Genesis 31:12

Gen 31:12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle [are] ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

Ver. 12. I have seen all that Laban doeth.] And am resolved to fleece him for thy hire. Gain ill got will burn men’s fingers, and burn through their purses. Yea, the greater wealth, the greater spoil awaits such misers; as a tree with thick and large boughs, every man desires to lop it. {See Trapp on "Gen 31:10"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 31:12. I have seen all that Laban doeth to thee — If we attend to this vision we cannot but see reason to conclude that it was really communicated to Jacob at this time to make use of the speckled rods; for here is a plain declaration that God would effect the thing, and the reason why; because he had seen Laban’s ungenerous and unfair dealing toward Jacob, and therefore was resolved to punish him for it, and at the same time reward Jacob for his fidelity and contentedness under these injuries.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 12. Grisled] ברדים beruddim; ברד barad signifies hail, and the meaning must be, they had white spots on them similar to hail. Our word grisled comes from the old French, gresl, hail, now written gràle; hence greslé, grisled, spotted with white upon a dark ground.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(12) Grisled.—That is, covered with spots like hailstones, the word “grisled” being derived from the French grêle, hail. Others derive the word from gris, grisaille, grey.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I am the God of Bethel,.... The same Angel that appeared to Jacob in a dream, at the beginning of his six years' servitude, now appeared to him at the close of it, declaring himself to be the God of Bethel; or that God that manifested himself to him at Bethel, as Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase the words; for this is a distinct vision from that in the preceding verses, concerning the rams of different colours, and are both put together for the sake of brevity, and because they belong to the same affair:

where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: See Gill on Gen 28:19, Gen 28:20; hereby signifying the divine approbation of the name Jacob gave to that place, and of what he did in it, and to put him in mind of his promise there made:

now arise, get thee out from this land: of Mesopotamia, or Syria, and out of Haran, a city there, where Jacob now was, and Laban lived:

and return unto the land of thy kindred: to the land of Canaan, the place of his nativity, and where his relations dwelt: this shows, that this appearance of God to him, as the God of Bethel, was at the close of his six years' service.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Are of divers colours. Their fancy was strongly impressed with thee various colours, in consequence of the pilled rods, which they beheld: and which Jacob was directed by the angel to place in the troughs. --- I have seen with displeasure, the injustice of Laban; (Haydock) and therefore, I, the Lord of all things, authorize thee to act in this manner. By this vision, the justice of Jacob would appear; and the authority for removing, given in a second vision, would suffice to induce the two principal wives of Jacob to give their consent to leave their father’s house, and to begin a long journey. During the last six years, Providence had given no increase of family, that the little children might be no impediment to the removal. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

12. All that Laban doeth — Or, rather, all that he is doing. God’s interposition had been to punish Laban for his unnatural and narrow policy towards his own children, not to show favour to Jacob’s deception. In their natural lives and works both Laban and Jacob were bad enough, but in this case Laban was the aggressor in taking undue advantage, and Jacob’s action was a policy of self-defence.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. Since all the parti-colored animals had already been removed, (Gen_30:35) this vision must have been intended to assure him that the flocks would produce speckled and spotted progeny all the same as if the ringstraked and grisled rams and he-goats had not been removed from their midst (cf. Kurtz, To insist upon a contradiction between this account of the increase of Jacob"s flocks and that mentioned in Gen_30:37 is to forget that both may be true. Equally arbitrary does it seem to be to accuse Jacob of fraud in adopting the artifice of the pilled rods (Kalisch) Without resorting to the supposition that he acted under God s guidance (Wordsworth), we may believe that the dream suggested the expedient referred to, in which some see Jacob"s unbelief and impatience (Kurtz, Gosman in Lange), and others a praiseworthy instance of self-help (Keil). For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. If the preceding clause appears to imply that the vision was sent to Jacob at the beginning of the six years" service, the present clause scents to point to the end of that period as the date of its occurrence; in which case it would require to be understood as a Divine intimation to Jacob that his immense wealth was not to be ascribed to the success of his own stratagem, but to the blessing of God (Delitzsch). The difficulty of harmonizing the two views has led to the suggestion that Jacob here mixes the accounts of two different visions accorded to him, at the commencement and at the close of the period of servitude (Nachmanides, Rosenm Kurtz, Commentary," Murphy, Candlish).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

The angel of the Lord continues to talk to Jacob. (See: Genesis 31:10)

Lift up your eyes

This is a way of saying "Look up." (See: Idiom)

that are breeding with the flock

Here "flock" stands for only the female goats. AT: "that are breeding with the female goats of the flock" (See: Synecdoche)

are striped, speckled, and spotted

"have stripes and spots"

where you anointed a pillar

Jacob poured oil on the pillar to dedicate it to God. (See: Symbolic Action)

the land of your birth

"the land where you were born"

translationWords

goat

Laban

God

Bethel

anoint

column

vow

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.