Jacob worked for Laban for a total of 20 years.
Genesis 29:
20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
At the end of this 7 years period, Jacob worked for another 7 years:
26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”
So Jacob worked for 14 years for Rachel and Leah. During this time, Laban gave him Zilpah (v. 24) and
Bilhah (v. 29). Jacob's had children with them.
Did Laban give Jacob any other wages during this 14-year period?
Jacob wanted to leave Laban and return to Isaac, but then they struck a deal, 30:
31“What shall I give you?” he asked.
“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.”
34“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”
Six years later, Genesis 31:
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, 5 and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 And you know that with all my might I have served your father. 7 Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times,
Laban was jealous of Jacob's reward from God.
but God did not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. 9 So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
God miraculously transferred Laban's wealth to Jacob to bless Jacob and punish Laban's cheating.
Later, Jacob fled Laban. Jacob said to Laban::
38 “I have been with you for twenty years now.
7+7+6 = 20 years.
At this point, Jacob had a lot of possessions, Genesis 32:
13b from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16He put them in the care of his servants
Jacob gave Esau 550 animals as gifts. He had servants working for him. Jacob still had plenty for himself, Genesis 33:
12 Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”
13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14 So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
Jacob was confident he had enough men with him to defend his possessions against robbers.
It seems that he worked for 14 years and didn't have much. Then, in 6 years, he acquired much wealth in Paddan Aram. God seems to reward Jacob for the earlier 14 years of work and more.
