Jacob Fears Esau
32:1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh. (ESV)
Gen:24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
Isn’t this just the case when we are struggling with lack of faith or unbelief or sin that God keeps us from sleeping and we ‘wrestle’ with God. I want to be at peace with the Lord like the teacher in Proverbs 3:24 when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Lord, Please forgive me and let me be at peace with you today.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”
Jacob felt “great fear and distress” (v.7) about seeing Esau again. Verse 12 stood out to me because Jacob’s response to his fear was to quote the very words that God had spoken to him, reminding himself that God had promised to make him into a great nation. This should be our response to fear. As Christians, fear is not an option! Phillipians 4:6 says that we should not be anxious about anything! Jacob’s example encourages me to quote Scripture when I am facing a difficult situation to remind myself that I trust in God and that He is omnipotent and bigger than any trial I am facing.
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
Ok so Jacob was really scared, not knowing what was going to happen to him because in the previous chapters Jacob cheated Esau out of his inheritance. He was split into two groups crying out to God for help because he was afraid of Esau. But at this time of trouble Jacob is humbled realizing that If it were not for God he wouldn’t be here. He asks God to remember his promises, which God always does. It is awesome how in this time of trouble Jacob relies on God. Next time I get into a dilemma like Jacob does I pray that I would fully rely on the Lord’s provisions.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Wow, the chapter where Jacob gets his name changed to Israel. The wrestling was an amazing part too. I found it amazing when “the man” touched the socket of Jacob’s hip, it was wrenched. So now the Israelites don’t eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip because of that incident. Pretty interesting.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
this verse, as well as when Moses sees God, reminds of of how great and glorified God is. Pastor Mike always asks the question: “When you see God, will your view of Him get any higher?” as Christians, we need to think of God on such a high view of Him that when we meet Him, our view will not go up. we are called as Christians to live a holy life and righteous life, because or God is holy and perfect. when we see that Jacob and Moses saw a mere FRACTION of God’s full glory, we begin to realize how great our God is. angels fall facedown and cry holy, holy, holy, and from Scripture we get a small view of God’s glory and we will worship Him in heaven! Maranatha!
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Jacob had a huge trial right infront of him at this time and he tried to get rid of the possibilities by warming up to his brother. He had just left from another obsticle in his life he had gotten through. Jacob had stuggled both spiritualy and physicaly yet he over came them. We too can over come anything with God’s help. We are never alone in this world. We will always have God on our side protecting us.
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
What an amazing prayer! I love this, Jacob is so humble and not prideful and just bringing his fear before GOD. Sometimes, we forget that GOD is really out there, and besides our salvation, has promise us his love and protection. That dosen’t mean that we won’t suffer, no we are also promised that we will suffer, but always remember that GOD is out there, listening.
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
This reminds me of how we need to pray with persistancy. Jacob wrestled with God all night in order to Get him to bless him without stopping, and we also need to keep praying for the things that we want to happen without stopping. Jacob didn’t give up, and neither should we.
Thank you Pastor Bobby for that amazing message this weekend!!
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
Jacob definatly showed that he was a prayer warrior in this chapter; Going along with our series of “How to Pray”. We should be praying every day for 10 minutes lets go True North!!
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
I love how it says that Jacob/Israel overcame. As Christians, we are also overcomers because we have the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us everything we need to say no to temptation and overcome sin.
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
This is so true! This is humbleness! That we all are unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness that God shows us because we are wicked sinners!
“This is the camp of God!” Genesis 32:2 Lord make your camp in my heart too. Work in my life to praise you.
I agree with what Kyle said about verse 10
0 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
This true that we are not worthy of the kindness and faithfulness God shows us, and this is a great example of Gods love! This is a great reminder for me to show love to others know matter the circumstance!
did Jacob actually wrestle with God or was it just an angel?
“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Lord help me to persevere even throught stuggles and make me your will for my life evident to me.
Good question Chelsea, In my John MacArthur study Bible the comentary says that along with v.30 (where it says Jacob saw the face of God), Hosea 12:4 says that Jacob wrestled the angel and prevailed. The person that fits this description of God and angel is The Angel of the LORD found in Exodus 3:2 who is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ (before He became a human)! It was the LORD Jesus that Jacob wrestled with and won! I hope this makes sense.
If Jacob had faith in God’s promises than he would have been able to keep half his stuff. Let’s remeber the next time we are tempted to sin that God has promised to give us a way to escape the temptation (1Cor. 10:13) and endure for His glory, and instead of sin have faith and grow!
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”
What a nice change from the Jacob we have come to know. Jacob has spent a lot of time doing things his way. He has schemed and deceived, often without a thought towards God. Here we find him praying for protection and finally seeing himself for what he really is… unworthy. How easily can we relate to Jacob? How much of our time is spent living for ourselves? How often do we consider just how unworthy we really are? Being fully aware of God’s provision and faithfulness in our own lives should inspire us to love Him and serve Him even more.
Pastor Bobby’s message this morning was a great reminder to put ourselves on the back burner and make prayer a priority. If we really love God and care about fellow believers, we will make every effort to be praying daily.
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
I love how He can tottaly pour his heart out to God without interruption. God answered his prayer because he used the three Ps. Persistant, Pleading, and Power. I am going to fly away now and heat my burrido with my lazer vision. haha
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
Right here we see Jacob praying to the Lord and he is so humble. He knows that he is completely unworthy of the Lord. We need to be to pray like Jacob does in this chapter. He was a payer warrior like in this chapter like somebody already said and we should be prayer warriors to.
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
This is How we need to pray and overcome things with Christ. He is so humble right here and we need to be like that
Jacob was totally on the 3 P’s at this chapter (Persistent, Pleading, Power). I agree with mechell, on how Jacob became different from that point on; like on how he trusted God more after that, and how he was more humble.
I am sorry for the name but evangelism night was awesome! We had such a solid group and it was so cool to do God’s will with us!
Ask for the chapter I loved it! This chapter just makes me want to read on and never stop… There were so many interesting things that happened in this chapter, especially when Jacob wrestled with the man who was God.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
This is so cool what he says at the end of his verse! “Yet my life was spared.” This shows you that Jacob knew that God is to be feared. And because he feared God this made him a wise man. I wish to fear God like this every single day of my life so that God would spare me..
Good chapter… I’m excited to start reading along with sotd as of now! And the thing I love about the old testament is the high view of God. Jacob is a great example of that in this chapter.
10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your aservant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
this verse reminds me of Pastor Bobby’s sermon from 2 weeks ago on how to pray and one of the points was “Remember who you are talking to”. Jacob now Israel acknowledges the fact that he isn’t worthy of God’s kindness and faithfulness to him. we really don’t deserve how God is so kind and faithful to us. we need to constantly be thanking God for His great mercy on us and remember all He has done for us.
I like this chapter a lot. We need to have God in a high view as Jacob does as he prays. He says he is unworthy of every great thing God has done for him. I also wish I can have a greater fear of the Lord like Jacob does after he wrestles with God.
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
I agree with the first comment! We want to be at peace with God, we want to have Him is our ever present help in time of trouble!!
NEW BLOG :)
7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.
8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”
Jacob was “in great fear and distress.” But instead of relying on himself, he prayed. We need to have stronger faith in prayer because God listens to us every time we talk to him. This may seem a little elementary, but it is true and we need to be constantly recognizing it.
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”
Its interesting how Jacob prays to God saying how unworthy he is and asking for deliverance, yet later thinks that he can pacify Esau’s heart with gifts rather than trusting the LORD to do a work in his heart. Its easy to tell God that we trust Him, but what we need to be doing is living it out. We can do this by seeking Him first and obeying His commands and trusting Him to take care of everything else. Besides, when we think about it, who would we rather have in control of our lives: the Almighty God or our weak sauce selves?
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
This verse hit me hard….not only as a great example of prayer, but something that is just so true for all of us. We are so unworthy of God!!! he has shown so much mercy in not destroying us here and now and so much grace in salvation, as well as showing so much kindness and love….And yet he is God! Holy holy holy God. It amazes me. I pray that my view of God will be lifted up to who he really is and that I would truly understand Him more and more!
30.) So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
Amen to that Cameron… Throughout the Bible we see examples of God’s glory being so great that the people either cannot see it and live or are told to leave it. Our view of God must be higher than anything else and so high that, like Cameron said, it cannot get any higher. How GREAT is our God!!!
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
This verse is soo cool/crazy/random! I can’t believe the stuff that happens in the old testament. God wrestled with Jacob and then touched him and then dislocated his hip…holy cow!
We need to continually PRAY to God, and ask for guidence to over come our obsticles, just as David did. Jacob cause himself unworthy, which we all our…but the awsome thing is that God showed us grace!! And delivers us through sin with prayer.
1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.
“This is the camp of God!” that is such an awesome phrase and I pray that God would make his camp in all of us.
One of the many good chapters of Genises where Jacob follows God and goes back to his brother to straighten things out between them. But Jacob prays to God that Esau wouldn’t kill/attack him. This is very wise because God always prevails, as we have read in previous chapters. We should be praying to God like this for his help and guidece.
And also, very interesting what you mentioned Hunter about verse 24.
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
This verse is so true to all people. We are so undeserving of every single thing that we have and that we are blessed with by God. Christ poors out His kindness on us and showers us with His love. But we are so unworthy of any little thing that he gives us. We should not take for grantide what we are blessed with and in return show our love to Christ through obedience!!!!!!
Beth’s comment above is exactly what I thought as I read this chapter. He cries out to God even though he knew what God had already told him. The reliance on the faithfulness of God is a great model for us to remember in everything we do. God is good and he has given us so many promises but especially the promise of the hope that we have in him. For this reason, we should be doing everything the Bible has taught us and just as Pastor Bobby taught this past weekend, we should obey everything that Christ has commanded.
11 “Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me”
This is the proper response we should have – going to God – when we have fear or distress.
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
This verse really stood out to me because of the True North sermons on prayer the last three weeks. Jacob is bold here in repeating God’s promise to Him. This would be a good thing to do in my own prayers–to pray His promises to me–because I know those are good things that He wants to do and I need to want them too.
God has promised to do awesome things, but sometimes I’m the one holding their fulfillment up because I’m not being obedient. For example His promise to forgive my sins(1 John 1:9) requires that I repent of them or His promise to make my paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6) requires that trust Him and acknowledge Him.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Sometimes God has to break us for our own good, whether it’s physically, emotionally, or mentally. After his hip was broken, Joseph, instead of turning away from the Lord, clung to God even tighter and asked for a blessing. He didn’t stop until he got what he asked for. That’s how we need to be in our prayer life too! He had a great response to God’s tough love.
12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”
God promises to do great things through Jacob’s lineage. Jacob reminds God of this and asks Him to spare him of his brother’s wrath.
seriously Daniel, seriously. Just one touch and God can destroy you!!! It made me think about how powerful God is and how much fear we should have of Him like Beth Lauder said.
And Rylie, Great point!!! God should have a camp in our heart, as He cleans it out.
Sorry for the late comment!
0 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
I just loved how he automatically went straight to showing reverence to God He shows how powerful God is and how unworthy he is to even really be praying to Him at that moment! Man, we need to step up when it comes to praya!
11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
This reminded me of how we should be praying when it comes to temptation and evil. Everyday, we need to ask God to lead us out of temptation, that we won’t slip and fall right into the black of, what seems to be, foreverness. But, like what 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, God has a way out of temptation. Also, God wants us to ask for a way out! Ask and it will be given. mmmmhm! :D