Genesis 31:38
This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
Jacob spoke these words when Laban overtook him after he had left during Laban's absence and Laban had pursued him to bring him back by force. In pity the Lord had warned Laban in a dream not to speak good or bad to Jacob, meaning not to force him to return and not to coax him with flattery. When Laban charged Jacob with stealing away secretly with his daughters as though they were captives, and claimed he had power to harm him but said he had been restrained by the God of Jacob's fathers, Jacob answered by rehearsing Laban's self-seeking course of seeking only his own advantage and by pointing to his own faithfulness.
The verse recounts twenty years of upright, faithful service with Laban and appeals to that conduct as proof. In that service he acted as chief shepherd over the flocks owned by himself and Laban, keeping watch over them and being held responsible for their welfare. Though he had servants under him to help tend the sheep and cattle, the responsibility for the whole matter rested on him. While he cared for it, Laban's property increased.
As proof of his faithfulness, the ewes and the she-goats did not miscarry, and he did not eat any of the rams. The work required diligence day and night with constant care, mercy, courage, and perseverance. In the driest season he had to stay with the flocks himself day and night to keep them from perishing with thirst, and in the coldest season to save them from being chilled by the heavy night frosts, so that his sleep departed.
He guarded the flocks against wild beasts, which were common and often bold and would do great injury to sheep and cattle not guarded by a faithful shepherd, and against unprincipled shepherds who sought to enrich themselves by stealing their neighbors' cattle. He called the servants entrusted with the flock to strict account if it was not found in flourishing condition, and having faithfully cared for the flocks he himself suffered the loss for any cattle that were missing. His constant labor for the welfare of the flock is a standard that those who care for the church are to exceed.