And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.
The angel of God spoke to Jacob in a dream and called him by name, Jacob, to which Jacob answered, Here am I. The dream was God's merciful answer to Jacob's distressed prayer for direction when he knew not which way to turn and was distressed and unsure what to do. His distress had come because Laban's countenance was not toward him as before and Laban's attitude had changed and was no longer favorable. In the dream God told him to leave Laban and go to his kindred and return to his ancestral land. In that same dream God promised to be with him on the return.
Jacob joined the dream to the fact that the God of his father had already been with him while Laban deceived him and changed his wages ten times. After calling Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, he related the dream to them as his reason for leaving. Rachel and Leah accepted it and told him to do whatsoever God had said unto him. In Jacob's hour of need the angels of God came to instruct, comfort, and protect him, fulfilling the Lord's promises made to him when he fled from home as an exile and fugitive.
Because the Lord had instructed Jacob through dreams, Jacob believed the Lord was also teaching Joseph through his dreams. He therefore reproved Joseph so that his own true feelings would not be discovered by Joseph's envious brothers. Jacob had taught this story of angelic care to his children in his tent. Joseph remembered it on the road to Egypt and believed the God of his fathers would be his God and the Keeper of Israel would be with him in the land of his exile.
The angel of God spoke to Jacob in a dream and called him by name, Jacob, to which Jacob answered, Here am I. The dream was God's merciful answer to Jacob's distressed prayer for direction when he knew not which way to turn and was distressed and unsure what to do. His distress had come because Laban's countenance was not toward him as before and Laban's attitude had changed and was no longer favorable. In the dream God told him to leave Laban and go to his kindred and return to his ancestral land. In that same dream God promised to be with him on the return.
Jacob joined the dream to the fact that the God of his father had already been with him while Laban deceived him and changed his wages ten times. After calling Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, he related the dream to them as his reason for leaving. Rachel and Leah accepted it and told him to do whatsoever God had said unto him. In Jacob's hour of need the angels of God came to instruct, comfort, and protect him, fulfilling the Lord's promises made to him when he fled from home as an exile and fugitive.
Because the Lord had instructed Jacob through dreams, Jacob believed the Lord was also teaching Joseph through his dreams. He therefore reproved Joseph so that his own true feelings would not be discovered by Joseph's envious brothers. Jacob had taught this story of angelic care to his children in his tent. Joseph remembered it on the road to Egypt and believed the God of his fathers would be his God and the Keeper of Israel would be with him in the land of his exile.