Jacob makes his way to the land of the eastern peoples and sees a well with a large stone rolled over the entrance.  It took more than one shepherd to move the stone and yet later, Jacob himself alone is able to move the stone so that Rachael can water her father's sheep.  He must have been a strong man.

Jacob agrees to work seven years for Laban, his mother's brother, in exchange for the hand of Laban's daughter Rachel in marriage.  This was not an uncommon practice.  Once the deal had been made, Rachel and Jacob were betrothed, which means they were legally married but could not consummate the marriage until Jacob had worked for seven years. Jacob kept his end of the bargain but Laban did not.  At the end of the seven years, Laban ordered a feast to celebrate the consummation of the marriage but instead of giving Jacob Rachel, Laban gave his older daughter Leah instead.

In response to Jacob’s cry of deception concerning the substitution of Leah for Rachel, Laban responds with “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.”

When we look at all the times that God bypasses the firstborn in favor of younger sons, it seems as if God says repeatedly that man’s ways are not His ways. God is telling us He doesn’t play by our rules.

Leah was not Jacob's favored wife.  However, she gave him 6 sons, half the number of the 12 tribes.  After the first four sons, Leah stopped having children and asked her son Reuben to find some mandrake plants for her.  This is a rare plant thought to increase fertility.  Apparently it worked and Leah gave birth to two more sons and at least one daughter.

If God set down the rules of marriage in the Garden of Eden to be between one man and one woman, why does Jacob have two wives and two concubines? Even though the custom of the day allowed such a thing, it was still contrary to God's plan. Another example of how God's people are called to be different from the world around them. No matter what the custom of our day is, we should always seek God's ways and not the ways of the world. However, as usual, God used Jacob to fulfill His plans anyway!

Laban obviously was influenced by pagan gods because he used divination to determine that he was being blessed because of Jacob.  He was giving the idols credit for his understanding of what God was doing through Jacob instead of giving God the credit. Later it becomes even more obvious just how greatly influenced Laban really was by the idols and pagan gods. 

What is the significance with the speckled, spotted, dark and light colored lambs, goats, and sheep and the white striped branches?

The manipulation of the colored animals was purely a matter of dominate and recessive genes. Jacob received more of the speckled and spotted, lambs, goats, and sheep simply because that was in the genetic code. (see Mendel's pea chart of dominant and recessive genes http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_1.htm) The striped branches had nothing to do with it, except for the fact that Jacob appears to be superstitious. Not a good thing!