A Blended Family: Genesis 30:1-24
Rachel, out of frustration, gives her maid Bilhah to Jacob in a surrogate mother arrangement. Bilhah bears Dan and Naphtali. Gad and Asher are born to another maid, Zilpah. Leah then bears Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah. Rachel bears Joseph.
Jacob negotiates a deal with Laban to start building a flock of sheep and goats for himself. Jacob will have the speckled, spotted and brown sheep. Jacob peels braches so they have white streaks in them. The sheep conceive in sight of these branches, and taking their visual cue from the striped branches, produced pied sheep. Jacob puts the branches in front of the stronger sheep rather than the weaker ones, so the pied sheep are the stronger. In this way, Jacob’s flock grows significantly.