B'resheet 30:17-18 And G-d gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Ya'akov a fifth son. Then Leah said, "G-d has given me my wages, because I gave my maid to my husband." So she named him Yissakhar.
Yissakhar means "hire, reward"
B'resheet 30:19-21 And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Ya'akov. Then Leah said, "G-d has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Z'vulun -"living together"
Z'vulun means, "living together"
B'resheet 30:21- And afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah-"controversy".
Dinah means "controversy over rights"
B'resheet 30:22-24 Then G-d remembered Rachel, and G-d gave heed to her and opened her womb. So she conceived and bore a son and said, "G-d has taken away my reproach." And she named him Yosef, saying, "May Adonai give me another son."
opened her womb - It was in G-d's timing that Rachel conceived and bore a child, not in Rachel timing.
Yosef means, "may he add"
B'resheet 30:25-26 Now it came about when Rachel had borne Yosef, that Ya'akov said to Lavan , "Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you."
The second 7 years must have been up by now. Ya'akov has been away from the Promised Land for 14 years.
B'resheet 30:27 But Lavan said to him, "If now it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that Adonai has blessed me on your account."
We also see that it matters to G-d how others treated Ya'akov in regards to the blessings others would receive. This principle then is true to the tribes of Israel and is still true to this day. Now we go on the sheep and goats that are favored.
B'resheet 30:28-30 And he continued, "Name me your wages, and I will give it." But he said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. For you had little before I came, and it has increased to a multitude; and the L-RD (Adonai) has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?"
B'resheet 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. " NAS
B'resheet 30:31-32 So he said, "What shall I give you?" And Ya'akov said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep, and every brown one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
There is a higher meaning here. When we think of Ya'akov also being a type of the coming anointed one -that is Yeshua- we get the picture of Yeshua walking through his flock and picking the kind who represent us all. When we come to our Messiah we all have a spot or blemish spiritually. (See Gen. 5) When we do this however we become white as snow.
Isaiah 1:18-19 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the L-RD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. "If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land;
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ (Messiah) also loved the church/synagogue and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church/synagogue in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.
Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to G-d, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.
We also when we look into the future and through the actions of Ya'kov we get a picture of Yeshua separating the favored Nations also mentioned in Matthew.
Matt 25:31-46 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. "And all the NATIONS will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil (adversary) and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Back to Ya'akov
B'resheet 30:33-36 So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen." And Lavan said, "Good, let it be according to your word." So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the brown ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. And he put a distance of three days' journey between himself and Ya'akov, and Ya'akov fed the rest of Lavan 's flocks.
three days' journey - That is quite a distance. No chance of mixing up the flocks.
B'resheet 30:37-43 Then Ya'akov took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. And Ya'akov separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the brown in the flock of Lavan ; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Lavan 's flock. Moreover, it came about whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, that Ya'akov would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods; but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Lavan 's and the stronger Ya'akov's. So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.
Fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees - Some believe that these plants had a property about them that increased the fertility of the animals. Notice it was peeled, exposing the inner part of the branches. It was placed in the water where it could be absorbed into the water that the animals drank. Ya'akov did not put it in the water for the weaker animals.
Ya'akov through stripes kept the strongest of the flock. In contrast, Yeshua through His stripes (Isa. 53:4-6) does not choose the stronger but the weaker for his flock.
Why?
This would take away the glory from G-d. It is nothing in our abilities that we are chosen or that He grants us favor. It is not anything that we do nor is it anything out of our own strength that we accomplish. All that we accomplish is through G-d's strength and doing and therefore all the glory goes to Him.
1 Cor 1:26-31 For consider your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but G-d has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and G-d has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, G-d has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before G-d. But by His doing you are in Yeshua HaMashiach, who became to us wisdom from G-d, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."
He died in order for His wages -to have us as His sheep - for He is the good shepherd. Praise be to the G-d of Ya'akov