What Does Genesis 30:35 Mean?

But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every black Lamb, and put them in the charge of his sons. And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock. Immediately after agreeing to the wage terms, Laban acts to minimize Jacob's advantage: he removes all the animals that could produce abnormally colored offspring and places them three days' journey away, reducing the breeding population that might generate Jacob's future wages.

The three-day separation between the mixed-color animals and the flock Jacob tends is Laban's counter-move to the agreement. By removing the parent animals most likely to produce mixed-color offspring, Laban reduces the probability of the breeding outcomes that would benefit Jacob. He is not violating the letter of the agreement; he is shaping the conditions under which the agreement operates. Laban's acceptance was immediately followed by strategic management to reduce its cost.

That Laban put the separated animals "in the charge of his sons" creates a physical and managerial barrier between Jacob and the breeding stock most likely to produce his wages. Jacob will not be in contact with the separated animals; Laban's sons will manage them. This separation is Laban's attempt to control outcomes that the wage agreement left open to natural process. Jacob's response in verses 37-43 shows that he found a way to work around this separation using the animals he did have access to.