The books of the Old Testament contain many hidden types of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice on the cross. One of these stories tells how Jacob became rich by separating sheep for himself. Let’s dive straight into the Word of God, and may the Holy Spirit reveal to us the glory and greatness of the Son of God.

The Return

And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country.”
–Genesis 30:25

The Holy Spirit pointed out a very interesting detail about when Jacob decided to return home. Why did Jacob decide to return to his land precisely after Joseph was born? Whom does Joseph symbolise in this story?

One of the most frequently used titles of the Messiah is the son of David. This title is given to the Messiah of Israel because David was king of Israel and was given the promise that his seed would reign and his kingdom would have no end. (2 Sam.7:12) Jesus of Nazareth, born of the seed of David, came to His own (the Jews), and He was often called the Son of David and also the king of Israel.

But the Messiah also has another title — son of Joseph. Joseph is interesting because, like David, he was a ruler, only not of Israel but of Egypt. Many religious Jews also call the title “son of Joseph” the suffering Messiah. Joseph really did suffer, being rejected by his brothers, and then he became ruler of Egypt. Likewise Jesus was rejected by His brothers according to the flesh, and when He rose, He became ruler among the Gentiles (Egypt), who received Him.

Here is what happened when our Saviour was born: “So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.’” (Luk.2:27-32)

The books of the New Testament are spiritual, and they reveal truths hidden in the books of the Old Testament. Isn’t this story of Jesus’ birth and Simeon similar to the one told in the book of Genesis? After the baby Jesus is born, Simeon, led by the Holy Spirit, asks the Master to let him depart in peace (the Greek word translated “Lord” here is despotes, Master). By using the expression “by the Spirit”, the Lord hints that this is about His people. Before the birth of Christ it was Israel, living under the law and serving the Master, God, just as Jacob served Laban.

Once the Lord asked me why He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not, for example, of Moses or David. “Indeed, I wonder why?” I asked in my mind. Then the Lord showed me that Abraham is a type of the heavenly Father, for even the name Abraham means father of many nations. Isaac is a type of the Son of God, the son of promise, whom the Father gave as a sacrifice on the cross of Golgotha, and Jacob is a type of the Holy Spirit, who serves the Master in order to separate God’s sheep and bring them back to the promised land, the land of rest.

The Choice of God’s Spirit

Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and these shall be my wages.
–Genesis 30:32

It is interesting that Jacob chose speckled and spotted goats, and also dark sheep, as his wages (the Hebrew word translated “brown” means dark, black). Spots and speckles speak of imperfections and blemishes. For example, when the Israelites sacrificed the lamb at Passover, it was without spot or blemish, that is, pure white. The Spirit of God picks sinful and imperfect people as His wages. Jesus said: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Luk.5:32)

The good shepherd leaves the ninety-nine white sheep in the wilderness and goes to look for the one black one that is lost and wanders through the valley of the shadow of death. And when he finds it, he joyfully lays it on his shoulders, and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours and says to them: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” Telling this parable, Jesus pointed out that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (Luk.15:7)

Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.
–Genesis 30:37-39

These verses from the book of Genesis show how the Lord picks out His wealth for Himself — and that wealth is us, the children of God. Jacob tended Laban’s flock, and when it came to drink, it conceived before the rods, and speckled and spotted young were born.

A Samaritan woman came to Jacob’s well for water. It is interesting that Jacob had given the plot of ground where this well was to his son Joseph. (Jhn.4:5) The Son of Joseph, weary from His journey, sat down by the well to rest. What a wonderful word — rest. The Spirit of God always leads a person into rest. And this place was called Sychar. The name comes from the Hebrew word shekar (H7941), which means strong alcoholic drink, “strong drink” — or, as we would say, moonshine.

“A whole well of it?!… Praise the Lord!” said a lover of the strong stuff. “Good heavens!” protested a churchgoer in a headscarf. “What blasphemy is this!” Don’t be alarmed, dear readers; Paul wrote: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph.5:18) And Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (Jhn.4:10)

The gift of God, or living water, is the Holy Spirit, whom the Son of God gives, and a person filled with Him looks very much like a drunkard. Again, this is not about drunkards, although the Lord chose such people too, but about the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus’ disciples and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and the visitors mocked them, saying: “They are full of new wine.” (Act.2:13)

So, after meeting Jesus, the Samaritan woman went into the city and said: “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” The people from the city went out to Jesus, and Jesus spoke about the harvest (Jhn.4:29-30,35). And those who came to Him were streaked, speckled and spotted.

Fresh Striped Rods

At the well the Samaritan woman met Jesus, and at the watering place there were fresh rods in which Jacob had peeled stripes. The rods were made from the branches of three kinds of trees: poplar, almond and chestnut. All this reveals to us Jesus and His perfect sacrifice on the cross. The epistle to the Hebrews says: “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb.12:2). I really like how one Russian translation (the Word of Life) renders it — “From beginning to end our faith depends on Him” — because it emphasises on Whom our faith depends, the faith through which we receive salvation.

When Jesus hung on the cross, His body really did look like a striped rod. Just as Jacob cut the fresh rods and peeled off the bark to expose the white, so the skin was torn from the body of Jesus Christ. Notice the word white. The prophet Isaiah writes: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isa.53:5)

White speaks of righteousness, and we can be at peace with God only when we know and believe that we are righteous forever thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Paul says this: “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom.5:1) And the righteousness of God leads to healing. (Mal.4:2)

Each kind of tree also reveals to us in its own way the righteousness of God, which we receive as a gift through Christ’s sacrifice. The first tree is the poplar. In Hebrew poplar is libneh (H3839), which comes from the word laban (H3835), meaning white or purified. By the way, the name Laban also comes from this word. As you have already noticed above, Laban is a type of the Master, God, or more precisely of His righteousness.

Paul writes about Christ Jesus: “the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” And now all those who could not be justified before God by the works of the law are justified by the faith of Jesus. (Rom.3:21-22; Act.13:39) (By the way, in the original it is not “faith in Jesus” but “the faith of Jesus” — as the KJV puts it, “by faith of Jesus Christ” — in other words, His faith.) Paul also writes in the epistle to the Corinthians: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor.5:21)

The next tree is the almond. In Hebrew it is called luz (H3869), from the verb luz (H3868), which means to depart, to turn aside, to disappear from view. Jesus disappeared, or died, to the law and sin. Peter wrote that he who has suffered in the flesh (that is, Christ) has ceased from sin, or in other words has disappeared for sin. Arm yourselves also with the same mind, for just as Christ suffered for us in the flesh and died to the law and sin, so we too have died in Him to the law and sin. Sin, which worked through the law and held us in slavery, has lost all its power over us, all thanks to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. (Rom.6:6-7; Rom.7:6)

It is also written that Christ is the end of the law — in other words, the end of the law’s operation, or the fulfilment of the law — for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Rom.10:4) The law was powerless to make man perfect, so God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who believe in Jesus. (Rom.8:3-4)

And the last tree is the chestnut — in Hebrew armon (H6196), the plane tree. It comes from the word arom (H6174), which means naked, bare, stripped, unclothed. Truly, on the cross Jesus was naked, and the soldiers cast lots for His white garments. Paul passed on Jesus’ words about this lot: “… I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Act.26:17-18) The Greek word for “inheritance” here, kleros, literally means “lot”. Notice that forgiveness of sins goes hand in hand with the lot.

Just so David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” (Rom.4:6-8) Blessed is the one to whom God will not impute sin — this is that very lot, or inheritance, which we receive when we receive the Holy Spirit, for by Him we are sanctified.

“How can God not count my sin when I have sinned?” someone may ask. Listen, precious one: if you have believed in Jesus and received His Holy Spirit, then you are a saint, which means set apart for God, and you are clothed in garments of righteousness. Jesus was naked so that His garments of righteousness would go to you, and now, when Daddy God looks at you, He sees you clean forever, regardless of what you do. He sees you in the white garments of the Lamb of God and says: “You are My beloved child, you are righteous and holy forever, and I am always pleased with you!”