Jerome : (Chapter XXXI, verses 7 and 8) And your father deceived me and changed my wages ten times, and God did not allow him to harm me. If he said, 'Your wages will be the spotted flock,' then every flock was born spotted. And if he said, 'Your wages will be the solid-colored flock,' then every flock was born solid-colored. Because of this, he changed my wages ten times. The Seventy Interpreters have stated, driven by some unknown opinion, that 'moni' in the Hebrew language means 'number' rather than 'lambs.' Finally, the meaning is further confirmed by the fact that Laban always changed the condition of each offspring. If he saw mixed livestock being born, he would say after the birth, 'I want mixed offspring in the future.' Again, when he saw single-colored animals being born (because Jacob had heard this, he did not place rods in the canals), he would say that the future offspring should be of a single color for him. And what more? Laban changed the condition of his flock or Jacob up to ten times. And whatever color he had intended to be born as, it turned into the opposite color. And so that no one may think that in ten years twenty births are incredible, read Virgil (Georg. II), in which it is said: The pregnant cattle twice. However, it is said that the nature of Italian and Mesopotamian sheep is the same. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis Philoxenus of Mabbug : And let us consider also how many times his wages were changed while he lived with Laban, even as at the end his words rebuked that crafty man: "Thou hast changed my hire ten times, but the Lord hath not suffered thee to harm me." And again when he served him for his younger daughter, Laban took the other in her stead and brought her in to him, and led him astray in his simplicity, and he perceived it not; and when he asked by word of mouth why this deception had been perpetrated upon him, immediately a plausible excuse was offered to him—even though it was a lying one—his simplicity listened thereto and accepted it. And how many times did Laban in his wickedness seek to oppress Jacob, and how many times did he through his cruelty and cunning change his acts towards him with manifold schemes and tricks! But Jacob's innocency was not disturbed, and his simplicity was not agitated, and his integrity was not made crafty; and so long as he himself was watchful concerning the things which related to himself, so long also was God mindful of the things which concerned him. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 -- On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity