Genesis Chapter 32

¹ And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

² And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

Jacob knew that God had promised him that he would be a father of a great nation, he met the Angels of God , which is something that doesn’t just occur in a person’s life the way it did with Jacob’s, but here he is worried about his brother Esau. He had taken his birthright and I’m guessing he feared Esau was going to want revenge.

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

Jacob is humbling himself before Esau, possible to calm any anger Esau still has over the birthright…. he refers to Esau as Lord and himself as his servant. Jacob knows full well that the reality is he (Jacob) is the one who has the actual authoritative power and birthright. Just because you have authority given too you, it doesn’t mean other people are going to honor that authority. While Jacob knows he has the authority he also knows he is venturing into his brother’s land and his bother posses the power to kill Jacob and everyone with him if he so desires. Wrath does not follow rules.

⁵ And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

This is a curious thing to me…. Jacob has been in service to Laban for all these years, and he himself has servants. All I could find on it was that these servants were from people of his household and were servants of his wives.

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

Personally, I would have been grilling the messenger with questions like… “Did he seem mad? Was he angry…. did he say anything at all? Did you get the impression he was about to kill us all?”

⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;

Jacob is freaking out…he starts ranking flocks ,possessions and people into groups based on their value to him, figuring that while Esau and his men are killing one group, the others would have a chance to escape.

⁸ And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

⁹ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:

Now he’s praying to God… he reminds God he is the God of his grandfather and his father… and he reminds him of the words God spoke to him about returning to his own country and people and that God will deal well with him. When we are going through a time of trial of our faith, it really builds our faith up to remind ourselves of all the things God promised us and all the things he has done for us…one way to do this is to celebrate them with God through praise. It reminds us who we serve and of his faithfulness.

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

Jacob humbles himself… he knows he isn’t worthy of the blessing God has been giving him. He came this way the first time with just his staff, and now he is the owner of 2 huge ranks of cattle and people. He recognizes that God has given him everything he has.

Personal note: I’ve been finding a lot of comfort lately by stopping to realize during troubling times that God is directing my life and working everything out for his purposes. So lately (last couple of years) when something bad happens or something threatens something of mine, I stop and realize that all the things that God takes me through are his way of shaping me into the Christian he wants me to be….and since he is the perfecter of my faith I can relax and just trust that no matter what, he is working on my behalf. It’s not always easy… sometime it’s extremely hard and painful… because it requires me to take up my cross and follow Jesus.

¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

¹² And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Jacob is scared of his brother and what he might do to him over the birthright and blessing. He’s also aware that God made a promise to him that he would make his seed as plentiful as the sands of the sea. Jacob seems to be greatly distressed. We can read these verses and think of all of this as some sort of faithless, fearful sin….but I think we would be incorrect to think that because… Jacob was already aware that he would have to encounter Esau before he left with his family from Laban’s house, he went anyway…. he knew he would be afraid, still here he is doing what God told him to do. Faith is doing what God told you to do, even if it terrifies your flesh…. this is what it takes and means to walk in faith…. and it will often require us to do things that cause our flesh to be uncomfortable… and doing it anyway is how you overcome it.
There is this idea in the Christian community that we have to proclaim our statement of faith and not be fearful, only believe in God, or we won’t get what we are asking for. Name it and claim it/blab it and grab it faith is not Biblical…. you don’t confess your way out of anything…. it’s false faith. What you do is what Jacob did here…. he obeyed God in spite of what he thought he would encounter… Jacob battled his fleshly fears and still he obeyed what God told him to do, and that was to go home to his land.
The difference between blab it and grab it theology and walking by faith is that the blab it and grab it belief says you can simply speak stuff into existence (the false belief that we are little gods) this is what those of that camp call walking by faith. And actual Biblical faith that we see examples of all over the word of God is, standing in faith believing God and doing what he tells you to do even if you’re afraid…. you may feel fear, but you obey God anyway…like Jacob.

¹³ And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

Jacob decides to try to deal with the situation in his fleshly fear…. he starts getting gifts together and making plans on his own. Jacob is worried his brother’s anger will still be there, so he’s trying to handle it. BUT HE’S STILL MOVING TOWARDS HOME WHERE GOD TOLD HIM TO GO.

¹⁴ Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

¹⁵ Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.

¹⁶ And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

He has a servant spacing the droves of animals so they come in waves. This would be very impressive to receive wave after wave of gifts… and it would slow down a raging massacre too.

¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

¹⁸ Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

¹⁹ And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.

²⁰ And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

²¹ So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

²² And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

²³ And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

²⁴ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

This was the Angel of the Lord. Jacob is being changed here… and change is often painful.

²⁵ And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

²⁶ And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

²⁷ And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

²⁸ And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

²⁹ And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

³¹ And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

³² Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.