Genesis 32
Have you ever been in situation where you cried out to God
to preserve you because you were afraid?
Jacob did that in this chapter
The background is that Jacob had cheated his brother Esau
out of his birthright at his mothers behest.
Esau had not valued the birthright in the way Jacob had.
God had said that that the older would serve the younger,
but we should not conclude that God expects us to manipulate and deceive as
Jacob did to accomplish his will.
Jacob went on to prosper greatly and God had told him to
return to his own land and there he would multiply his descendants.
Sometimes in order to carry out the lords will, we have to
use our intelligence and to do some practical things. In this case, Jacob sent
messengers to Esau.
The message he sent was an honest one, he told Esau that he
had been with their uncle Laban all these years and now he had wives and a
great deal of property, and he wanted to find favour with Esau.
When the messengers returned to Jacob, I think he would be
hoping to have a favourable message back, after all, God had promised that he
would prosper and have many descendants.
Surely in order to do that, God would have seen to it that Esau would
long have forgiven him and welcome him back
However the messengers came back with news that I do not think
Jacob wanted to hear. They told Jacob that
Esau was coming with 400 men.
V7 WE are told that Jacob was afraid. He thought that Esau was coming to kill him
and plunder everthing he had, TO TAKE
FROM HIM JUST AS JACOB HAD DONE, all those years ago. It would be sweet
revenge.
It is my opinion that Jacob was right
Jacob then makes some decisions. HE
DIVIDES THE COMPANY IN TWO. He
thinks that if Esau attacks one company, then the other will escape.
In this way there
would be those who would survive and then there would still be descendants from
Jacob as God had promised
Thus Jacob is ready
for battle
He then has a second
stategy
In V9 prays to God.
He reminds God that he is the God of Abraham and his father Isaac and
that It was God himself who had told him
to return, so he was being obedient to God.
He told God that he was unworthy of all the loving Kindness
that God had shown him in prospering him.
this was true, he WAS! UNWORTHY.
This however shows that Jacob had changed. When he set out, he had been grasping Jacob,
He thought he was worthy of the birthright.
He had cheated and while he was away Laban had cheated him. Jacob had learned some humility.
He asked God to deliver him from Esau.
Then he sent cattle ahead of him, and Camels and rams as a
gift to Esau in the hope that this would pacify him. He gave a message to all who drove these
animals for Esau to hear OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Saying “Your Servant Jacob is
behind us.”
He then settle down for the night and then arose and sent
his wives and their maids and his 11 children across the ford of Jabbok
Finally Jacob was
alone
A man wrestled with him until daybreak. This man seems to appear from nowhere. This man touched the socket of Jacobs thigh
and dislocated it.
They continued to wrestle
Bear in mind that Jacob was afraid of being attacked by Esau
and here he is being attacked. Wrestling with God. That would have been far more fearful than anything
Esau could have done.
They wrestled until daybreak and then man said to Jacob, LET
ME GO, but Jacob said, I WILL NOT LET
YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME.
Remember how he sought a blessing, the birthright by lying
and cheating?
Here he was again, wanting to be blessed, but he was
striving for God to Bless him this time.
I have no doubt that God was holding back in that wrestling
match. God wanted Jacob to strive and to
wrestle with him. To entice him to seek
the blessing.
We also need to keep a hold of him to bless us if we are to
be of any use
God said WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
This was to bring out Jacobs character for he was well named
for Jacob means grasping. It was an
exposition of the character that Jacob had been.
He said his name was Jacob and the man told him that his
name would no longer be Jacob but ISRAEL. Meaning HE STRUGGLES WITH GOD.
Jacob then asked the man the same question. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
The man said, Why is it that you ask my name?
I think that was a rhetorical question. The man had just given him the name he
strives with God and that was the answer.
Jacob by then must have realised who he was . The man was God appearing as a man.
We know that Jacob realised the man was God for Jacob then
gave the place a name. Peniel
For he had seen God face to face, yet his life had been persevered.
From the context we can see that it means the face of God.
Sometimes in our difficulties, we strive with God. We learn from the experience of clinging on
to him. It is not necessarily always
about getting something from God, it is about getting to know him
Jacob did two things before he faced Esau. First of all he prayed looking to God for an
answer to preserve him
Second, having prayed, the then took the practical steps he
thought necessary to achieve that objective by sending over the cattle as a
gift to appease Esau, and it worked.
Sometimes all we can do is pray, but there are times when
God wants us to pray and then do something to get the answer.
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