And it came to pass at the time of the ardour of the flocks, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams that leaped upon the flocks were ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
Jacob had worked twenty years for Laban, and the two men were now at odds over the flocks. Here Jacob tells his wives what he saw in a dream at breeding time, and the dream answers one question: who was building his wealth — his own tricks, or God?
The dream comes when Jacob's position with Laban has become impossible. It also breaks a long silence from God.
The twenty years had expired. Laban's hatred and the hatred of his sons had increased. When the crisis came, Jehovah spoke. "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred; and I will be with you." This is the first time Jehovah spoke since the vision at Bethel. Jacob then laid the matter before his wives and told them of a dream in which the angel of the Lord had spoken to him. What comfort it must have been for him to hear "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you."
One of the words in Jacob's list, "mottled" in the ESV, appears as "grisled" in older translations. A Bible dictionary gives its meaning:
Grey colour, or mixed with grey. Gen. 31:10; Zech. 6:3, 6.
Jacob had used tricks of his own to influence how the flocks bred. The dream tells him something else was at work.
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle. According to the complaint of Laban's sons he had "taken away all that was our father's." The contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He showed Jacob that it was He, and not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
If God was already at work in the flocks, Jacob's tricks added nothing.
He speaks of a dream in which he saw the goats mating in the way that would benefit him. He also speaks of the angel of God saying that it was God who had caused the animals to bear in a way that was to Jacob's advantage. This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this. He tells him that He has seen all that Laban was doing to him.
Laban had cheated Jacob for twenty years. The flocks in the dream settled that account.
Truly Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness. The words of Laban's sons and the looks of Laban himself showed their discontent — and no wonder. So Jehovah told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and to his kindred. In some five or six years God's providence paid Jacob the wages that Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years.
Jacob says the angel of God spoke to him in this dream. One writer argues that this "angel" was the Son of God, appearing before He came as man.
It is true that the one who appears is often called "the Angel of the Lord," "Angel of the Covenant," or simply "Angel." But the Hebrew word "malach" carries a double sense, like its Greek equivalent: angel and messenger. Jacob uses the word in his review of God's dealings. "The Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys" (Gen. 48:16). This would undoubtedly include the incidents of Bethel (Gen. 28:13), of Haran (Gen. 31:10), of Peniel (Gen. 32:35), of Beersheba (Gen. 41:1). Would the patriarch at such a moment call on a mere angel to bless his grandsons? None but the Son of God could redeem.
The voice in the dream names Bethel, where Jacob's story with God had started twenty years before.
Years passed — twenty long and eventful years. They were years of trial and testing, in which Jacob went through many ups and downs, changes, and varied trials. But the God of Bethel watched over His poor servant. He appeared to him while he was under pressure and said, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your kindred."
- Crisis — Twenty years of work end in a quarrel with Laban's family. God breaks a long silence and speaks.
- Sight — The marked goats in the dream show Jacob that God was moving the flocks to him, not his own tricks.
- Correction — God would have blessed him anyway. The scheming was never needed.
- Justice — "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you." Providence repaid in five or six years what fraud had withheld for twenty.
- Call — The speaker names Himself the God of Bethel and sends Jacob home. The God of the journey's start still watches at its end.
And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, Here am I.
Jacob is telling Rachel and Leah why they must leave for Canaan. He traces the decision back to a night when God called him by name in a dream. Two questions sit inside his account. Who is this "angel of God" who speaks as God? And why did the message come after twenty years with Laban?
The speaker does not stay anonymous. He goes on to say, "I am the God of Bethel." Commentators read the word "angel" here as a veil over God's own presence, not as a created messenger. Years later Jacob asked that same Angel to bless Joseph's sons.
Scripture uses the word as a veiled representation of God's presence, as in Genesis 31:11-13. "The angel of God" spoke to Jacob saying, "I am the God of Bethel." Jacob, when blessing the sons of Joseph, said, "The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys." ... Most believe that it was the second person of the Trinity who appeared as a man in the Old Testament.
Jacob was in the middle of a running contest of wits with Laban. God chose the one moment when a busy man cannot argue back or walk away.
God is invisible. So He speaks to man in ways that do not show Him in person, but in ways that wake up man's serious attention. Man may not realise it is God speaking to him. Yet God often speaks "in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men." At such a time God has a captive audience, whether man wants to listen or not.
Jacob had been using tricks of his own around the breeding of Laban's flocks. The dream told him who was behind the whole thing.
Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle. According to the complaint of Laban's sons, he had "taken all that was our father's." So the contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, and not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called Jacob out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
That leaves Jacob's cleverness looking not clever but unnecessary.
He speaks of a dream in which he saw the goats mating in the way that would benefit him. He also speaks of the angel of God showing him that it was God who had caused the animals to bear to Jacob's advantage. This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this.
His report to Rachel and Leah is true as far as it goes. But one part of the story never reaches them.
Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times. When he saw Jacob gaining a lot by one bargain, he would change the terms of his wages. Then the sheep would bear in another way to Jacob's advantage. So he says that God had taken Laban's flocks and given them to Jacob. He does not tell them of his own trickery. It seems he had been able to hide it from everyone except the Lord.
The dream is not a rebuke. God calls Jacob by name, hears his answer, and then settles the account Laban had kept open for twenty years.
Truly Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness. The words of Laban's sons, and the looks of Laban himself, revealed their discontent — and no wonder. So Jehovah told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers and his relatives. God's providence paid Jacob in about five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years. ... But He had worked to repay the servant for his relative's injustice. And He reminded forgetful Jacob of Bethel, telling him to leave and return to the land of his family.
- Who speaks. The "angel of God" here is not a created messenger. He is God Himself in veiled form, for He says, "I am the God of Bethel."
- How He speaks. God used a dream, where He has a captive audience — a man who cannot argue back, walk away, or stay busy.
- What He says. The flocks multiplied by God's hand, not by Jacob's tricks. The scheming was never needed, for God would bless him anyway.
- What Jacob hides. He tells his wives the true half: God gave him the flocks. He leaves out his own trickery, hidden from everyone but the Lord.
- What God does anyway. He repays in five or six years the wages Laban withheld for twenty. He calls a forgetful man back to Bethel. Mercy, not scolding, moves the story on.
And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see all the rams that leap upon the flock are ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.
Jacob's twenty years with Laban are falling apart. In a dream God tells him to lift up his eyes and look at the flocks, then says He has seen everything Laban has done to him.
Jacob had built his herds by his own tricks with the breeding of Laban's flocks. The dream tells him none of that was necessary.
He speaks of a dream in which he saw the goats mating in the way that would benefit him. He also speaks of the angel of God, who spoke to show that it was God who had caused the animals to bear in a way that was to Jacob's advantage. This is no doubt true, but it shows us that there was no need for Jacob to resort to his deceitful actions. God would bless him apart from this.
The dream also ended a long contest of tricks between Jacob and Laban.
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle... So the contest went on until God stepped in again in a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, not Jacob's schemes, who caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
God had not spoken to Jacob since Bethel. Now Jacob repeats these words to his wives as he explains why they must leave.
The twenty years had expired. Laban's hatred and the hatred of his sons had increased... This is the first time the Lord spoke since the vision at Bethel. Jacob then laid the matter before his wives and told them about a dream in which the angel of the Lord had spoken to him. What comfort it must have been for him to hear, "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you." The Lord watched over Jacob, and though Laban hated him, Jacob prospered. So Israel in the dispersion, hated by the Gentiles, increases and prospers.
God's seeing was not passive. The flocks changing hands were a settlement of accounts.
God's providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years... He could truly say that if Laban showed ill-will, the God of his father was with him; and that if Laban tried to cheat him, God did not let him be harmed.
The previous verse calls this speaker "the angel of God." Yet He goes on to say, "I am the God of Bethel." Commentators see more here than a created messenger with a message.
The term is used for the mysterious representation of the divine presence, as in Genesis 31:11-13. "The angel of God" spoke to Jacob saying, "I am the God of Bethel."... It is generally believed that it was the second Person in the Trinity who appeared as a man in the Old Testament.
Jacob's years with Laban were not an accident. His own deceit had been met with deceit.
He was cheated about his wife. He was wronged over his wages. He was a wanderer from his father's house and a slave to Laban. All this came from acting in a deceitful way, instead of leaving it to God to fulfil the blessing. In all of it we see real discipline because of evil.
Yet God also kept reminding Jacob of Bethel, the place where He had blessed him.
God blessed Jacob at Bethel through His abundant grace. In later years Jacob needed reminding of this. Again and again God made him feel that he really had been blessed like this. When Laban dealt harshly with him, the angel of God said to him in a dream, "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me: now arise, get out from this land and return to the land of your relatives."
- God sees. One line — "I have seen all that Laban is doing to you" — comforted a man cheated for twenty years. God had been counting every one of them.
- God gives. The dream showed Jacob that the flocks came from God's hand, not from his own tricks. He never needed them.
- God repays. What Laban withheld across twenty years, God restored in five or six, and would not let Laban do Jacob harm.
- God reminds. The speaker calls Himself the God of Bethel. That took Jacob back to the pillar he had anointed and the vow he had made.
- God calls home. Seeing, giving, repaying and reminding all end in one command — leave this land and go back. Discipline for past deceit never cancelled the blessing; it drove Jacob toward it.