The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:8

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

If he (i.e. Laban) said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages;—by the original contract Jacob had been promised all the parti-colored animals (Genesis 30:32);" here it seems as if Laban, struck with the remarkable increase of these, took the earliest opportunity of so modifying the original stipulation as to limit Jacob's portion to one sort only, viz.

the speckled. Yet this dishonorable breach of faith on the part of Laban was of no avail; for, when the next lambing season came—then (it was discovered that) all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus (changing the sort of animals assigned to his son-in-law), The ringstraked shall be thy hire (the result was as before); then bare all the cattle ringstraked.

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Genesis 31:1-21The affairs of these families are related very minutely, while (what are called) the great events of states and kingdoms at that period, are not mentioned. The Bible teaches people the common duties of life, how to serv…Matthew Henry commentaryJacob's Departure. (b. c. 1739.)JACOB'S DEPARTURE. (B. C. 1739.) Jacob is here taking up a resolution immediately to quit his uncle's service, to take what he had and go back to Canaan. This resolution he took up upon a just provocation, by divine dir…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:1-21EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 31:1-21Jacob's flight from Laban. I. THE HOMEWARD DESIRE. The longing to revisit Canaan, which six years previously Laban's exactions and Joseph's birth (Genesis 30:25) had combined to inspire within the heart of Jacob, return…Joseph S. Exell and contributors