Jacob's Gift

Jacob’s gift

Hi Bishop,

This morning I was wondering about how much Jacob's gift to his brother would be at the current prices, and I found someone who had made the calculations this last March. 

Here are the approximate modern day market prices of the animals that Jacob gave as a gift to his brother:

• 200 female goats @ $163 = $32,600

• 20 male goats @ $177 = $3,540

• 200 ewes @ $340 = $68,000

• 20 rams @ $541 = $10,820

• 30 female camels with their young @ $15,000 = $450,000

• 40 cows @ $700 = $28,000

• 10 bulls @ $1700 = $17,000

• 20 female donkeys @ $1500 = $30,000

• 10 male donkeys @ $1500 = $15,000

• Total: $654,960

I knew that Jacob was rich after leaving Laban, but I never realized how rich. If he was able to give a gift of over half a million dollars, which clearly was a huge sacrifice, to his brother, imagine how much more he had.

I think this gift is a crucial part of the story because he separated these animals and sent them off in the direction of his brother right before he wrestled with God — I don't think that's a coincidence. We could say this was not only a gift to his brother, but his sacrifice to God. 

Like you have been speaking about, the offering on the altar has no value when we have something against a brother in our hearts. By giving this gift he was cleaning his heart so that his sacrifice would be accepted by God.

The passage also says that this gift was "going ahead of him".... just like our sacrifices do.

“A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.” (Proverbs 18:16)

Bishop David Higgnbotham