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JACOB RESTORED

Chapters 32 and 33

After the departure of his uncle Laban, Jacob went again into the land of promise and angels of God met him: the Bible does not say why, nor what they said. The word “angels” in both Hebrew and in Greek means “messenger”, in this case they were from God: probably supernatural creatures because Jacob was so impressed that he thought it was God’s camp, and named the place Mahanaim (two camps). One of the effects of the encounter was to confirm to Jacob that God was with him.

Within a few days, Jacob was to meet his twin brother Esau, who dwelt in Seir, a mountainous region south of the Dead Sea, south of the road by which he would have to go before reaching his destination. The last time that Jacob had been with him, his brother was willing to kill him as soon as his father Isaac died - he was still alive, but Jacob probably did not know for sure. Acting with prudence, Jacob sent messengers to Esau, to warn that he had been living with his uncle, and was now returning with his animals, and male and female servants (he said nothing, apparently, about his family). He hoped to gain the goodwill of Esau.

The news that the messengers gave him, when they returned made him uneasy: Esau had left to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob prepared for the worst:

• He divided his people and everything he had into two parts, so if Esau attacked one part the other would have the opportunity to flee. He prayed to the LORD God of Abraham and Isaac, explaining the situation and begging to be delivered from the hands of his brother Esau, relying on the promise that God had made him previously.

• On the next day, he separated four lots of animals  and sent them separately and distant from each other as gifts to Esau

That night, he drove on with his family. They had to cross the river Jabbok (fight), a tributary of the Jordan, into which it flows some 39 km north of the Dead Sea. They crossed it over a ford, and Jacob stayed behind until all his family and all that belonged to him had passed.

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Before crossing, he had to wrestle against a Man: He is called the Angel (Hosea 12:4), and Jacob declared after He had left that He was God - no doubt this is another appearance of the second person of the Trinity, Who centuries later came into the world as Jesus Christ. Jacob persevered in this wrestling till the break of day, and even after his hip was put out of joint Jacob did not let go of Him until He blessed him.

In Hosea we learn that Jacob wept, and sought favour from Him. Jacob was not physically aggressive, but had a strong and resolute character. He wished to get God's blessing for himself, and used all his strength for that purpose, even holding onto the Angel of God, after being wounded in the thigh, and not letting go until it was granted.

God rewarded him by changing his name to Israel (wrestler with God, or he will rule as God). Both names are used in the Scriptures for the nation that descended from him:

Jacob is the name used for all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob;
Israel refers to the spiritual posterity, e.g. "The LORD sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen upon Israel" (Isaiah 9:8): the word was sent to all the people, but it was understood only by those who were spiritual.

According to the prophets, Israel (not Jacob), will be restored, converted to Christ, after the tribulation to come, then receive its greatest exaltation and glory in the world.  This wrestling  is symbolic of Jacob's relationship with the nation's God (see Romans 11:26).

Jacob in turn asked the Man what was His name, but the answer was another question "Why is it that you ask about My name?" A similar dialogue took place between Manoah and the Angel of the LORD (the same Person as the Man) when He said“...it is wonderful” (Judges 13:18 – see also Isaiah 9:6).This is the same person, and wonderful is the translation of a Hebrew word whose root means to be great, ineffable (1 Corinthians 1:10, Ephesians 1:21, Philippians 2:9,10).The Man blessed him, proving again that He was the LORD.

Jacob called the place Peniel (face of God) because he recognized that he had seen God face to face and his life was saved.

At dawn, Jacob crossed the ford, limping: A sign to remind him of this event and to help him not be proud of himself. His descendants also remembered this by avoiding to eat the muscle of the hip socket of animals.

Soon after, Jacob saw Esau and his four hundred men at a distance. Prudent as he was, Jacob did not want to take risks and used diplomacy and reverence that seem exaggerated to us: to bow down to the ground seven times was a sign of reverence widely known, suitable for a king. Esau reacted in a way that Jacob might never even have dreamed of, as he ran and hugged and kissed his brother and both wept with emotion.

After the introductions, Jacob insisted that Esau kept the gifts he had sent him, saying that God had been generous to him, and he had plenty of everything, surprising Esau with his humility and generosity.

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Esau offered to escort Jacob, but the latter claimed that he did not wish to give his brother or his men such trouble and asked them to return to their land while he would go on slowly with his children, who were weak,  and  his flocks.

But after Esau and his men left to return home, Jacob turned right toward the West, continuing along the path that would lead him to the land of promise, instead of going south after Esau.

Before crossing the Jordan River he stopped at Succoth (tents), where he remained for over ten years. It is a beautiful place, and there was plenty of pasture for his animals. He was not far from Esau, with whom he had made peace.

Then he moved on to Shechem (shoulder), an important city in Canaan, near the present town of Nablus, and camped near the town, having bought a part of the field to reside there.

It was a in narrow valley between two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, and there Abraham had also camped and built his first altar in Canaan when receiving the divine promise that this land  would be his (chapter 12:6,7).

Jacob also raised an altar giving it a name which means"the Almighty God is the God of Israel". It was the link between God and himself.

R David Jones

Genesis chapter 32:

1 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp." And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 And he commanded them, saying, "Speak thus to my lord Esau, 'Thus your servant Jacob says: "I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now.
5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight." ' "
6 Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."
7 So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies.
8 And he said, "If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape."
9 Then Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you':
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies.
11 Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.
12 For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' "
13 So he lodged there that same night, and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother:
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15 thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.
16 Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, and put some distance between successive droves."
17 And he commanded the first one, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these in front of you?'
18 then you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.' "
19 So he commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, "In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;
20 and also say, 'Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.' " For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me."
21 So the present went on over before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.
22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.
23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had.
24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.
25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.
26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"
27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob."
28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.
32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob's hip in the muscle that shrank.

Genesi chapter 33:

1 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.
2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.
3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.
5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So he said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant."
6 Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down.
7 And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.
8 Then Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" And he said, "These are to find favor in the sight of my lord."
9 But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."
10 And Jacob said, "No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me.
11 Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." So he urged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you."
Gen 33:13 But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die.
14 Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir."
15 And Esau said, "Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But he said, "What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."
16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
18 Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city.
19 And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for one hundred pieces of money.
20 Then he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.