My wife, a dietitian, tells me that the three trees Jacob used to encourage breeding among his sheep have anti-inflammatory properties, which can have a significant impact on fertility. Could this have been common knowledge at one time? Did the sticks or the stripes have any effect on the breeding of the sheep or is there some hidden message in this story? I lean in the direction of the sticks being metaphor rather than medicine, but not strongly. I'm not convinced of either explanation.
#genesis 30 #vayetzei