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GENESIS 32
Jacob’s worries led him to challenge God. -- (DATE: Prior to 1685 before Christ)
DISCOVER Genesis 32: After Jacob had parted ways with Laban, he came upon a remarkable sight: the angels of God awaiting him. With these wonderful helpers he was able to send messengers before him to his twin brother Esau, who was now located in Seir (further south of Gilead to the East of the southern part of Canaan), away from their father Isaac. Jacob made sure that the message to be delivered to his brother was as submissive as possible, in the hopes it would lead to an amicable reunion with him after all he had taken from him. -- To Jacob’s utter devastation, however, the messengers returned with the news that Esau was on his way to meet Jacob. And he didn’t come alone, but with four hundred of his men! Utterly distressed by this turn of events, Jacob divided his camp into two parts, hoping that one would escape should the other come under attack by his brother’s forces. That night, in his fear, Jacob even turned to the LORD, the God of his father Abraham and the God of his father Isaac, and, for the first time, addressed him personally in his desperate prayer. Acknowledging that he was unworthy of any of the many good and faithful deeds God had done to him, he nonetheless pleaded for deliverance from his brother’s justified wrath for himself and his family. -- The next day Jacob selected rich gifts from among the animals of his flocks (male and female goats, male and female camels, cows and bulls, as well as male and female donkeys, all in all 500 animals) and sent them ahead of his caravan, hoping that these presents would appease his brother. He also strategically separated them in droves so that his brother would be increasingly impressed by the presents Jacob was sending ahead to him. -- By the next night he and his family had reached the Jabbok River, where he sent his family ahead of himself, together with everything else in his caravan, while he stayed behind alone, hesitating to go and meet his brother. But soon he wasn’t alone anymore, as he began to wrestle with a man until the next day broke. When that man realized that he could not best Jacob, he touched his hip to dislocate it, at which point he told him to let go of him. Jacob, however, was unwilling to do so, even with his leg being out of order. Instead he demanded of the man that he would bless him. -- At that the man asked his name, and when Jacob gave it, the man told him that he would be Jacob no longer, but Israel, for he had striven with both men and God and managed to prevail. When Jacob asked for the man’s name, he asked why he would do so and proceeded to bless him. Afterwards Jacob came to the realization that he had just come face to face with God himself, so he called the place of their wrestling Peniel (meaning “face of God” in Hebrew). The sun was already up by the time Jacob passed this place to limp after the caravan he had sent ahead to meet his brother.
PRAYER: Our loving and wise God, we thank you for your patience with Jacob, who was trying his best to cover up the evil he, years earlier, had done to his twin brother Esau. Thank you for the wisdom and farsightedness you gave to Jacob to pacify his brother. And we marvel that you came in person and encountered Jacob face to face and that he did not let go of you, until you blessed him. Help us to also seek you and your blessing above everything else in our lives. And thank you for forgiving Jacob and blessing him in spite of his crookedness. You made him a model for us, for in like manner you forgive our sins and crookedness by faith in your Son Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. In you alone we trust. Amen.
QUESTION 32: What did Jacob do to appease his twin brother Esau, from whom he had stolen the blessing of the firstborn?