17. Jacob’s ‘Goats and Go Back Home’ Dream
The Dream Setting/Backstory
* * *
It’s been twenty years since Jacob’s Covenant Dream. In the meantime Jacob obeyed his father Isaac and took a wife from Laban’s daughters. In fact due to Laban’s scheming he ended up taking two wives and working for fourteen years to pay for them.
Family problems resulted from Laban’s trickery. The emotional rivalry between Rachel and Leah was the daily battleground of Jacob’s life. Yet God was working His purpose out and from this messy situation produced the founding fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.
We’re not told exactly when Jacob had this dream. Most likely it was before Joseph was born because after Joseph’s birth Jacob asked Laban to allow him to return to Canaan with his family. Laban who’d learned through divination and experience that God was blessing him because of Jacob was reluctant to let this happen so they made a new business contract that appealed to cunning Laban.
In Jacob’s day sheep were typically white and goats were typically black or brown. Streaked, speckled or spotted animals of either kind were rare. So when Jacob asked that his wages should only be the newborn streaked, speckled or spotted animals Laban knew by the laws of nature he was onto a good bet.
He also made sure the odds were even more stacked in his favour by deviously removing all the streaked, speckled or spotted animals from the flock.
The problem was Laban’s selfish dishonesty had been getting in the way of God’s plans and purpose. That’s why God sent this dream. It was now God’s timing for His covenant partner Jacob to return to Canaan so God decided to intervene and show Laban the truth of what Daniel discovered,
Praise be to the name of God for ever and
ever; wisdom and power are his. He
changes times and seasons; he deposes
kings and raises up others. [1]
Laban was about to learn God in His sovereignty also deposes goat and sheep breeders and raises up others when it suits his agenda.
The Dream Scripture
* * *
Genesis 31:1-17
Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young. So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.
“In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’”
Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father’s estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.” Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
The Problem
* * *
Laban was cheating Jacob out of his proper wages and this was hindering Jacob from obeying God’s instructions to go back home.
The Dreamers Metron
* * *
Jacob had a powerful metron. He had inherited Abraham’s large metron to bless all nations until the end of time. Jacob’s metron also included him being the father of twelve sons who’d birth the twelve tribes of Israel.
After Jacob wrestled with God his name was changed to Israel and this became both the name of the people and the land. God told Jacob,
I am the Lord, the God of your father
Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will
give you and your descendants the land
on which you are lying. Your
descendants will be like the dust of the
earth, and you will spread out to the
west and to the east, to the north and to
the south. All peoples on earth will be
blessed through you and your offspring.
I am with you and will watch over you
wherever you go, and I will bring you
back to this land. I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised
you. [2]
Jacob’s metron also included his call to bring the children of Israel down to Egypt as promised to Abraham. This is what is being worked on in this dream.
The Message
* * *
God’s first message to Jacob was, Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you. We aren’t told whether this simple direction came through a dream, a vision or a personal appearance but its message is clear enough. It was God’s time for Jacob to go home.
God then sent a dream in which Jesus, as the Angel of the Lord, identified Himself as the God of Bethel to whom Jacob made a vow. Jesus explained He has seen Laban’s unjust dealings. He also showed Jacob how He was going to remedy it. He then repeated the message for Jacob to return to his native land.
God’s Purpose
* * *
God’s purpose was to safely bring Jacob back to Canaan. His prophecy to Abraham of four hundred years of slavery was still pending and Jacob needed to be in the right place at the right time for the next stage of things.
God had also promised to care for and bless Jacob. God accomplishes this by the wealth transfer from Laban to Jacob. God often freed His people from bad economic situations and used the oppressors to bless them.
God was also demonstrating His sovereignty to Laban by thwarting all his scheming and by giving Laban’s livestock to Jacob.
Satan’s Purpose
* * *
Satan’s purpose was to use Laban’s fear and greed to stop Jacob following God’s instructions.
Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened
* * *
Jacob now had proof God keeps His promises no matter what the circumstances. In Jacob’s Covenant Dream God had said He would continuously protect Jacob and bring him safely back to Canaan.
Jacob also learned God sees all things and can easily bring justice to unfair situations. Now it was Jacob’s time to keep his promise and tithe to God.
Initially Jacob tried to help God’s promise by some kind of sympathetic magic but afterwards he admits it was God who was in charge,
If Laban would say this, “the speckled will
be your pay,” then all the flock gave
birth to speckled. And if he would say
this, “the streaked will be your pay,”
then all the flock gave birth to streaked. [3]
Dreamer’s Response and Application
* * *
Jacob believed Jesus’ dream interpretation and negotiated a new contract with Laban on the basis of it. He also added some notions of his own as to how it all might work out. He separated the animals and used stripped sticks as some sort of supernatural aid to help the speckled animals produce speckled offspring. Jesus had not told Jacob to do this.
Later when he retells the dream to Leah and Rachel, Jacob admits it was God who was in control of the situation and it was God who took away Laban’s flocks and gave them to him. Jacob didn’t claim it was the stripped magic sticks that prospered him.
Know God Better
* * *
God was still keeping His covenantal promises and caring for His chosen people. He was shown as a God who sees all things and can rectify economic injustice. He knows the future and can share revelation in order to place His servants in the right place at the right time.
He can use dreams to help us prosper and succeed in any life situation so that we can obey His greater plans and purpose.
God also used circumstances to lead Jacob. Grace and favour were being removed and Laban’s sons were bad mouthing Jacob. God used these changes to make it very uncomfortable for him to remain in Haran.
The Dream Process
* * *
Jesus appeared as the Angel of the Lord and interpreted the image of the streaked, speckled and spotted male goats mating with the flock. His interpretation said He was going to bring economic redress to Jacob through the unlikely event of multiplying the rare streaked, speckled and spotted animals. Through this piece of prophetic insider information Jesus imparted faith and knowledge so that Jacob could negotiate his unusual new contract with Laban.
Jacob both hears and sees in this dream. He hears God call his name. He hears God instructing him to look. He sees which goats are mating. He hears God tell him He is aware of Laban’s economic unfairness. He hears the angel of the Lord - Jesus – identify himself as the God who appeared to him of Bethel. He also hears God instructing him to leave and return to his native land.
This is a symbolic dream that requires interpretation. Without Jesus’ interpretation Jacob would not have known what the image of the animals meant. By identifying Himself as the God of Bethel, Jesus also reminded Jacob of the whole issue of Covenant.
This is an enlightening, instructional and directional dream in which Jesus appears and interprets a dream. It’s a dream of personal and national and international importance.
The Usual Suspects
* * *
Jesus manifests as the Angel of the Lord and intervenes in order to move God’s plans forward. The Holy Spirit is seen in the anointed pillar and God is the Covenant God to whom the Bethel vow had been made. Satan is behind Laban’s hindering plans. The gods will also appear in the household idols stolen by Rachel as they leave.
Takeaways
* * *
This is the only dream in Scripture that Jesus personally interpreted. At the time of telling this dream Jacob had fathered eleven of his twelve sons. It’d be around seventeen more years before God sent Joseph two dreams that resulted in him ending up in Egypt and over thirty more years before God sent Pharaoh two dreams beginning a process that resulted in Israel going down to Egypt for those four hundred years as promised to Abraham.
In our study of Bible dreams we regularly see the truth of the scripture which says,
And he who searches our hearts knows the
mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for God’s people in
accordance with the will of God. And we
know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose. [4]
This means although God’s chosen individuals make many mistakes the Holy Spirit prays for God’s will to come to pass in their lives. God then works their problems out in such a way they turn out for good for those who are aligned with God in implementing His plans and purpose.
This principle functions in Jacob’s life which is fortunate because Jacob had finally met his match in wheeler-dealer, small empire builder, Laban.
Even though Jacob put on a strange display as regards the stripped sticks God still gave him fairness and blessed him. So I suppose it’s quite possible for prophets to do some strange unnecessary things yet God is a promise keeper who can overlook and clear up foolishness.
1 Daniel 2:20-21
2 Genesis 28:13-15
3 Genesis 31:8-9
4 Romans 8:27-28