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.
I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me. Now arise, depart out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred.
After twenty years with Laban, God speaks to Jacob and names Himself from an old memory: the night at Bethel. Why does God tie His name to that place, and why is an old vow the signal to move now?
The words come from "the angel of God" in a dream (v. 11), yet the speaker calls Himself God. Commentators point to other places in Genesis where an angel speaks as God Himself.
The title is used to picture God's own presence, as in Genesis 31:11-13. "The angel of God" spoke to Jacob and said, "I am the God of Bethel." … Most believe it was the second person of the Trinity who appeared as a man in the Old Testament.
Bethel means "house of God." So the name sets God's house against the house Jacob had been busy building for himself.
This name, "the God of Bethel," matters a great deal, because it means "God of the house of God." Jacob had been concerned about his own house (Genesis 30:30). He had let the claims of God's house wait. But the increase of Jacob's house had not produced peace and happiness in all his relationships. It was time for him to learn that true contentment is only found in connection with God's house, where God's interests come first. God also remembered Jacob's vow (Genesis 28:20-22), though He only mentions it without comment.
God's reminder points to what Jacob did at that place, not just to the place itself.
Oil was constantly used in anointing or setting apart persons, places and objects. A striking case is that anointing of the pillar at Bethel by Jacob (Genesis 28:18; Genesis 31:13), where he set apart the place as "the house of God," a kind of anticipation of the tabernacle.
Twenty years had passed, and Jacob had said nothing more about the promise he made that night. God had not dropped it. One writer answers the objection that holding a man to his own words is harsh:
God had not forgotten the original terms, and He would not let His servant forget them. Is this legality? No; it is the display of divine love and faithfulness. God loved Jacob, and He would not allow him to settle for less than the old standard. He watched over the state of His servant's heart with jealous care. He would not let it stay below the Bethel mark, so He gently reminds him with those touching and meaningful words, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow." This was the sweet expression of God's unchanging love. It showed that He counted on Jacob remembering the scenes at Bethel.
God ties the order to leave Laban's land to a memory, not to a new revelation. One writer sees a pattern here in God's dealings with His people.
In calling him back to the land of promise, God revealed Himself to him as "the God of Bethel," reminding him of the pillar he anointed and the vow that he made. So God called him back to the beginning of his direct dealings with Him. This is always God's way with His people. We may wander away, but we have to come back to the original spot from which we departed. The point of departure proves to be the place of recovery.
The message arrives while Laban is treating Jacob badly. God's first word is that He has seen it (v. 12); His second is who He is.
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." … And so we are often told to consider Him, and to remember Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Like Jacob, we should count the God of Bethel as our God. Bethel is the place we should visit, to think about His marvellous grace, and how richly and fully He has blessed us.
- Bethel — the name means "house of God." So this title sets God's own house against the house Jacob was busy building for himself.
- Remembered — Jacob made that vow twenty years earlier. God brought it up Himself, without a word of comment.
- Love — the reminder is not legal pressure. It is love and faithfulness. God would not let His servant settle below the Bethel mark.
- Return — the call to leave Laban comes with the memory, because the point of departure proves to be the place of recovery.
- Ours — the pattern carries over: remember the One who loved us, and treat the God of Bethel as our God.