Jacob is counting on the Lord's favor. I don't think the animals were less desirable, but rather less likely. Jacob raises the stakes even higher when he separates the animals, with these apparently recessive genes, from the rest of the herd. I think this seals the deal in Laban's mind because Jacob is removing these animals from the breeding population and is making it even more difficult to selectively breed for these traits. He puts three days journey between the herds, and Jacob stays with Laban's normal looking animals. 

Modern society tends to view its early ancestors as primitive, and maybe in regards to technology there is some basis, but in terms of entropy and overall fitness I tend to think they dwarf us. The modern model appears to me to be upside down. I think both of these men had an understanding of the difficulty of Jacob's proposition, and there was really nothing cunning about it on Jacob's part. It was, if anything, a foolish business proposal. But if Jacob was aware of all these things and he was the worldly wise and shrewd character we had seen scheming in the past, then why such a gamble? Well if you take a completely naturalist view of this then the verses finishing out this chapter will baffle and confound you. You will be left with speculation or as I once thought, a ridiculous story that shows the Bible to be no different than any other man made, primitive legend. There was one thing in the proposal that Jacob could bank on from a naturalist stance and that was his uncles greed. It was guaranteed that he would like this arrangement, and there is the matter. One knows that it is not possible to lose based upon logical calculation, and the other knows God is with him. 

Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. If he said thus: 'the speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: 'the streaked shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked. So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. Genesis 31: 7-9 NKJV