Is this an example of man manipulating microevolution long before Darwin was born?

Question

Genesis 30:31-43 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain



31And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock.

32I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

33So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.

34And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

35And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37And Jacob took him 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 rods.

38And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

39And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

40And 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.

41And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

42But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

43And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Answer 1

Well ... in a sense, maybe. This passage is hard to follow, but I include John Wessley's commentary in sources.

Jacob is owed for many years of service to Laban. Traditionally Laban should offer Jacob some of the flock as payment ... but he's a miserly fellow, and actually wants to keep Jacob's services for a while longer. So Jacob offers to wait for the next breedings and take only the speckled offspring (which are not as valuable). Laban agrees gladly ... but then tries to cheat by removing all the speckled adults and sending them miles away with his sons ... with the assumption that the remaining non-speckled livestock would produce non-speckled offspring, and he would have gotten Jacob's services for free.

The way Jacob outwits Laban is with a trick with the rods. Apparently, if livestock breed while looking at multi-color rods (poplar, hazel, chestnut), the resulting offspring are speckled. So this part is not really manipulating evolution (artificial selection), but just a bit of artful superstition (and maybe a bit of divine intervention).

However, in verses 41 and 42, Jacob adds another trick. Whenever the stronger cattle were mating, Jacob put them before the rods (to inspire speckled offspring) ... but did not do the rod trick with the weaker ones. So the stronger cattle ended up having speckled offspring (which were to go to Jacob), and the others (which went to Laban) were the weaker.

So in that last case Jacob is taking advantage of the fact that stronger cattle have stronger offspring. So that is taking advantage of inheritance. But whether or not this could be considered manipulation of evolution (artificial selection) ... or as you put it "microevolution" ... depends on how many generations of this sorting and culling Jabob did.

Interesting passage!

(Another tidbit ... the story of Jacob and Laban is mentioned by Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice ... as a parable that Shylock references on the value of making a good deal for payment.)

Answer 2

short hair is good for some people, others, not. it depends exactly what u look like

Answer 3

This is artificial selection. Man was doing this a very long time before that passage was written.

Answer 4

It seems like that might be, if you read it between the lines. The Bible has a lot of tricky language and it can be hard to tell. But that seems to be pretty much like the theory of natural selection.

Answer 5

I've experienced mine both ways too... but our husband prefers it short... he never ever complains when I grow it long, but is always all over him self w/the complements when I cut that off