And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
See Jacob by the well (Genesis 29:2)? Where did he come from? Fleeing his twin brother’s death threats, he crossed the desert alone. On his way out of the Promised Land, on his way to a long Diaspora, Jacob received a vision. The vision reassures our lone traveler of the constant presence, even in Diaspora, of the One who is in control of our fate and destiny (Genesis 28). Though the night before it may have looked like a great defeat for the cause of God, by morning Jacob realizes that there is a greater and divine purpose in his flight to Laban’s in ‘Babylon’.
Jacob arrives at the very well where his own mother Rebecca watered Eliezer’s camels. As Rachel arrives, Jacob’s heart is filled with love, a love which gives him supernatural strength to roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water Rachel’s flocks (Genesis 29:10). While being a favor returned, this story sends a messianic echo through time, an echo resounding until this day.
Jacob is the messianic foreshadow. The seed of Messiah lies in him and as a teacher acting out a lesson or principle, Jacob’s life teaches us of the great messianic mission of our Master.
Like Jacob, our Master escaped a death threat, a death threat that took Him out of Israel to look for a bride in Diaspora. The chosen one is a distant relative, one not all that unfamiliar with the Master’s own customs, but still one who comes from an idolatrous household. When Jacob sees her He waters her flocks. What a beautiful picture of our Messiah who, while rejected by the Sadducee Temple leaders of Israel (while the common folks accepted Him gladly), takes His own body of Jewish disciples into Diaspora to water the flocks, the flocks made up of the other sheep which are not from ‘this fold’ (John 10:16). From Jacob's messianic waters, the whole nation of Israel would be born. From the Master's Word/Water, the Congregation of Messiah would birth.
Rachel birthed Joseph. Joseph, whom the Egyptians called ‘Savior’ married an Egyptian princess. To save His own people, Hashem lifted Rachel’s son to a position where he was able not only to save his own family, but the world alongside with it. In the same manner, as Yeshua the Anointed One poured His redeeming oil upon His people Israel, this oil overflowed on the world of the gentiles.
This is not the end of the story. God’s blessings withdrew from Egypt as they started to persecute God’s children. May the world take notice today; because as they withdraw their hands and hearts from blessing the seed of Israel, they also incur a curse upon themselves, a curse that will destroy them with the same plagues that destroyed Egypt. Sad to say, it seems to be an unavoidable destiny, and John saw it in the revelation Yeshua gave him on the Isle of Patmos.