Introduction⤒🔗

One crisis with Laban has been averted; another looms ahead for Jacob with Esau. A covenant seals the deal between Jacob and Laban so that there may be peace be­tween them and their descendants. "Good fences make good neigh­bors," it is said. But Esau is a new neighbor that is just over the Gilead horizon to the south. Esau was fiercely angry when we last met him in the text (Genesis 28). Are there still storm clouds in his heart and soul?

Heavenly and Human Messengers (32:1-8)←⤒🔗

Jacob continues to move toward the place where he will encounter his twin brother Esau. Laban, his father-in-law, is headed back to his home (Genesis 31:55), but Esau is before him. Yet while Jacob is moving south, we read that "the angels of God met him" (Genesis 32:1). The last time that Jacob saw angels was in Genesis 28:12 when he spent the night at Bethel, and he dreamed of angels ascending and descending on the stairway that connected heaven and earth. We've come full circle. That dream had been a source of great comfort and en­couragement to Jacob as he left the Promised Land with only his staff in hand. God promised him great blessings in His covenant.

Jacob is returning home in Genesis 32, but now he is a richer, more powerful man. Yet the question is this: what will be the attitude of Esau now after twenty years? Will the murderous intentions ear­lier have died away? Or, will Esau still bear a grudge so in­tensely that Jacob needs to fear for his life? In addition, if Esau still seeks to destroy Jacob, he will certainly want to destroy his family (or enslave them, or sell them), and confiscate his vast possessions.

Jacob interprets the presence of this band of angels as a positive sign, namely, that God was with him and would help to protect him. So he gives this place a name: "Mahanaim" (which means "Two Camps," God's camp and Jacob's camp). The word for "camp" in the original language can also mean "army." Is there ambiguity here? Could it be that God's "army" has arrived because there is going to be a battle? In Genesis 31 Laban's "camp/army" had come in pursuit of Jacob and his "camp," but bloodshed was averted. Laban went back in peace. Can peace be preserved between Jacob and Esau?

In any case, Jacob sends messen­gers ahead to meet Esau first be­fore he himself will encounter him. Again, the original language catches the wordplay since the word for "angels" in verse 1 is the same word for "messengers" in verse 3. God sends His heavenly messengers to Jacob, and Jacob now sends his earthly messengers to Esau. He wants to soften Esau, if that be needed, and to sweeten his disposition before the actual meeting takes place.

Furthermore, as a strategic pre­caution, Jacob divides his one camp into "two camps." See verses 7 and 10. After all, if Esau should attack one group, then there will be time, he hopes, for the other group to make its escape (verse 8).

The messengers that Jacob sends have instructions on how they are to speak. It is an interesting picture that they are to paint to Esau once they meet him. On the one hand, Jacob refers in verse 4 to his brother as "my master Esau." As for himself, he calls himself, "your servant Jacob" (verses 5, 18). In the context of the an­cient Near East, that is suggestive that Esau is the "head" while Jacob is the "tail" (see Deuteronomy 28:13, 44b), that Esau is the lord, but Jacob is the slave. This is not quite how Genesis 25:23 said it was going to be! So, Jacob is clearly humbling himself before Esau in language that is very po­litically polite.

On the other hand, he wants to include in the message to his brother the fact that he has gained so much wealth in the time he lived by Laban. What a list: don­keys, sheep and goats, menser­vants and maidservants! What message does Jacob intend to send with this inventory list of livestock and people? Does Jacob want Esau to be im­pressed? It could very well be that Esau, if he is still seething with anger, might hear this list of goodies and it could make him covetous and quite desirous of getting his hands on all this wealth.

Jacob's messengers return to him with ominous news: Esau knows that Jacob is coming in his direction, and he is coming toward Jacob. But Esau is not alone: there are 400 men with him. The text in verse 6 leaves the reader with a question: are the 400 men an attack party? Or, is Esau com­ing in peace with a large contingent of his forces in order to have a reunion party? Which is it?

Jacob is going to "play it safe." He is seized with great fear and distress, says verse 7. Now he carries out his safety net plan of dividing his camp into two groups with the hope that if there is a violent encounter with Esau, then at least part of his group can likely survive.

Jacob's First Recorded Prayer (32:9-12)←⤒🔗

When Jacob had realized the presence of God "in that place" of Bethel, he had responded to the dream of the previous night with wonderment, fear, and with a vow to serve the Lord God if He carried out His promises. It was not a prayer that was addressed to God directly. Here in Genesis 32 we now have the first recorded prayer of Jacob. This is not to suggest that this is the first time that he ever prayed in his life. We simply are not given informa­tion on the prayer-life of this patriarch (as we are rarely given insight on the prayer-life of many Biblical characters!). In any case, review the various aspects that Jacob mentions in his desper­ate prayer to God:

1. He addresses the God of his an­cestors, Abraham and Isaac. He is speaking to the one, true God.
2. He recalls something that God had said to him earlier, specifi­cally, the fact that God is the One who had directed him to return to the Promised Land and to his family. Jacob recalls a bit of his­tory.
3. He humbles himself: "I am un­worthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown your servant." His word for "un­worthy" is literally, "I am the little one, the younger one." He was, after all, the younger of the twins born to Isaac and Rebekah. He adopts a lowly spirit in the presence of Almighty God.
4. He acknowledges that he has been blessed. From one walking staff ... to two groups!
5. He presents his petition, "Spare me! I'm very afraid for myself, for my children and their mothers!"
6. He concludes by mentioning again God's covenantal promise to make his descendants like the sand of the sea (see Genesis 28:14; cf. Genesis 22:17).

This is really an awesome prayer! God often seems to whisper in our prosperity, but He shouts to us in our pain. We have no way of knowing how "close" Jacob was to God during the twenty years of living with Uncle Laban. He la­bored, and he prospered greatly. Did Jacob give God the thanks and the praise of this during those twenty years? We do not know. But now, as Esau approaches, Jacob is afraid of losing all that he has. Yet, because he has no­where else to go, he turns to the covenant God, who is ever faith­ful, and Jacob reminds the Lord of what He has said Himself. "This was Your Word, O my God, and these were Your promises!" God is working in Jacob, stirring up in him a proper and prayerful depen­dence upon his heavenly Father.

Gifts that Jacob Keeps On Giving (32:13-21)←⤒🔗

It is interesting to note that this section begins and ends with a notice that Jacob spent the night there (verses 13 and 21). The wrestling with the "mysterious Stranger" will also occur at night. Jacob has not yet come into the daylight, one might say. That will come later. For now, he makes plans at night.

Jacob, ever resourceful, draws up a strategy to pacify Esau (verse 20). He wants to soothe his (possibly) hostile spirit with wave af­ter wave of gifts. These are valu­able gifts of various animals: 550 animals in total, of which 490 are female. The female animals are valuable, of course, because of the prospect of bearing more ani­mals later on and thus increasing the owner's wealth.

We wonder: is Jacob feeling something of "guilt feelings" over having deceived his brother Esau in Genesis 27 by getting father Isaac to bless him? Is this a way to pay back his brother with something of the abundance that the LORD has showered upon him? Perhaps so. In any case, the gifts are on their way, headed to Esau. Time will tell whether Esau will accept them (and favorably), or, whether he will tell the messen­gers of Jacob to "return them to sender."

How different are God's gifts to us in Jesus Christ! We earn noth­ing, and we cannot merit any of God's blessings. All that we have is a freely given gift to us in Jesus Christ. The wage we earn is death because of our sins, both in terms of our actual deeds and the sinful nature we receive from the first Adam. Jacob is trying to win Esau's favor. But Christians are liberated from all attempts to pla­cate God's justice, since God has dealt with all of our sinful deeds and sinful nature by pouring out His wrath in justice upon Christ on the Cross. Therefore, Christians live in joyful thanksgiving, not in cringing terror before God (cf. Romans 12:1 ff).

Points to Ponder and Discuss

1. Read 2 Kings 6:8-17. Elisha is calm, even though Syrian armed forces have surrounded the village to capture him, be­cause he knows that the angelic forces were present. Recall what Christ said in the Garden of Gethsemane about the le­gions of angels He had at His command. Do such angelic forces still surround believers today? How do Romans 8:31ff and 1 John 4:4 relate to this?
2. Jacob is afraid of his brother Esau. Does he have good rea­son for this fear? Why or why not? So many times we hear people in the Bible being told, "Don't fear!" What are the rea­sons for fear in Christians' lives? Are there things that we should fear? What things should we never fear?
3. Some twenty years have passed since Esau and Jacob have faced each other. Is it possible that a person can harbor a grudge or nurse anger for at least two decades? What would be the point? Does Esau have a just cause, if he indeed is still angry? What does the Bible say on how Christians must handle anger? See Ephesians 4:26, 27, and 31.
4. How do you evaluate the various strategies Jacob uses to protect himself and his grand camp? We might well ask, "Where is Jacob's faith? If the heavenly messengers have come to protect Jacob and his camp, how trusting is Jacob, after all?" Is Jacob doing the human thing, "just to make sure?" "God is with me, but I've also got to be 'practical"? On the other hand, is wise strategy wrong? After all, Jacob is not using his strategy as a substitute for God, for his prayer shows his full reliance upon God.
5. Read Genesis 32:12. Why does Jacob remind God of the promise to make his descendants abundant "like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted"? Could it be because Jacob is holding onto the promises of Genesis 28? Does he fear that a violent attack from Esau could wipe out the cov­enant future (humanly speaking)? Abraham had a similar situation in Genesis 22, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, his beloved son. How did Abraham face that test? See Hebrews 11:17-19.
6. Reflect on what Jacob was like before he had fled from Esau, and what Jacob is like now. How has he changed, if at all? How does God work in His people to mature and sanctify them in Christ through His Holy Spirit?