Jerome

(Verse 32 and 33.) I will pass through all your flock today: separate from it all the variegated and discolored animals: and all the animals of one color will be lambs and the variegated and discolored ones will be goats, they will be my reward: and my justice will be answered to me the next day, when my reward comes before you: everything that is not variegated and discolored among the goats and lambs, will be considered as theft to me, and so on. The meaning of this passage has been greatly confused among the Septuagint Interpreters, and until today I have not been able to find any clear explanation from our scholars regarding what is meant in this passage. I will serve you, Jacob, he said, seven more years, do what I demand. Separate all the speckled and spotted, both the sheep and the goats, and give them into the hands of your sons. And from the entire flock, the white and the black animals, that is, of one color, give them to me. So if anything speckled or spotted, which are of one color, is born, it will be mine; but if anything of one color is born, it will be yours. I ask for a not difficult thing. Nature makes it so that white offspring are born from white animals, and black offspring are born from black ones: my justice will be with me, as long as God looks at my humility and labor. He eagerly seized the opportunity given by Laban, and, doing as Jacob requested, separated Jacob and his sons with a three-day journey, so that no deceitful child would be born from near the flock. Therefore, Jacob devised a new strategy and fought against the natural order of white and black livestock with his cunning. For he made three rods, of poplar, almond and pomegranate, even though the Seventy had storax, walnut and plane tree rods, partly stripping the bark, to create a variety of rod colors, so that wherever he left the bark on the rod, the ancient color would remain; but where he removed the bark, a bright color would be revealed. So Jacob observed that at the time when the flocks were mating, and after the heat of the day, when they were thirsty and eager to drink, he would place the discolored rods in the troughs. And as the rams and goats came to drink, driven by their intense desire, he would make them mate, so that from this double longing, as they eagerly drank and were mounted by the males, they would conceive offspring resembling the shadows of the rams and goats as they ascended from above in the mirror of the water. For when men and women have experienced those of varied color in the bedding, it is not surprising that this is the nature of women, that they give birth to offspring resembling those they have seen or imagined in the heat of extreme pleasure; this is said to also happen among herds of mares in Spain. And Quintilian, in a controversy where a matron was accused of giving birth to an Ethiopian, argues in defense of her that this is the nature of conceptions, as we have mentioned above. But when the kids were born, and various lambs of different colors from white and solid color herds, Jacob separated them and made them be far from the original flock. But if any were born of one color, that is, white or black, he would give them into the hands of Laban's sons, and he would place the peeled rods in the troughs where the water was poured out, and they would come to drink opposite the animals, so that they would conceive at the time when they came to drink.

(Ver. 41 and 42.) And the flocks conceived against the rods that Jacob had set before the flocks in the gutters, so that they conceived by the rods; but the sheep that were weak, he did not put the rods. And Laban's flocks were weak, but Jacob's were strong and healthy. This is not found in the Septuagint Interpreters, but instead of the weak and healthy ones, they translated something else, I don't know what, which does not make sense. But what the Scripture says is this: Jacob, wise and clever, observed justice and fairness even in a new way. For if all the ewes and goats were producing various offspring, there would be some suspicion of deceit, and openly Laban, envying this situation, would oppose it. Therefore, he managed everything in such a way that he himself would benefit from the result of his labor, and Laban would not be completely deprived. If ever the sheep and goats were bred in the early season, because the spring offspring is better, he would place rods in front of them so that diverse offspring would be born. But whatever sheep and goats were bred late and were seeking a male, he would not place objects in front of their eyes so that animals of a single color would be born. And whatever was first born belonged to him, because it was different and varied: whatever came after, belonged to Laban: for from one colored cattle, both black and white, were born. But in the place where it is written, that they conceive in rods: in Hebrew it has Jeamena (). I cannot express the force of the Hebrew word without going around it. Jeamena properly means the extreme heat in sexual intercourse, by which the whole body trembles, and is near the end of pleasurable satisfaction.

(Chapter XXXI, verses 7 and 8) And your father deceived me and changed my wages ten times, and God did not allow him to harm me. If he said, 'Your wages will be the spotted flock,' then every flock was born spotted. And if he said, 'Your wages will be the solid-colored flock,' then every flock was born solid-colored. Because of this, he changed my wages ten times. The Seventy Interpreters have stated, driven by some unknown opinion, that 'moni' in the Hebrew language means 'number' rather than 'lambs.' Finally, the meaning is further confirmed by the fact that Laban always changed the condition of each offspring. If he saw mixed livestock being born, he would say after the birth, 'I want mixed offspring in the future.' Again, when he saw single-colored animals being born (because Jacob had heard this, he did not place rods in the canals), he would say that the future offspring should be of a single color for him. And what more? Laban changed the condition of his flock or Jacob up to ten times. And whatever color he had intended to be born as, it turned into the opposite color. And so that no one may think that in ten years twenty births are incredible, read Virgil (Georg. II), in which it is said:

The pregnant cattle twice. However, it is said that the nature of Italian and Mesopotamian sheep is the same.

(Verse 27 and 28.) And he said to him: What is your name? He said, Jacob. And he said to him: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but your name shall be called Israel: for you have wrestled with God, and have prevailed with men. Josephus, in the first book of Antiquities, thinks that Israel was called so because he wrestled with an angel. I carefully examined this, but I could not find it at all in Hebrew. And why should I seek the opinions of individuals, when the one who gave the name explains the etymology himself? He said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel will be your name.' Why? Aquila interprets it as 'because you have begun with God,' Symmachus as 'because I will start towards God,' the Septuagint and Theodotio as 'because you have prevailed with God.' Sarith (which is derived from the word Israel) means 'prince.' Therefore, the meaning is: Your name will not be supplanter, that is, Jacob, but your name will be prince with God, that is, Israel. For just as I am a prince, so you, who were able to wrestle with me, shall be called a prince. But if you were able to wrestle with me, who am God or an angel (for many interpret it differently), how much more so with humans, that is, with Esau, whom you should not fear! However, that which is interpreted as 'Israel' in the book of Numbers, 'a man who sees God' or 'a mind that sees God', seems to me to have been interpreted not so truly, but rather forcefully, in the common speech. For here Israel, as it is written in these letters, is spelled Iod, Sin, Res, Aleph, Lamed, which means Prince of God, or Direct of God, that is, εὐθύτατος Θεοῦ. But the word for "seeing" God is spelled Aleph, Iod, Sin, so that it is written with three letters and pronounced Is (), while "seeing" is spelled with three letters, Res, Aleph, He, and pronounced Raa (). And El () is formed by two letters, Aleph and Lamed, and it means God, or strong. Although, therefore, they are of great authority, and the shadow of their eloquence oppresses us, who have transformed the man, or rather the mind perceiving God, into the Israel: we are rather led by the authority of Scripture, and of the Angels, or of God, who called him Israel, than by any worldly eloquence. That which also follows afterwards: