Broad meadows

In the last installment we were examining the interaction between Jacob and an unnamed stranger. During the encounter, the stranger asks Jacob his name and after responding, Genesis 32:28 states, “Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” We continued on the theme of he who overcomes in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3 and what was being said there.

In Revelation 2:17 the Lord promises the one who over comes a new name as is stated above in Genesis 32:28. In Revelation 3:5 says, “He who overcomes, will, like them, be dressed in white.” I think this makes a clear distinction as to whether or not he is speaking about one person or all believers, because he will be dressed in white “like them”, that is other believers. I think this comports with what is said in Revelation 3:21: “to him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.“ It would be a pretty crowded throne if all believers sat on it.

I think this works in well with today’s entry in Genesis 37. In Genesis 37, both the sun and goat appear in the same account as it did in their first appearance in scripture in Genesis 15. I will only deal with what I think is the nature of the one symbolized by the sun in today’s installment.

As I have mentioned in earlier writings, I don’t think this one being prophesied is part of the godhead, but an angel who becomes a man for purposes we do not yet understand. In Genesis 15, we were able to understand from other scripture that the dove represents the Holy Spirit, who rests on Jesus at his baptism. By using the defining characteristic of a heifer, that is a cow who never calved or one without descendants, we were able to see that the heifer represents Jesus. But that left us with a goat, a ram and pigeon without clear definitions. That being said, if birds represent spiritual beings, then a pigeon would have to be a lesser spiritual being than the dove, hence an angel. This also comports with the account of Sodom and Gomorrah where the men were angels. Perhaps the two shown here represents the goat and the ram.

The sun symbol reappears in the dream that Joseph tells his father and brothers in Genesis 37:9-11,

“Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”

I think this continues to affirm that the one symbolized by the sun and also the moon, are angels that become men, and are ultimately the two witnesses. For one thing, the sun is a created light. In this account, we see the sun bowing to someone else. Lastly, Jacob sees himself as the one who is symbolized by the sun, and not as the one being bowed down to. This is a place reserved only for God.
I will pick up with this account and talk about the goat at the end of Genesis 37, but will also begin to look at Genesis 38 and the “young goat” in the next writing.