British-israel.us -- Did Jacob Use Corrals With Aphrodisiacs to Selectively Breed Spotted Goats and Sheep?

Genesis chapters 29-31 Star Chart: Clockwise from when Jacob "looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three (lunar) flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the (lunar) flocks: and a great (solar) stone was upon the well's mouth" (29:2) and "Jacob (Aquarius) went near, and rolled the (lunar) stone from the (Capricorn) well's mouth, and (Crater and Aquarius) (white radius) watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother" in 1714 B.C. till Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter" ending in 1707 B.C. (29:18) is 84° months (7 x 12 = 84°) "when the Lord saw that Leah was hated", and "he opened her (lunar) womb: but Rachel was barren" (29:31) (half moon is half black and half white) till Jacob "served with him yet seven other years" for Leah (29:30) ending in 1700 B.C. is 168° months (84 + 84 = 168°) when "God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her (lunar) womb" (29:22) in 1694 B.C. till "Jacob took him (green radius) rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the (white radius) rods" (30:37). "And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the (lunar) eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the (white radius) rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle" (30:41-43) and saw in a dream "all the (lunar crescent-horned) rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled" (lunar black and white) (31:12) (selective breeding) and "he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan" (31:18) in 1694 B.C. is "twenty years" (31:41) (7 + 7 + 6 = 20). Each of these three segments also represents Leah's "week" (29:27) of seven days, Rachel's week of seven days and Laban's six days of pursuit till God "rebuked" him (31:23-25,42).

Since the first seven years had been prior to his two marriages, all of his eleven sons and one daughter must have been born during a seven-year period ending in 1700 B.C. when he asked Laban to dismiss him. The dominant color traits in Laban's flocks and herds were evidently white among the sheep, black among the goats, and brown among the cattle. Most of the animals were of these colors, but there were a few that were spotted and speckled among the cattle and goats, and brown among the sheep. It was of these that Jacob's pay would be. Water treated with a chemical may have served as an aphrodisiac and fertility promoter among the cattle [and other animals]. At least one such chemical substance found in these trees has been used for such a purpose in both ancient and modern times. He used the rods in the troughs when the stronger animals drank, but not when the weaker ones came there. Thus the stronger animals were stimulated to mate, and the others were not. This measure constituted a sound practice of animal husbandry.

Jacob agreed to keep feeding and tending the flocks if he could have all the spotted and speckled sheep and goats. The Biblical story describes how Jacob had a dream in which God instructed him to use only spotted rams for breeding, and this resulted in a flock that soon consisted almost entirely of spotted offspring. This Biblical reference is one of the oldest documented examples of selective breeding. To accomplish his purposes, Jacob built corrals at the watering spots and confined selected ewes with a spotted (lunar crescent-horned) ram.

Whiteness in sheep is dominant, color is recessive. What that means, essentially, is that there are sheep that will appear white that nevertheless carry a gene for color. They are called heterozygous. What Jacob realized, being smart and living with sheep and breeding them for years, is that even "pure" white sheep that bred sometimes had colored offspring (as would be expected in heterozygous white sheep).

Where this diverged from accepted breeding knowledge of the time was that the farmers thought that white was "pure" and that color would "spackle" the white, so to speak. Laban thought that by removing all the colored sheep from the flock, there would be no color to "depurify" the white sheep. This was a mistake. In fact, had Laban wanted to strip Jacob of all ability to profit, he would have made white sheep the payment, and removed all the white sheep from the flock. At that point, another white sheep would never have been born.

As Jacob selectively breeded (through the use of aphrodisiacs and corrals) the white sheep with the colored, he increased the incidence of heterozygous genotype/white phenotype sheep, which, in turn increased the incidence of colored offspring, until the majority of the sheep were colored, and there were no homozygous dominant left in the herd.

Think of this in terms of eye color, which may help explain it: Brown is dominant, blue recessive. You can have a blue-eyed child born to parents who both have Brown eyes; if both parents are hybrid/heterozygous brown (Bb), an estimated 25% of their offpsring will be bb, and have blue eyes.

The same of the sheep. Pure White (W) is dominant. Taking out the ww sheep (the homozygous recessive spotted ones) still left Ww sheep in the flock. Heterozygous sheep tend to be stronger and more virile breeders. So, when Jacob mates the stronger sheep together, he’s mating heterozygous Ww. The expected result of such a pairing is that only one in four offspring will appear colored, but only one in four offspring will actually be “pure” white. The other three carry the recessive gene.

Now, in the next generation, mate a Ww with a ww, and you get a 50% chance of ww offspring and 50% chance of Ww offspring, and 100% chance that you have NO WW (pure white) in the litter.

Over time and (sheep) generations, you can essentially eliminate the pure white WW from the flock, and continually increase the number of ww spotted sheep in the gene pool.

Jacob and Laban reached an agreement that from that day forward, all of the goats and sheep (livestock) born into Jacobs' herd that were not solid white would be Jacob's. Now this would be very difficult after Laban removed all animals with any color from the herd Jacob was tending and sent them off three days journey away. I believe that Jacob knew, and we now know, that some of the animals carry a heterozygous (recessive) gene (color) even while appearing to be homozygous (dominate) solid white.

Now the first couple of years must have been very slow and frustrating while a small number of colored animals were born. But after a couple of years when Jacob got some colored males in the herd he began to breed all of the best animals with males that were dominate colored. This sharply increased the number of colored animals in the herd. Add to this the use of some kind of aphrodisiac in the watering troughs, which induced the females into "heat" allowing the selective breeding of the best, strongest, healthiest animals. The rods probably contained some substance that increased the estrus in the herd.

Today we have similar substances that come in a bottle, are injected into the animal and are very effective in starting the estrus. In cattle herds and swine herds, it is common to inject a certain number of animals that the operation intends to breed for a given period of time, in that way inducing the estrus at a time convenient for the operator. All of this is exactly what I understand Jacob to have been doing with the peeled rods in the drinking troughs.

The end results were that after six years Jacob had a herd of colored animals, with very few if any of the white animals left. By the 4th or 5th year every animal born in the herd was showing some sign of color, because the selective breeding on Jacob's part meant that every animal carried the colored genetics. Even the white female animals were throwing colored offspring because of the colored males used as sires and the fact that the females carried a recessive trait for color.

To put it another way, only the striped, speckled, and mottled males were mating, none of the rest.

Now this we know to be a very significant factor in determining the characteristics of the offspring. “Like father, like son,” we say. God was working on a premise that is scientifically proven. How was it that only the striped, speckled, and mottled males were mating? Simple. God appointed it to be so in order that Laban’s wealth would be passed on to Jacob.

Also a man who did not have sons of his own could adopt a near relative, who would then become his son. At times this “son” would be given a daughter in marriage by his new “father.” If the father later had sons of his own, the inheritance would have to be divided among these heirs in some fashion. The son who had the rights of the firstborn and, therefore, headship over the family, would in that culture, be given the household gods, which would signify his headship.

“The adoption tablet of Nashwi son of Arshenni: He adopted Wullu son of Puhishenni. As long as Nashwi lives, Wullu shall give (him) food and clothing. When Nashwi dies, Wullu shall be the heir. Should Nashwi beget a son, (the latter) shall divide equally with Wullu but (only) Nashwi’s son shall take Nashwi’s gods. But if there be no son of Nashwi’s, then Wullu shall take Nashwi’s gods. And (Nashwi) has given his daughter Nahuya as wife to Wullu. And if Wullu takes another wife, he forfeits Nashwi’s land and buildings. Whoever breaks the contract shall pay one mina of silver (and) one mina of gold.”

After citing this translation of tablet G51 from a Nuzu tablet, Vos goes on to suggest this interpretation of what took place in the Jacob-Laban contest:

“The interpretation would then run something like this. Laban adopted Jacob (at least he made him a member of his household and made him heir, sealing the transaction by giving Jacob a daughter to be his wife. As long as Laban lived, Jacob had the responsibility of caring for him. When Laban died Jacob would inherit Laban’s estate in full if Laban failed to have any sons. If Laban had natural sons, each would receive an equal share of the property, and one of them would receive the household gods, which signified headship of the family.” Howard F. Vos, Genesis and Archaeology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), p. 99. Cf. also Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), p. 231.

From these facts we can read somewhat between the lines of the story and surmise with some degree of confidence the cause of the change in attitude toward Jacob and his family. Initially Laban would have looked on Jacob as his son, his heir; but when sons of his own came, this was no longer needed. In fact, Jacob was now a competitor for the family inheritance. When Jacob prospered at Laban’s expense, it is easy to understand why Laban’s sons looked on him with disfavor, for all their inheritance was fleeing before their very eyes. Thus, the change in attitude on the part of Laban and his sons brought about a change of plans for Jacob.