At this point Jacob was a transformed person, but he was not yet mature. To be transformed is to be metabolically changed in our natural life (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18); to be mature is to be filled with the divine life that changes us. We may be changed in our natural life (transformed) yet not be filled with the divine life (mature). The last stage of transformation is maturity. Jacob’s transformation began at the time God touched him (Gen. 32:25), and it continued until the end of ch. 36, when the process of transformation was relatively complete (see note Gen. 37:31). Genesis 37:1—43:14 is a record of the process of Jacob’s maturity.
Genesis shows a complete picture of how human beings can be remade and transformed to express God in His image and represent God with His dominion. This book ends as it begins — with God’s image and dominion. The last fourteen chapters indicate that after Jacob had become Israel, he bore the image of God and, through Joseph, exercised the dominion of God. For God’s expression and dominion there is the need of maturity. Only a mature life can bear God’s image and exercise His dominion.