Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’ ” The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.” Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children. You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”
He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.” He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’ Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’ ” He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him. You shall say, ‘Not only that, but 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.”
So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 3. And Jacob sent messengers. It now happened, by…
3. And Jacob sent messengers. It now happened, by the providence of God, that Esau, having left his father, had gone to Mount Seir of his own accord; and had thus departed from the land of promise, by which means the possession of it would remain void for the posterity of Jacob, without slaughter among brethren. For it was not to be believed that he had changed his habitation, either because he was compelled by his father’s command, or because he was willing to be accounted inferior to his brother. I rather conjecture that he had become greatly enriched, and that this induced him to leave his father’s house. For we know that profane persons and men of this world so vehemently pant for present advantages, that when anything offers itself in accordance with their desire, they are hurried towards it with a brutish impetuosity. Esau was imperious and ferocious; he was incensed against his mother; had shaken off all reverence for his father, and knew that he was himself also obnoxious to them both: his wives were engaged in incessant contentions; it seemed to him hard and troublesome, to be in the condition of a child in the family, when he was now advancing to old age; for proud men do not regard themselves as free, so long as any one has the preeminence over them. Therefore, in order to pass his life free from the authority of others, he chose to live in a state of separation from his father; and, allured by this attraction, he disregarded the promised inheritance, and left the place for his brother. I have said that this was done by the divine will: for God himself declares by Malachi, that it was by a species of banishment that Esau was led to Mount Seir. (Malachi 1:3) For although he departed voluntarily, yet, by the secret counsel of God was he deprived of that land which he had earnestly desired. But, attracted by the present lust of dominion, he was blinded in his choice; since the land of Seir was mountainous and rugged, destitute of fertility and pleasantness. Moreover, he would appear to himself a great man, in giving his own name to the country. Nevertheless, it is probable that Moses called that country the land of Edom by the figure prolepsis, because it afterwards began to be so called. The question now occurs, Whence did Jacob know that his brother dwelt in that region? Though I assert nothing as certain; yet the conjecture is probable, that he had been informed of it by his mother; for, in the great number of her servants, a faithful messenger would not be wanting. And it is easily gathered from the words of Moses, that Jacob, before he had entered the land, knew the fact respecting the new residence of his brother. And we know that many things of this kind were omitted by Moses, which may easily suggest themselves to the mind of the reader.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 20 He reverenced his brother in worldly things, because he…
He reverenced his brother in worldly things, because he chiefly looked to be preferred to the spiritual promise.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 Gen 32:3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to…
Gen 32:3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
Ver. 3. And Jacob sent messengers.] Means, he knew, was to be used by him, though well assured of safeguard. God must be trusted, not tempted: means must be used, but not trusted. Jacob was "as one that fled from a lion, and a bear met him". {Amo 5:19} Laban, as a lion, had some shamefacedness, saith a Rabbi: {a} Esau, as a bear, had none. Jacob therefore prays, and sends, and submits, and presents him; and all to pacify him. He that meets with a bear, will not strive with him for the wall, but be glad to escape by him.
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{a} Pirkei R. Eliez., cap. 37.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20 The land of Seir; of which see Gen 14:6;…
The land of Seir; of which see Gen 14:6; 36:9,20-21; whither Esau had removed his habitation from Canaan, partly out of discontent at his parents; partly as most convenient for his course of life; and principally by direction of Divine Providence, that Canaan might be left free and clear for Jacob and his posterity. The land of Seir, the country of Edom; so that Seir and Edom either are one and the same place; or rather Seir was a part of Edom. Some say both names are put here for distinction. For they make two lands of Edom, the one southward from Canaan, the other eastward, and this latter they understood here, alleging that the other, or southern, was so remote from Mount Gilead, whence Jacob was now descending, that Jacob need not fear Esau at that distance, nor send to him. But as that distinction seems to be without solid ground, so this reason seems to have but little weight in it, both because though this history immediately follows his descent from Mount Gilead, yet it might be done some competent time after it, and because Jacob in his journey to those parts where his father Isaac lived, and whither he was going, was still drawing nearer and nearer to Esau.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv3, 9, 13 Now that Jacob was re-entering Canaan God, by the…
Now that Jacob was re-entering Canaan God, by the vision of angels, reminded him of the friends he had when he left it, and thence he takes occasion to remind himself of the enemies he had, particularly Esau. It is probable that Rebekah had sent him word of Esau's settlement in Seir, and of the continuance of his enmity to him. What shall poor Jacob do? He longs to see his father, and yet he dreads to see his brother. He rejoices to see Canaan again, and yet cannot but rejoice with trembling because of Esau.
I. He sends a very kind and humble message to Esau. It does not appear that his way lay through Esau's country, or that he needed to ask his leave for a passage; but his way lay near it, and he would not go by him without paying him the respect due to a brother, a twin-brother, an only brother, an elder brother, a brother offended. Note, 1. Though our relations fail in their duty to us, yet we must make conscience of doing our duty to them. 2. It is a piece of friendship and brotherly love to acquaint our friends with our condition, and enquire into theirs. Acts of civility may help to slay enmities. Jacob's message to him is very obliging, v. 4, 5. (1.) He calls Esau his lord, himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist upon the prerogatives of the birthright and blessing he had obtained for himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed. Note, Yielding pacifies great offences, Ecc 10:4. We must not refuse to speak in a respectful an submissive manner to those that are ever so unjustly exasperated against it (2.) He gives him a short account of himself, that he was not a fugitive and a vagabond, but, though long absent, had had a certain dwelling-place, with his own relations: I have sojourned with Laban, and staid there till now; and that he was not a beggar, nor did he come home, as the prodigal son, destitute of necessaries and likely to be a charge to his relations; no, I have oxen and asses. This he knew would (if any thing) recommend him to Esau's good opinion. And, (3.) He courts his favour: I have sent, that I might find grace in thy sight. Note, It is no disparagement to those that have the better cause to become petitioners for reconciliation, and to sue for peace as well as right.
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II. He receives a very formidable account of Esau's warlike preparations against him (Gen 32:6), not a word, but a blow, a very coarse return to his kind message, and a sorry welcome home to a poor brother: He comes to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. He is now weary of waiting for the days of mourning for this good father, and even before they come he resolves to slay his brother. 1. He remembers the old quarrel, and will now be avenged on him for the birthright and blessing, and, if possible, defeat Jacob's expectations from both. Note, malice harboured will last long, and find an occasion to break out with violence a great while after the provocations given. Angry men have good memories. 2. He envies Jacob what little estate he had, and, though he himself was now possessed of a much better, yet nothing will serve him but to feed his eyes upon Jacob's ruin, and fill his fields with Jacob's spoils. Perhaps the account Jacob sent him of his wealth did but provoke him the more. 3. He concludes it easy to destroy him, now that he was upon the road, a poor weary traveller, unfixed, and (as he thinks) unguarded. Those that have the serpent's poison have commonly the serpent's policy, to take the first and fairest opportunity that offers itself for revenge. 4. He resolves to do it suddenly, and before Jacob had come to his father, lest he should interpose and mediate between them. Esau was one of those that hated peace; when Jacob speaks, speaks peaceably, he is for war, Psa 120:6, Psa 120:7. Out he marches, spurred on with rage, and intent on blood and murders; four hundred men he had with him, probably such as used to hunt with him, armed, no doubt, rough and cruel like their leader, ready to execute the word of command though ever so barbarous, and now breathing nothing but threatenings and slaughter. The tenth part of these were enough to cut off poor Jacob, and his guiltless helpless family, root and branch. No marvel therefore that it follows (Gen 32:7), then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, perhaps the more so from having scarcely recovered the fright Laban had put him in. Note, Many are the troubles of the righteous in this world, and sometimes the end of one is but the beginning of another. The clouds return after the rain. Jacob, though a man of great faith, yet was now greatly afraid. Note, A lively apprehension of danger, and a quickening fear arising from it, may very well consist with a humble confidence in God's power and promise. Christ himself, in his agony, was sorely amazed.
III. He puts himself into the best posture of defence that his present circumstances will admit. It was absurd to think of making resistance, all his contrivance is to make an escape, Gen 32:7, Gen 32:8. He thinks it prudent not to venture all in one bottom, and therefore divides what he had into two companies, that, if one were smitten, the other might escape. Like a tender careful master of a family, he is more solicitous for their safety than for his own. He divided his company, not as Abraham (Gen 14:15), for fight, but for flight.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–21 And Jacob sent messengers before him unto Esau his…
And Jacob sent messengers before him unto Esau his brother,.... Or "angels": not angels simply, as Jarchi, for these were not under the command, and in the power of Jacob to send, nor would they have needed any instruction from him afterwards given, but these were some of his own servants. Esau it seems was removed from his father's house, and was possessed of a country after mentioned, called from his name; and which Aben Ezra says lay between Haran and the land of Israel; but if it did not directly lie in the road of Jacob, yet, as it was near him, he did not choose to pass by without seeing his brother; and therefore sent messengers to inform him of his coming, and by whom he might learn in what temper and disposition of mind he was towards him:
unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom: which had its first name from Seir the Horite; and Esau having married into his family, came into the possession of it, by virtue of that marriage; or rather he and his sons drove out the Horites, the ancient possessors of it, and took it to themselves, from whom it was afterwards called Edom, a name of Esau, which he had from the red pottage he sold his birthright for to his brother Jacob, Gen 25:30; perhaps it is here called Edom by an anticipation, not having as yet that name, though it had in Moses's time, when this history was wrote; see Gen 36:18.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17 He calls Esau his Lord, himself his servant, to…
He calls Esau his Lord, himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist upon the prerogatives of the birth-right and blessing he had obtained for himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed. He gives him a short account of himself, that he was not a fugitive and a vagabond, but though long absent had dwelt with his own relations. I have sojourned with Laban, and staid there till now: and that he was not a beggar, nor likely to be a charge to his relations; no, I have oxen and asses - This he knew would (if any thing) recommend him to Esau's good affection. And, he courts his favour; I have sent that I may find grace in thy sight - It is no disparagement to those that have the better cause to become petitioners for reconciliation, and to sue for peace as well as right.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Verse 3. Jacob sent messengers] מלאכים malachim, the same…
Verse 3. Jacob sent messengers] מלאכים malachim, the same word which is before translated angels. It is very likely that these messengers had been sent some time before he had this vision at Mahanaim, for they appear to have returned while Jacob encamped at the brook Jabbok, where he had the vision of angels; see Ge 32:6; Ge 32:23.
The land of Seir, the country of Edom.] This land, which was, according to Dr. Wells, situated on the south of the Dead Sea, extending from thence to the Arabian Gulf, 1Kg 9:26, was formerly possessed by the Horites, Ge 14:6; but Esau with his children drove them out, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead, De 2:22; and thither Esau went from the face of his brother Jacob, Ge 36:6-7. Thus we find he verified the prediction, By thy sword shalt thou live, Ge 27:40.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13 Gen 32:4. Speak unto my lord Esau — He…
Gen 32:4. Speak unto my lord Esau — He calls Esau his lord, and himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist on the prerogatives of the birthright and blessing which he had obtained for himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed. And he gives him a short account of himself and of his property, and where he had sojourned, expressing withal a desire for his favour and friendship.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 20 Edom; comprising the countries east, west, and south of…
Edom; comprising the countries east, west, and south of the Dead sea. (Calmet) --- Providentially, Esau had now left his father’s house open to his brother; who, on this occasion, addresses him with the utmost civility, and speaks of the riches which he had obtained; in order that Esau might neither be ashamed of him, nor suspect that he would impoverish his father. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v3 Jacob’s return. His fear of Esau. His night wrestlings…
FIFTH SECTION
Jacob’s return. His fear of Esau. His night wrestlings with God. Peniel. The name Israel. Meeting and reconciliation with Esau.
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Gen_32:3 to Gen_33:16
3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned [have been a stranger] with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and men-servants, and women-servants: and I have sent [and now I must send, the ה paragogic] to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.
6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and 8herds, and the camels into two bands: And said [thought], If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst [art saying] unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred [birth- place], and I will deal well with thee: 10I am not worthy [too little for] of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant: for with my staff 11[alone] I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands [camps]. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest Hebrews 12 will come and smite me, and the mother with [upon, over] the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make [establish] thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
13And he lodged there that same night,1 and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. 16And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee [what he drives before him]. 18Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s: it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and behold, also, he is behind us. 19And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. 20And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said [thought], I will appease2 him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept [make cheerful my face] of me. 21So went the present over before him; and himself lodged that night in the company. 22And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women-servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and [then] sent over that he had [his herds].
24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled3 a man with him, until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh [hip-joint or socket]: and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh: and he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? 28And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel [Yisrael]: for as a prince hast thou power [thou hast contested] with God, and with men, and hast prevailed. 29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name: and he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel [face of God]: for I have seen God face to face, and my life [soul] is preserved. 31And as he passed over Penuel [Peniel], the sun rose upon him, and he halted [was lame] upon his thigh. 32Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew [sciatic nerve], which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Gen_33:1. And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost [at the last], 3And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. 5And he lifted up his eyes, and saw [now] the women and the children, and said, Who are those with thee4 [whom hast thou there]? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 6Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves; and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove [camp] which I me?5 And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore [now] I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 11Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough: and he urged him, and he took it. 12And he said, Let us 13take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. And [But] he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young6 are with me, and if men should over-drive them one day, all the flock will die. 14Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according7 as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure; until 1 come unto my lord unto Seir. 15And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me: And he said, What needeth it? Let me find grace in the sight of my lord.
16So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
Knobel supposes here an artificial mingling of heterogeneous and even contradictory parts, taken from different sources, a supposition resting, as is often the case, upon a want of insight as to the connection, which is the great law in that kind of criticism. The sending of messengers by Jacob to Esau, is regarded as a proof that he was not afraid of his brother, while the Jehovist represents him as being in terror of him, etc. (p. 256). All parts of this section turn upon Jacob’s relation to Esau: 1. The sending of messengers (Gen_32:3-6); 2. the fear of Jacob, and his preliminary division of the train into two bands (Gen_32:7-8); 3. Jacob’s prayer (Gen_32:9-12); 4. the delegation of new messengers with his presents (Gen_32:13-21); 5. the night passage of the train over Jabbok, and Jacob’s wrestling; Peniel (Gen_32:21-32); 6. Esau’s approach, the new arrangements of the train, and the greetings (Gen_33:1-11); 7. Esau’s offer and return (Gen_32:12-16).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The sending of the messengers (Gen_32:3-6).—Sent messengers before him.—The measure was precautionary, to inspect what the danger was, and to conciliate his brother.—Unto the land of Seir.—The natural taste for hunting and the thirst for power, must have led Esau, even during the lifetime of Isaac, to think of a location more suitable to him, since the thickly settled region of Hebron was not favorable either for hunting or for the establishment of a strong power. The region of Seir, or the mountians of Edom (see Bible Dictionaries and geographies, and books of travels) seemed more favorable in both respects. We thus see that Esau had already made a decided progress in his occupation of the new land, without having completely transferred his residence from Hebron to Seir, which followed afterwards (see Gen_36:6). The same distinction between the chief residence, and an out-station or colony, meets us in the life of Isaac. Keil says he severed the relations which bound him to his father’s house and possessions, “because he was more and more thoroughly convinced that the blessing pronounced by his father upon Jacob, and which excluded him from the inheritance of the promise, the future possession of Canaan, could not be changed.” But this would ascribe too much to Jacob’s obedience of faith to Esau. The fact takes place, doubtless, upon natural grounds. Esau’s power did not lie in his faith, but in his strong hand. This man of might had gathered his sons, servants, and confederates, and already partially completed the conquest of the Horites. He deems the momentary possession of power of greater value than the promise of a religious dominion, the actual possession of which lay in the dim future. He entertains, no doubt, therefore, that he has already surpassed his brother, and this may, first of all, have predisposed him to peaceful thoughts towards him, especially after Jacob’s humble message, whose prominent thought was that he now cheerfully conceded to him the external honors of the first-born. In his present state of mind Esau is satisfied to leave his brother to struggle a little longer with his fear, and to harass and distress him with a pompous show of his forces. The messengers return without bringing back any friendly counter-greeting. He comes as a princely sheik of the desert, with his retainers. This is the preliminary answer. The text here presupposes that Jacob had received some notice of Esau’s operations at Seir. [There is no contradiction between this text and Gen_36:6. It is not said here that Esau had any fixed abode or dwelling in Seir. The fact that he appears with his armed band shows that he was out upon a warlike expedition, and probably with the design of driving the Horites from Seir. It was not his home. His family and possessions were still in Canaan, and were first removed to Seir (Gen_36:6) when it had been freed from his enemies, and thus made a safe abode for his wives and children.—A. G.]
2. The fear of Jacob, and his preliminary division of the train into two bands (Gen_32:7-8).— Was greatly afraid.—Jacob’s fear was not groundless. Rebekah had not called him back. Esau has not intimated that he was reconciled or would be easily appeased. The messengers had not brought back any counter-greeting. Esau was coming with his four hundred men. The promise at Bethel, too, relates definitely only to the journey and the return, and the vision at Mahanaim was a disclosure as to his deliverance from the hand of Laban, but not accompanied with new promises. The main thing, however, was this, he is ill at ease in his conscience, with regard to his offence against Esau. His fear, therefore, as well as his prudence, appears in the division of his train into two bands. This measure precedes his prayer, as the last act of his overhasty and impatient cunning, which does not appear to have been exercised after his prayer and struggle. The measure itself has little to do with the name Mahanaim, to which Knobel refers it. It may serve to explain the fact that the Bedouins usually march in divisions.
3. The prayer of Jacob (Gen_32:9-12). Jacob is conscious now that all his cunning cannot give his heart rest.—Which saidst unto me.—Here begins the third link in the chain; God of Abraham and God of Isaac. He appeals to the repeated promise of the covenant God of his fathers, given to him in the divine intimation and warning to return.—I will deal Well with thee.—He strives to draw from this vague expression a promise of protection against Esau. On the other hand, he cannot appeal with any confidence to the blessing of his father Isaac, which he had stolen.—I am not worthy of the least.—Literally, am less than. Humiliation and gratitude underlie the joyful confidence in asking for deliverance.—This Jordan.—We must conceive of the ford of Jabbok, as lying in the neighborhood of the Jordan.—The mother with the children.—Literally, upon the children, since she protects the children against the raging foe. Used proverbially (see Deu_22:6; Hos_10:14). Knobel, Keil, Delitzsch, reject the rendering, upon the children.—As the sand of the Sea.—This is the import of the promise Gen_28:14, as the dust of the earth; and thus he increases the imagery of the Abrahamic promise, Gen_22:17. Such a destructive attack as now threatens him, would oppose and defeat the divine promise. Faith clings to the promise, and is thus developed. [The objection that it is unbecoming in Jacob to remind God of his promise, shows an utter misconception of true prayer, which presupposes the promise of God just as truly as it implies the consciousness of wants. Faith, which is the life of prayer, clings to the divine promises, and pleads them.—A. G.]
4. The delegation of new messengers with his presents (Gen_32:13-21).—And took of that, etc.—His prayer led him to better means of help than the division of his train in fear, and for a flight near at hand. He passes from the defensive to the offensive. He will not flee from Esau, but go to meet him, and overcome him with deeds of love. Delitzsch thinks he did not select the present until the next morning. Keil, however, says, correctly, that the prayer, the delegation with the present, the transfer across the Jabbok, and Jacob’s struggle, all took place on the same night (Gen_32:14). Delitzsch, indeed, admits that the crossing of the Jabbok, and Jacob’s struggle, occur in the same night. The present which Jacob chose for an immediate departure during the night, was a great propitiatory sacrifice to the injured brother, and an humble homage to the mighty prince of the desert, consisting of five hundred and fifty head of cattle. And thus, while making an atonement to Esau, he actually atones also for his cunning course towards Laban. The selections corresponded with the possession of the Nomadic chiefs, as to the kinds of animals (comp. Job_1:3; Job_42:12), and as to the proportion between the males and females to the rule of Varro, De re rustica. Keil. The present is broken up into divisions with intervening spaces [lit., breathing places.—A. G.], and thus approaches Esau, that by the regular appearance of these different droves, he might, by one degree after another, soften the fierce disposition of his brother. Observe: 1. The climax; goats, sheep, camels, cattle, asses. 2. The spaces between the droves. Each impression must be made, and its force felt by Esau, before the next comes on. 3. The ever repeated form of homage: Thy servant, Jacob. A present. My lord Esau. 4. The final aim: friendly treatment: Thy servant, Jacob himself, is behind us. Knobel supposes that he finds here even, a difference between the interpretation of the Jehovist, and the design of his predecessor to describe the procession according to oriental custom (p. 230).—For he said.—We meet here, for the first time, the later important כִּפֵּ־ (comp. xx.16). Esau’s face is to be covered by atoning presents, so that he should not see, any more, the offence which Jacob had committed against him. Jacob had, in an ideal sense, deprived him of princely honor; he now recognizes, in a true and real sense (and one entirely suited to Esau’s thought and disposition), his princely honor, and thus atones, in fact, for his fault, since Esau cared nothing for the ideal element in and by itself. כִּפֵּר here, at its first occurrence, refers to the reconciling of one who is angry, and to the atonement for guilt. Since the offence is covered for Esau’s face, so even Esau’s face is covered as to the offence. It is very remarkable, moreover, that the word “face” here occurs three times. Esau’s face is covered towards Jacob’s obligation and guilt. Then Jacob beholds the face of Esau, and is comforted, and Esau lifts up Jacob’s face, i. e., cheers, enlightens it, since he receives him kindly.
5. The night-crossing of the train over Jabbok, and Jacob’s wrestling (Gen_32:21-32).—And he rose up that night.—The confidence of Jacob, rising out of his prayer and the sending of his present, is so strong that he does not defer the crossing of his train over the ford of Jabbok until the morning. Jabbok is now called the Zerka, i. e., the blue, from its deep-blue mountain water. “It rises near the caravan route at Castell Zerka; its deep mountain valley then forms the boundary between Moered on the north and Belka on the south. It empties into the Jordan about midway between the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, and about an hour and a half from the point at which it breaks through the mountain.” Von Raumer: “Palestine,” p. 74. The Jabbok comes from the east nearly opposite to Sichem. It was at one time the boundary between the tribes of Gad and Manasseh. For further details, see the Bible Dictionaries.—Although it is quite customary in the East to travel during the night (see Knobel, p. 258), yet still the crossing of his train over a rapid mountain stream would be difficult. The ford which Jacob used was not that upon its upper course, near the route of the Syrian caravans, at Kŭla’t Zerka, “but the one farther to the west, through which Buckingham, Burkhardt (‘Syria,’ p. 597), and Seetzen (‘Travels,’ I. p. 392) passed, between Jebel Adschlun and Jebel Jelaad, and at which are still to be seen traces of walls, buildings, and the signs of an older civilization (Ritter, ed. 15. p. 1040).” Keil.—And he was left alone.—It is generally supposed that Jacob remained on the north side of the Jabbok. Keil, p. 218; Delitzsch, p. 334. [Jacobus; Wordsworth, p. 136.—A. G.] Rosenmüller and Knobel reject the idea that Jacob recrossed the stream, although nothing there claimed his attention, the latter indeed, on the incorrect assumption that Jacob crossed the Jabbok going from the south, northwards. In Gen_32:23 it is, he passed over, i.e., he himself, without mentioning that he took his family, which is specially related elsewhere. [It seems probable that he first went over himself, and then, finding the crossing safe, he returned and sent over his herds and his family.—A. G.] Then, too, it is not necessary that וַיִּוָּתֵר should be understood in a local sense (see Ges. under יתר). Moreover, we find him (Gen_32:32), when leaving the place of his wrestling, Peniel, ready to proceed on his journey. Lastly, it would seem an act of cowardice if Jacob had sent his wives and children across the brook, which was a protection against the danger, while he himself remained behind. [Still, the narrative plainly implies that Jacob remained on the north of the Jabbok. And whatever courage may have prompted to do, as to protect his own with his life, Jacob was dimly conscious that the crisis of his life was now upon him, and that he must be alone with God. It was not the want of courage, but the sense that help must come from God, and the working of his faith which led him to cling to the arm of God, which kept him here for the prayer and struggle and victory.—A. G.]—And there wrestled a man with him.—Now, when he supposed everything arranged, the greatest difficulty meets him. The unmeasured homage, with which he thought to reconcile Esau, touches the violation or at least puts in peril the promise which was given to him. Moreover, he has not only injured Esau, but offended God (Elohim), who is the God of Esau, and will not suffer him to be injured with impunity.—There wrestled a man.—This archaic form occurs only here and in Gen_32:25-26. Dietrich traces it to the idea of “struggling or freeing oneself from;” Delitzsch to חבק, to limit, to touch each other closely, member to member. We prefer the reference to the kindred form, אפק, to hold fast, to adhere firmly, etc. Hithpael, to hold to oneself. There seems to be an allusion in the word to the name Jabbok (Knobel), or rather, the brook derives its name from this struggle, יַבּק instead of יְאַבֹּק (Keil). An older derivation traces the word, “to dust,” to raise dust in the struggle. The question arises whether the sense of the word here is, that the nameless man came upon Jacob, as if he had been his enemy, or that Jacob seized the man, as he appeared to him, and held him fast, while he strives to free himself from the grasp. According to Gen_32:27, the last sense is the true one. If we take the other supposition, we must conceive that Jacob, during the night-wrestling, recognized as a friend the man who came upon him as an enemy. Still there is no intimation of a hostile attack. The passage in Hos_12:4, also supports the idea that Jacob held fast the mysterious man, and not vice versâ. “He took his brother by the heel in the womb—and by his strength he had power with God—he had power over the angel and prevailed—he wept and made supplication unto him—he found him in Bethel.”—And when he saw that he prevailed not against him.—That is, Gen_32:27, he could not compel him to let him go.—For the day breaketh.—In regard to this, and to the circumstance that Jacob remained alone, Knobel remarks, “that the acts of God are not spectacles for the eyes of impious mortals (see Gen_19:17; Gen_22:13; Exo_12:29).” There is, however, a broad distinction between the heathen and theocratic interpretation of this event. There is no reference here to any fear or dread of the day-light on the part of spirits.—The hollow of his thigh.—Lit., the socket of the hip. It is not said that he struck it a blow (Knobel); the finger of God (for it is God who is spoken of) needs but to touch is object, and the full result is secured.—And the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint.—This is explained more fully in the thirty-fourth verse. The sinews of his thigh (nervus ischiadicus) were paralyzed through the extreme tension and distortion’. But this bodily paralysis does not paralyze the persevering Jacob.—I will not let thee go.—Now the blessing which he obtained from his father by cunning and deceit, must be sought with tears from this mysterious divine man. And then he blesses him when he gives him the name Israel, i. e., the God-wrestler or fighter (from שׂרת and אל). [The captain and prince of God, from sarah, to marshal in battle, to lead, to command, to fight, and hast prevailed, שָׂרִיתָ, as a prince. Wordsworth, p. 138.—A. G.] Instead of a supplanter, he has now become the holy wrestler with God, hence his name is no longer Jacob, but Israel. There is no trace in his after- of the application of his wisdom to mere selfish and cunning purposes. But the new name confirms to him in a word the theocratic promise, as the name Abraham confirmed it to Abram. For the connection of this passage with Gen_38:10, see the Exegetical note upon that passage.—And hast prevailed.—Has he overcome in his wrestling with God, he need have no further fears as to his meeting with Esau.—Wherefore is it, that thou dost ask after my name?—The asking after his name in this particular way, not the general inquiry, is the point which occasions this answer. The believer is not to learn all the names of the Lord in this theoretic manner, but through the experience of faith; thus even the name Immanuel. Indeed, he had already learned his name substantially.—Thou hast wrestled with God and men.—It does not rest upon “the view which the Jews have when they regard the name Jehovah as ἄῤῥητον,” as Knobel asserts.—And he blessed him.—The blessing contained already in the name Israel, is now definitely completed.—Peniel, or Penuel with the ו conj., face of God. The locality of this place has not been definitely fixed (V. Raumer, p. 255), but if it could be identified it would be idle to look for it upon the north of the Jabbok. Knobel refers for an analogy to the Phœnician promontoryΘεοῦ πρόσωπον. [Keil thinks Peniel was upon the north of the Jabbok, though he does not regard it as certain. Kiepert locates it on the Jabbok. It was certainly east of Succoth (see Jdg_8:8-9), and was most probably on the north of the Jabbok.—A. G.]—Face to face.—With his face he had seen the face of God (Exodus 33.; Deu_34:10). Exo_33:20 is not in contradiction to this, since that passage speaks of the seeing of God beyond and above the form of his revelation in its legal development.—And my life is preserved.—Luther’s translation and my soul is healed, saved, is equally beautiful and correct. For it is impossible that the idea here is that of the later popular notion: he rejoices that he had seen the face of God and did not die.—The sun rose upon him. The sun not only rose, but rose especially upon him; and with a joyful mind he begins with the sunrise his journey to meet Esau.—And he halted upon his thigh.—He appears not to have noticed this before. In the effort of the wrestling it had escaped him, just as the wounded soldier oftentimes first becomes aware that he is wounded by the blood and gash, long after the wound was received.—Therefore the children of Israel eat not.—“The author explains the custom of the Israelites, in not eating of the sinew of the thigh, by a reference to this touch of the hip of their ancestor by God. Through this divine touch, this sinew, like the blood (Gen_9:4) was consecrated and sanctified to God. This custom is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament; the Talmudists, however (Tract. Cholin, Mischna, 7), regard it as a law, whose transgression was to be punished with several stripes.” Knobel. Delitzsch adds: “This exemption exists still, but since the ancients did not distinguish clearly in גִּיד (גיד הנשׁה, the large, strong cord of the sinew of the thigh), between muscle, vein, and nerve, the sinew is now generally understood, i.e., the interior cord and nerve of the so-called hind-quarter, including the exterior also, and the ramifications of both.”
6. Esau’s approach, the new arrangement of the train, and the greeting (Gen_33:1-11).—And Jacob lifted up his eyes.—In contrast to his previous inward contemplation, and in confident expectation.—And he divided the children.—We read no more of the two bands or trains. He now separates his family into three divisions. He himself, as the head of the family, as its protector and representative, takes the lead; then follow the handmaids with their children; then Leah with hers; and at last, Rachel with Joseph. This inverted order, by which the most loved came last, is not merely chosen from a careful and wise prudence, but at the same time the free expression of the place which they occupied in his affections.—To the ground seven times.—Not that he cast himself seven times to the ground, which would have been expressed by אפים ארצה, but he bowed himself seven times with the low inclination of the head [the low oriental bow, in which one bends the head nearly to the ground without touching it. Keil.—A. G.]. But even this courtesy far excels the usual degree in oriental greetings, and finds its explanation in the number seven. The bowing itself expresses the recognition of an external princely prerogative, from which Esau believed that he had robbed him; the seven-fold utterance of this recognition stamps it with the mimic (Ger., mimische) seal of the certainty which belongs to the covenant. Thus Jacob atones for his offence against Esau. The manifestation of this courtesy is at the same time, however, a barrier which in the most favorable issue protects him, before mingling with the spirit and temper of the Edomitic army.—And Esau ran to meet him.—He is overcome; his anger and threats are forgotten; the brother’s heart speaks. Jacob’s heart, too, now released from fear, is filled with like affection, and in their common weeping these gray-headed men are twins once more. “The unusual pointing of יַשָּׁקֵהוּ probably indicates a doubt as to the sincerity of this kiss. But the doubt is groundless. The Scriptures never authorize us to regard Esau as inhuman. He is susceptible of noble desires and feelings. The grace of God which ruled in his paternal home has not left him without its influence.” Delitzsch. The assertion of Knobel, “that the author of Gen_27:1 ff; Gen_32:8 ff. could not thus write if he wrote proprio marte,” is critically on the same level with the remark of Tuch upon Jacob’s prayer, Gen_32:9—“it is unseemly in the narrator that he allows Jacob to remind God of his promises.” The old Jewish exegesis has indeed outbid this modern zeal in effacing this great and beautiful moral feature in the narrative. “The Breschith Rabba and Kimchi inform us that some in the earlier time held that יִשָּׁקֵהוּ meant here that he bit him. The Targum of Jonath. says that Jacob’s weeping sprung from a pain in his neck, and Esau’s from a toothache.” Knobel.—The children which God.—The name Elohim, out of regard to Esau’s point of view [and, as Delitzsch and Keil suggest, in order not to remind Esau of the blessing of Jehovah, of which he was now deprived.—A. G.]—Joseph and Rachel.—It is a fine trait in the picture that the order is here reversed, so that Joseph comes before his mother. The six-year-old lad seems to break through all the cumbrous ceremonial, and to rush confidently into the arms of his uncle.—By all this drove (camp or train).—Knobel thinks that he here discovers a third explanation of the name Mahanaim, and finds in the answer of Jacob, these are to find grace, etc., an offensive fawning, or cringing humility. But in fact, it is not a mere present which is here in question, but a voluntary atonement—an indirect confession that he needed forgiveness. We find this same thought also in Esau’s refusal.—I have enough.—Esau had a two-fold reason for his refusal, for he doubtless possessed a large share of the paternal estate, while Jacob had earned all that he had by the labor of his hands. It is nevertheless a noble strife, when Esau says, keep that thou hast,I have enough, and Jacob overcomes him, take, I pray thee, my blessing,I have enough of all, or briefly all.—For therefore I have seen.—This cannot mean, I have gained the friendly aspect of thy face by my present, but therefore, for this purpose, is it. As things now stand, the present is an offering of gratitude.—As though I had seen the face of God.—The words sound like flattery, but they bear a good sense, since in the friendly face of his brother he sees again in full manifestation the friendliness of God watching over his life’s path (Job_33:26; Psa_11:7). [He refers either to his wrestling with the angel, in which he had “learned that his real enemy was God and not Esau, or in the fact that the friendly face of his brother was the pledge to him that God was reconciled. “In the surprising, unexpected change in his brother’s disposition, he recognizes the work of God, and in his brother’s friendliness, the reflection of the divine.” Delitzsch.—A. G.] The words, take, I pray thee, my blessing, are just as select and forcible. It is as if, in allusion to the blessing he had taken away, he would say, in so far as that blessing embraced present and earthly things, and is of value to you, I give it back. Knobel explains the choice of the expression from the benedictions which accompanied the present. “The presents to the clergy in the middle ages were called benedictions.” But the idea of homage lies nearer here. In the reception of his present he has the assurance that Esau is completely reconciled to him. The friendliness in Esau’s countenance is a confirmation to him of the friendliness of the divine countenance, a seal of the grace of God, which he saw in his face at Peniel.
7. Esau’s offer and return (vers.12–16).—I will go before thee.—The kindness of Esau assumes a confidential and officious character. He will take the lead in the way, go before as the protector of his caravan. But that could have happened only at the expense of Jacob’s freedom. Besides this, the caravan, with tender children, and sucklings among the cattle, could not keep pace with a train of Bedouin. Jacob urges this strenuously, in order to effect a separation. It is no pretence on his part, but it is the only reason he ventures to offer to the powerful Esau, whose superficial nature unfitted him to appreciate the other reasons. He reveals to him also, in a striking way, his purpose to come to him at Seir. Is this the new Israel or the old Jacob who speaks? The words are ambiguous, even if he actually visited him in after years at Seir, as some have urged as an excuse. There is, indeed, a peculiar emphasis upon the word לְאִטִי, in connection with the verb, which excludes any obligation to hasten there. He declines, also, the offer of a protecting band.—What needeth it?—He is conscious of a higher protector. He desires nothing from Esau but a peaceful and friendly deportment. [Jacob’s promise of a visit was honestly made. His course led him to Canaan, probably to Hebron, and from thence he contemplated a visit to Esau at Seir. Whether it was ever made, or not, we do not know. The narrative does not record all the events of Jacob’s life, and this may well have been one of those less important, which it passes over in silence. There is no ground, in any case, to question his sincerity, or to think that it is the old Jacob who speaks.—A. G.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. This section belongs to the more important parts of Genesis, especially of the patriarchal history, holding in the life of Jacob a position like Genesis 15, 17, 18, , 22, in the life of Abraham, Genesis 27 in the life of Isaac, and Genesis 41, 45. in the life of Joseph. We have here, indeed, the full development of patriarchalism, the bud which shall open into its most perfect flower, and which unfolds itself completely in the blessing of Jacob. As the institution of a sacred sacrifice reached its full development in the offering of Abraham (Genesis 22), and the mysterious fact of election comes into prominence in the blessing of Isaac (Genesis 27), so this narrative brings out in a clear, distinct form: 1. The prayer of faith, based upon the promise and the clear consciousness of the contrast between human unworthiness and divine grace; 2. the actual occurrence of a believing wrestling with God, and its result, the prelude to the theanthropic life; 3. the contrast between the old and new man, between Jacob and Israel, the token of the new birth growing out of the circumcision of the heart; hence, also, 4. the dawn of the love of one’s enemies, and of the triumph of that affection over the hatred of our enemies, through confidence in God and the proofs of his reconciliation; and 5. lastly, that divine law, according to which believers inwardly and truly overcome the world, by their outward subjection to the demands of its power. In the struggle with Jacob, moreover, the form of the Angel of the Lord passes already into the form of the angel of his face, which afterwards, in the book of Exodus, develops itself more completely. Thus, also, we find here already clearly intimated the germ of the distinction between the external aspect of the kingdom of God (the blessing of Isaac), and its inward essence, a distinction winch was not fully comprehended by Israel at the time of Christ, and over which, even in our own day, many toil and labor without clear conceptions. This section contains also a representation of the nightly and sacred birth hour of Israel, and in a formal point of view is well fitted to introduce a true insight into the fundamental form of revelation.
2. The intellectual movement and progress in the narrative, correspond to the most subtle laws of the spiritual and intellectual life of the soul. After Jacob had seen the divine messengers, the angels, in his journey, he takes heart, and sends a human embassy to greet Esau. The contents of their message is determined by his prudence. He greets his lord Esau, as Jacob his servant. The unpleasant and dangerous recollections of the events which had occasioned his long absence, are passed over; on the contrary, he speaks of his rich possessions in herds and flocks, which he had acquired while with Laban, lest Esau should think that he was now returning, longing for the paternal goods. He wishes only to find favor in the eyes of Esau. In thus rendering homage to him, he recognizes the earthly and temporal prerogatives of the first-born, and at the same time makes indirectly a confession of his guilt. When the messengers return without any counter-greeting, and announcing that Esau was drawing near, the mere human prudence of Jacob again suggests his course. As he apprehends a hostile attack from Esau, so he thinks of resisting force with force, but with the prospect of being vanquished. Hence the division of his caravan into two bands. But this measure gives him no rest. His pressing wants drove him to faith and prayer, a prayer which marks already a great development of the patriarchal life and faith. His soul was thus so sustained and comforted, that he can no more rest or sleep during the night. He now boldly crosses the Jabbok (his Rubicon, or better, his Kedron) with his whole train. And then, in the loneliness and solitude, he meets with the decisive struggle of his life. After the victory of his faith in this struggle, he is, as Jacob, lame in his thigh; he no longer expects salvation from his natural struggles with Esau, but has found, in the grace of Jehovah, the source of his world subduing humility and love. He thinks no longer of the two bands for mutual self-defence or flight, but on the contrary, he sends his five bands to the attack, five different acts of homage embodied in presents, which, as a continuous train, has the most impressive aspect, and gives the highest satisfaction to Esau in the presence of his four hundred men. The closing word of the messengers was that Jacob was coming after them; he himself, and thus the strongest expression of his confidence toward his brother. Upon the five droves which designate the completed act of homage, as an actual outward occurrence (since five is the number of free choice), there follows now the seven-fold bowing of Jacob himself, as a sacred assurance of his intellectual, real homage, as to the prerogatives of the first-born which belonged to Esau. Hence his family also, in three intervals and acts, which follow the salutation, must render the same homage. Jacob, in offering so large a portion of his herds, had made a great sacrifice; so that probably it may be literally true that his children, who at first rode upon camels, now that so few of the camels were left, were obliged to walk. But it was both noble and wise not to take advantage of Esau’s magnanimous feelings, as he had formerly done of his natural and sensual infirmity in the matter of the lentile pottage. And now he has completely overcome him, and even more than this. As he had at first to guard against his former threats, and his alarming appearance, so now against his amiable importunity, which might have led him into the danger of mingling and developing his cause and future history with those of Esau. Esau actually yields to his request, and returns. He overcomes him in this, too, but not as Jacob the supplanter, but as Israel the warrior of God [the prince with God.—A. G.].
3. Jacob’s prayer. The great development of faith which marked this prayer: 1. The resting of the prayer upon the divine promises, and the more definite development of prayer in its general idea; 2. the contrast: I am not worthy, etc. [literally, I am too little for, less than.—A. G.], an ancient denial of any righteousness of works, a watchword of humility for all time; 3. the connection of the divine goodness and grace (here in the plural) and truth, or faithfulness, which henceforth runs through the sacred scriptures; 4. the beautiful description of the divine blessing, for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, etc. [Jacob’s faith appears in the very terms by which he addresses God, in his confidence in the divine promise and command, the two pillars of his hope, in his expectation of deliverance, not-withstanding his deep sense of his personal unworthiness, and in the clear, sharp contrast which he makes between the destruction he feared and the divine promise. How could the promise: I will make thy seed as the sand of the sea, be saved, if the mother was to be slain with the children? As Luther has said, this is a beautiful specimen of all hearty prayer, and has all the attributes of real prayer.—A. G.]
4. The prayer of Jacob precedes his choice of his presents for Esau. We must first deal with God, be reconciled with him, then with men. First faith, then works.
5. Jacob’s present. A great sacrifice of penitence and restitution, of large value in itself, but far more glorious in its spiritual form and import.
6. Jacob’s wrestling. We must distinguish: 1. The motive of the struggle; 2. its elements; 3. its greatness; 4. the fruits of victory. Its motive cannot lie in Jacob’s fear of Esau, although he was not yet free from all fear. For as to the main thing, his fears have been removed by the foregoing prayer and the sending of the present, with which, indeed, is connected also the announcement that Jacob himself was coming to meet Esau. The motive arises from the fact, that a new, and indeed the final and greatest necessity, sprang from this act of homage which Jacob had just performed. He had restored to Esau in spirit as well as in his outward arrangements the honor of the first-born, as to its earthly aspects. But had he not thus resigned also his theocratic birthright, the Abrahamic blessing? This question rested upon his mind with great weight, since the external aspect of the blessing was apparently inseparably connected with the inward. To how many of his descendants has the external theocracy occupied the place of the inward and real kingdom of God! Abraham must distinguish the present from the future, Isaac between patient endurance and dominion, but Jacob must now learn to distinguish between the external attributes and the internal and real possession of the birthright and the blessing. And since these things have hitherto been inseparably blended in his mind, there must now be, as it were, a rent in his very soul; it is only through the sorest birth-throes that he can attain a faith in the blessing, stripped of its outward and temporal glory. If he will retain the real blessing, then apparently he must recall the messengers who have gone to render homage to Esau. If he suffers these to go on, then all his hopes for the future seem to vanish. And still this is impossible, since his hope is inscribed, as a destination, in his innermost being, his election. Like Abraham upon Moriah, he must also, through his readiness to make the sacrifice, attain the full assurance in its great gain, the new life springing out from this sacrifice. Hence his wrestling. According to Hosea, it consisted essentially and fundamentally in weeping and tears; a weeping and tears that he might secure the assurance of the blessing in his very sacrifice of the blessing. His sacrifice must be completed in his heart, for it is the genuineness of his repentance, but he must also have the certainty of his blessing, for it is the genuineness and certainty of his faith. And all that he can present to the God of revelation, for redemption and deliverance from this fearful appearance of opposition in his inward life, is his sighs and tears. There his prayer becomes a vision of the most intensive form and nature. Jehovah appears to him in his Angel, the Angel appears to him in human form, in the form, indeed, of some individual man. The man in a certain measure is his alter ego in an objective form, in so far as he is the image of his innermost individuality in its communion with Jehovah, or the type of the Son of Man, the God-man. But the man meets him as a stranger. He must in him become certain of his own inward election, as Moses was made certain of the law in his own heart, in the law of the two tables of stone. At first he meets him as a mighty wrestler, who will cast him to the ground, and then proceed on his way. That is, the Angel of his election will cast him down and then leave him lying in his repentance in bitter anguish over his life lost through his sin and guilt. But Jacob wrestles with him, although unable, and even not choosing, to make use of his strivings as Jacob, of his supplanting and crafty efforts. His human prudence discerns no way of escape from this fearful inward sorrow, nor does it seek any. But what was the very core and centre of his nature as Jacob, his adherence to his faith in the future, that is preserved, even now; he does not yield in his wrestling. The day dawns upon the struggle, and now the strange man seems to get the upper hand; he puts Jacob’s thigh out of joint. The human strength and elasticity of the patriarch were gone. And now the trial culminates, when the man says: Let me go. But now also the precise thought of Jacob, and the purpose of his heart, comes out in the words: I will not let thee go except thou bless me. He struggles no more, but throws his arms around the neck of the divine man and clings to him. This is the full renunciation, and the full and determined embracing of faith, both in one act, and there lies his victory. The mysterious stranger asks after his name and his name is now as an acknowledgment, a confession, Jacob. His new name, Israel, which is now given to him, on the other hand, imports not only his absolution, but also his restitution, indeed, his exaltation above his previous blessed condition. From this time onwards he is the warrior of God. He not only overcomes Esau, but God suffers him to prevail over him in that specific way of wrestling which he has just learned. Jacob now asks after his name. He must not seek this name, however, prematurely, but learn it in his actual experience. The names Peniel, Shiloh, Immanuel, are for him to be developed from the name Israel. But when the parting one gives him a special blessing, that is the assurance, that in bringing the offering of the external qualities of the blessing to Esau, he has perfectly and fully gained the essential blessing of Abraham. As in the very beginning of his new birth he had learned to distinguish between the old and new life, between Jacob and Israel, between the wrestlings of Jacob and the strength of Israel, so also he has now been taught to distinguish between the rights of the natural human birth, and the rights of the new divine birth. [There is another view of this wrestling, which bases it upon the character and previous history of Jacob. He was not, indeed, destitute of faith and reliance upon God, but the prominent feature of his character was a strong reliance upon his own resources and strength. He had thus fallen into doubtful and censurable courses. In this confidence he had wrestled with Esau for the birthright, and with Laban for the reward of his wages and his present possessions. God had dealt with him by chastisements. He had been involved in difficulties and trials which he could not well have failed to connect with his sins. Still his fault was not corrected. And now, on his return to the land of promise, and his paternal home, to inherit the blessing he had so striven to secure, he is met by Esau with his four hundred men. Conscious of his weakness, and reminded of his sins, feeling as he doubtless did that Esau’s anger was not unprovoked, he flies to God for help (Gen_32:10-13). His prayer gives him relief from his fears. But it does not necessarily wean him from his self-reliance. He must feel that his crimes against men are at the same time sins against God. And to teach him this, and at the same time bring him to unreserved reliance upon God, is the purpose with which God meets him here. The progress of the struggle and its issue show this. He struggles with this new combatant to the very end, or as long as he had any strength, but when his thigh was thrown out of joint, then he saw how vain the struggle in this form was. In his disabled state he merely hangs upon the conqueror, and thus overcomes him. He is no longer strong in himself, but in the Lord. It is his faith, the divine principle planted in him, in one sense “the divine energy” working in him, which secures the victory. The lesson which Jacob here learned reveals its power in his whole after-life. He is no longer the supplanter. His life is not marked by his own strivings, but by his reliance upon God. And this is in accordance with the prophet Hosea (Gen_12:4 ff.), who not only teaches that the sighs and tears were prominent features in the struggle, but that in his wrestling with God in this way, Jacob has completely secured what he had been striving for from his birth, the inheritance of the first-born, the promise and blessing of the covenant; secured it, however, not by his own strength, but by casting himself upon God.—A. G.]
7. With regard to the form of the struggle, it cannot on the one hand be a dream-vision which is spoken of (Rosenm. and others), nor on the other hand an external event (Kurtz: “History of the Old Covenant,” i. p. 260; Auberlen, in the article “Jacob,” in Herzog’s Encyclopædic.) [Jacobus: “Notes,” ii. p. 134; Murphy, p. 414; Wordsworth, p. 137.—A. G.]; for the mythical explanation may be entirely left out of view. For moral struggles and decisions are not wrought in dreams or in dream-visions. Against an external bodily wrestling, Hengstenberg reminds us forcibly that an outward wrestling does not occur in the form of weeping and supplication. Kurtz attempts to evade this difficulty by assuming two acts in the struggle, in which the external bodily wrestling precedes the spiritual wrestling with tears and prayers. He thus seeks to exclude the vision and the ecstasy (conditions which in our view are only two aspects of one and the same state). Keil rejects the idea of a natural corporeal wrestling, but thinks that an ecstasy, of a like or related condition of the body and soul, must be received. We have often seen already that the condition of vision or ecstasy does not exclude the objective manifestation. We now see, also, that the soul-struggles in vision, might present themselves under the form of bodily labor, and wrestlings of the soul, since in the vision the whole spiritual process is represented in pictures; and further, that such a struggle may even produce bodily effects, as here the lameness of Jacob’s thigh. Kurtz replies, on the contrary, that such effects of the inward life upon the body are not certainly ascertained; that, indeed, the reverse is for the most part true in such cases, the germinant bodily complaint giving its peculiar form to the dream. But how can one confound these mere natural dreams with the very highest religious events in the world of mind? Should we suppose that the whole history of the despised one rested upon a mere illusion, still the history of Gethsemane would not stand there in vain with reference to the event here before us. It has been denied that such a lameness as that described here, could result from any corporeal wrestling. [It may be said, however, that there is no necessity here for departing from the obvious and literal sense of the passage. The idea of close personal corporeal conflict seems to be suggested in the very terms which the sacred writer has chosen to describe this wrestling. It is certainly implied in the crippling of the thigh. And if God walked in the garden with Adam, and partook of the feast which Abraham prepared, there is no reason why he should not enter into bodily conflict with Jacob. The other events in the narrative, the crossing of the Jabbok, the rising of the sun, seem also to require that we should understand this wrestling as real, objective, corporeal, without any attempt, however, to define too closely its precise mode.—A. G.]
8. The man who wrestled with Jacob. “Some have absurdly held that he was an assassin sent by Esau. Origen: The night-wrestler was an evil spirit (Eph_6:12). Other fathers held that he was a good angel. The correct view is that he was the constant revealer of God, the Angel of the Lord” Schröder. Delitzsch holds “that it was a manifestation of God, who through the angel was represented and visible as a man.” The well-known refuge from the reception of the Angel of the Incarnation! In his view, earlier explained and refuted, Jacob could not be called the captain, prince of God, but merely the captain, prince of the Angel. “No other writer in the Pentateuch,” Knobel says, “so represents God under the human form of things as this one.” Jacob surely, with his prayers and tears, has brought God, or the Angel of the Lord, more completely into the human form and likeness than had ever occurred before. The man with whom he wrestles is obviously not only the angel, but the type also of the future incarnation of God. As the angel of his face, however, he marks a development of the form of the angel of revelation which is taken Up and carried on in Exodus.
9. The angel and type of the incarnation, is at the same time an angel and type of atonement. When Kurtz (p. 257) says “that God here meets Jacob as an enemy, that he makes an hostile attack,” the expressions are too strong. There is an obvious distinction between a wrestler and one who attacks as an enemy, leaving out of view the fact, that there is nothing said here as to which party makes the assault. After the revelations which Jacob received at Bethel, Haran, and Mahanaim, a peculiar hostile relation to God is out of the question So much, certainly, is true, that Jacob, to whom no mortal sins are imputed for which he must overcome the wrath of God (Kurtz, p. 258, the divine wrath is not overcome but atoned), must now be brought to feel that in all his sins against men he has striven and sinned against God, and that he must first of all be reconciled to him, for all the hitherto unrecognized sins of his life.
10. The wrestling of Jacob has many points of resemblance to the restoration of Peter (John 21). As this history of Peter does not treat of the reconstituting of his general relation to Jesus, but rather of the perfecting of that relation, and with this of the restitution of his apostolic calling and office, so here the struggle of Jacob does not concern so much the question of his fundamental reconciliation with Jehovah, but the completion of that reconciliation and the assurance of his faith in his patriarchal calling. And if Christ then spake to Peter, when thou wast young thou girdedst thyself, etc., in order that he might know that henceforth an entire reliance upon the leading and protection of God must take the place of his sinful feeling of his own strength and his attachment to his own way, so, doubtless, the lameness of Jacob’s thigh has the same significance, with this difference, that as Peter must be cured of the self-will of his rash, fiery temperament, so Jacob from his selfish prudence, tending to mere cunning.
11. A like relation holds between their old and new names. The name Simon, in the narrative of Peter’s restoration, points to his old nature, just as here the name Jacob to the old nature of Israel. Simon’s nature, however, was not purely evil, but tainted with evil. This is true also of Jacob. He must be purified and freed from his sinful cunning, but not from his prudence and constant perseverance. Into these latter features of his character he was consecrated as Israel. The name Abram passes over into the name Abraham, and is still ever included in it; the name Isaac has in itself a two-fold significance, which intimates the laughter of doubt, and that of a joyful faith; but the name Jacob goes along with that of Israel, not merely because the latter was preëminently the name of the people, nor because in the new-birth the old life continues side by side, and only gradually disappears, but also because it designates an element of lasting worth, and still further, because Israel must be continually reminded of the contrast between its merely natural and its sacred destination.
12. The sacred and honored name of the Israelitish people, descends from this night-wrestling of Israel, just as the name Christian comes from the birth and name of Christ. The peculiar destination of the Old-Testament children of the covenant is that they should be warriors, princes of God, men of prayer, who carry on the conflicts of faith to victory. Hence the name Israelites attains completeness in that of Christians, those who are divinely blessed, the anointed of God. The name Jews, in its derivation from Judah, and in its Messianic import, forms the transition between these names, since it designates those who are praised, who are a praise and glory to God. But the contrast between the cunning, running into deceit, which characterized the old nature of Jacob, and the persevering struggle of faith and prayer of Israel, pervades the whole history of the Jewish people, and hence Hosea, Gen_12:1 ff., applies it to the Jewish people (see Kurtz, p. 259, with reference to the “Practical Com.” of Umbreit, iv. p. 82). The force of this contrast lies in this, that in the true Israelite there is no guile, since he is purified from guile (Joh_1:47), and that Christ, the king of Israel (Gen_32:44), is without guile, while the deceit of the Jacob nature reaches its most terrible and atrocious perfection in the kiss of Judas.
13. The natural night, through which Jacob carried on his long wrestling, not only figures symbolically the inner night which brooded over his soul, but also the mystery of his new-birth, determined of course by its Old-Testament limits. Hence the dawn and sunrise indicate not only the blessed state of faith which he had now gained, but also the fact that he, as the halting and lame, now appeared as a new man in the light of the breaking day.
14. When it is said of Israel that he had prevailed with God, we must not forget that he prevailed with him because God permitted him to do so. The idea that God permits himself to be overcome, assumes a gross and dangerous form if we should apply it to our selfish prayers according to our own selfish thoughts. In the entire concession to the grace of God, the believer first reaches that turning-point in his life where the will of God becomes even his own will, where God can yield and confide himself to the will of his faith.
15. In the apparent rejection of Jacob’s question, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name? the angel proceeds in the same way with Christ in his public ministrations. He does not immediately call himself Christ. Believers must attain the true idea of his name from the experience of its effects.
16. The growth in Jacob’s life of faith is marked by the names Bethel, Mahanaim, Peniel. But it. is surely an entirely unallowable explanation of the words “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved,” when they are explained upon the prevalent Jewish notion, that whoever has seen Jehovah must die. Leaving out of view the essential germ of that notion, that the sight of the glory of God terrifies sinful men and mortifies sin within them, which takes place in this case also, it might be held more plausibly that this very notion grew out of a misunderstanding of these words (comp. the similar expression of Hagar, Gen_16:13). Delitzsch: “The sun which rose upon Jacob at Peniel has its antitype in the sun of the resurrection morning.”
17. The glorious reconciliation between Jacob and Esau is based upon the perfect reconciliation of Jacob with God. For the old way in which he hoped to overcome Esau, he now makes amends in the new method by which he actually overcomes him. We shall do injustice to the history if we do not distinguish here the elements of humility, satisfaction, reconciling love, and confidence. Jacob’s humiliation before Esau implies his humiliation before God; his satisfaction to Esau, his reconciliation with God; and the strength of his love and confidence by which he overcomes Esau, comes from Jehovah’s grace and truth.
18. The fact that Jacob after his reconciliation with Esau, could not be prevailed upon by any consideration whatever, either of fear or favor, to mingle with him, is the clearest proof of the strength of his patriarchal consciousness.
19. For the mythical traditions which resemble this wrestling of Jacob with God, see Delitzsch, Bunsen, Schröder, upon the passage.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the Doctrinal paragraphs.—Jacob between Laban and Esau on his homeward journey.—Jacob’s progress from struggle to struggle.—His conflict with Laban compared with that with Esau.—His struggle with men, in comparison with that with God.—How the sins of youth are punished after a long period of years. How Jacob, through his prayer, passes from the plan of flight from Esau, suggested by his human fears, to the method of attacking him with the weapons of humility and love; from a mere human defensive, to a divine offensive.—The prayer of Jacob.—The distinction between his prayer and his wrestling.—Jacob’s act of faith in crossing the Jabbok.—Jacob’s struggle and victory, or how from Jacob he became Israel.—The features of the development of revealed faith in Jacob’s wrestling: 1. The germ of the incarnation (Godhead and humanity wrestling with each other; the Godhead in the form of a man); 2. the germ of the atonement (sacrifice of the human will); 3. the germ of justification by faith (I will not let thee go, etc.); 4. the germ of the new-birth (Jacob, Israel); 5. the germ of the principle of love to one’s enemies (the reconciliation with God, reconciliation with the world).—Jacob’s night and Jacob’s dawn.—The sacrifice of human prudence upon the altar of God, one of the most difficult sacrifices (more so than that of human strength).—Bethel, Mahanaim, Peniel, divine stations in the journey of the pilgrim of faith.—The shepherd train of Jacob, and the warlike procession of Esau.—Civility a barrier against injury, and a source of security and protection.—In their tears Jacob and Esau are twins once more.—Thus the nobler life of the world and the life of faith have twin elements and moments.—The permanent friendship between Jacob and Esau (persons so in antipathy with each other, the children of God and men of the world, the church and the state), under proper conditions and at proper distances.—The triumph of departing Esau, and Jacob (the future Bedouin sheik and the ancestor of Israel).—Jacob between the Jabbok and the Jordan.—The return of the banished to his fatherland.—The native country.—The bloom of patriarchalism.
First Section, 4–7. Starke: Christians must be open to reconciliation with their enemies (Rom_12:18).—Schröder: If his mother had sent him the message, as was agreed upon: Thy brother has now laid aside his anger, then Jacob would have had an easier journey than now, when he returns leaning upon the hand of the invisible God (Baumgarten).—The little ship nears the haven, all depends on this last moment.—Esau as prince in Mount Seir.—Thus he chooses with perfect freedom what God has from the beginning determined (Baum. and Calvin).
Second Section, Gen_32:8-9. Schröder: We must not overlook the name of Jehovah in his prayer. The danger is so great that a mere general belief in a general providence will not sustain him (Hengstenberg).
Third Section, Gen_32:10-13. Starke: Nothing is more humbling than the grace of God.—Cramer: There is no better way to avoid danger than by be lieving prayer (Psa_27:8).—Schröder: His humility does not blush at the recollection: for with my staff, etc.—The mother with the children. The words describe the most relentless cruelty.—The death of a mother, over and with her children, is the most cruel way of taking life imaginable (Baumgarten).—God saved his promise in saving Jacob.—Taube: The school of the cross is the most glorious school, for: 1. It reveals his God to the Christian; 2. it reveals also the Christian heart before God and the world.
Fourth Section, Gen_32:14-22. Starke: If we may infer from his presents, as to the size of his flocks of different kinds, we shall easily see how abundantly God has blessed Jacob, and fulfilled to him his promise of prosperity.—Schröder: He chooses milchcamels because they are more valuable for their milk, which is used by the Arabians as a drink. The camel’s milk becomes intoxicating when it has stood a few hours, but when fresh has no such property (Michaelis).
Fifth Section, Gen_32:23-32. Starke: Cramer: When a Christian has prayed, he is not to sit down in idleness and security, but should consider well how he may best accomplish his end.—There is no better way to win the heart of an enemy than by good deeds (1Sa_25:18).—Bibl. Tub.: There is no conflict more blessed and glorious than when we wrestle with God in faith and prayer, and thus take heaven by violence.—Osiander: God is often accustomed thus to try his saints, and prove their faith; he sends upon them many afflictions at the same time, but still sustains his saints so that they shall not sink (Exo_4:24; Psa_38:6 ff.).—We bear about with us the marks of our sin, our misery, and our mortality, that we may not become proud (2Co_12:7).—(Gen_32:26. The Jews, who hold this man to have been an angel, suppose that in thus addressing Jacob he wished to remind him that it was time for him to sing his morning song. For the Jews believed that at the dawn the angels raised their hymns of praise to God.
Gen_32:28 (no more; No, here, is equivalent with not alone).—Luther: Here the temptation to despair often enters, a temptation by which the greatest saints are wont to be tried. Whoever stands the test, he comes to the perfect knowledge of the will of God, so that he can say, I have seen God face to face.—Hall: When the angel of the covenant has once blessed, no trial can make us miserable (Joh_10:28).—(Gen_32:32. The Jews think that Jacob was healed at Sichem, and hence the city was called Shalem.)—Compare the conflict of Jacob after he had crossed the Jabbok, with the conflict of Jesus in Gethsemane, after he had crossed the Kedron. [Wordsworth also has a long and suggestive note, in which Jacob is held up as a type of Christ, and this comparison is carried out into various minute points.—A. G.]—Jacob a type of the New-Testament church.—Bibl. Tub.: They are blessed who see the face of God in faith, for thus their souls are healed.—Cramer: To see God is the best food for souls, their strength and courage (1Co_13:12).—Gerlach, upon the 28th verse: In the words, with men, God reminds him of the more consolatory aspect of the events of his former life, of the opposition which first Esau, then Isaac, etc (We must remember, however, that in the previous struggles he was victorious as Jacob merely.)—Calw. Hand.: Although all human power is weakness compared with God, yet he suffers himself to be overcome by faith and prayer.—His name truly was a confession of his sin.—Schröder: Quotations from G. D. Krummacher’s “Contest and Victory of Jacob.”—The thigh is the very basis of the body; when it is put out of joint the body falls (Krummacher: Jacob, however, did not fall).—There was nothing left for him but to hang upon his neck if he would not fall.—Hope maketh not ashamed—The wrestler first for himself and with men, then with God and with men, lastly for God and for men.—The name of Christian is the completion of the name Israel.—Taube: Jacob’s conflict and victory: 1. The contest; 2. the victory.
Sixth Section, Gen_33:1-11. Starke: In this manner we Christians are in the eyes of the world the most miserable, subject to every one, but in truth we are and remain the heirs of heaven and earth.
Gen_33:7. The wives of Jacob. Now when they thought to reach his father’s house and their kindred, they are in fear of death. This was certainly a severe test.—How beautiful when contending parties come together; but then previous difficulties must not be called up (Rom_12:10).—In the world, among all outward means there are none more effectual than presents and gifts (Pro_17:8).—Gerlach: An atoning present is indeed blessing (1Sa_25:27).—Lisco: His victory of faith is typical for all the children of God.
Seventh Section, Gen_32:12-16. Starke: (Gen_32:14.) Some are offended at Jacob and have charged him with deceit (Calvin). But it rather seems that at the first he was willing to go thither. Perhaps God had warned him, as he did the wise men (Mat_2:12).
Gen_33:15. Osiander: All official persons in ecclesiastical or worldly positions should use wise precaution, that they may direct affairs according to the power of those who are entrusted to them, lest they should be rather injured than helped.—Schröder: Luther: Note, the justified and those resting in their good works cannot walk together.—Calw. Hand.: Persons so widely different as Esau and Jacob are the best friends when they do not come into too close relations.—Schröder: The sacred Scriptures are indeed sacred. As the dark side of the elect is revealed without any attempt at concealment, so they do not pass without notice the brighter features of those who are without. We find traces of the divine image in every one, and it is too frequently true that the world teaches morality to the believer.
Footnotes:
[1][Gen_32:13.—The night after the return of the messengers, and his arrangement of his company.—A. G.]
[2][Gen_32:20.—Heb., cover his face; and so, in the last clause: he will lift up my face.—A. G.]
[3][Gen_32:24.—יֵאָבֵק, an antique form, only used here and Gen_32:25-26, from אָבַק,to struggle with, or the kindred root חָבַק, to limit, enclose, as one member the other. Keil, p. 219.—A. G.]
[4][Gen_33:5.—Lit., Who these to thee.—A. G.]
[5][Gen_33:8.—What to thee all this train.—A. G.]
[6][Gen_33:13.—Heb., which are milking.—A. G.]
[7][Gen_33:14.—According to the foot, or pace.—A. G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 16, 17, 21 MISSION TO ESAU. (Gen_32:3-32)
MISSION TO ESAU. (Gen_32:3-32)
Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau--that is, "had sent." It was a prudent precaution to ascertain the present temper of Esau, as the road, on approaching the eastern confines of Canaan, lay near the wild district where his brother was now established.
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land of Seir--a highland country on the east and south of the Dead Sea, inhabited by the Horites, who were dispossessed by Esau or his posterity (Deu 11:12). When and in what circumstances he had emigrated thither, whether the separation arose out of the undutiful conduct and idolatrous habits of his wives, which had made them unwelcome in the tent of his parents, or whether his roving disposition had sought a country from his love of adventure and the chase, he was living in a state of power and affluence, and this settlement on the outer borders of Canaan, though made of his own free will, was overruled by Providence to pave the way for Jacob's return to the promised land.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 9, 13, 20, 21 3. Sent messengers — To conciliate his brother, open…
3. Sent messengers — To conciliate his brother, open the way for a friendly meeting, and discover the spirit and circumstances of Esau. The land of Seir, the country (or field) of Edom — From this it appears that at that time Esau had entered the mountainous district south of Palestine, afterwards called after his name. This does not necessarily imply that he had already removed his wives and children and possessions thither. On the contrary, it appears from Gen_36:6-8, that his removal with all his effects to Mount Seir, took place at a later date. The probability is, that Esau was at this time engaged, with a warlike band, in driving out the Horites from the strongholds of Edom. Comp. Deu_2:12; Deu_2:22. Jacob’s messengers, learning of his whereabouts, went and found him with a band of warriors. On receiving Jacob’s message, and not knowing altogether what to make of it, and purposing not to be surprised or wronged by any new stratagem of the brother who had cheated him so sorely in the past, he proceeded at once with four hundred of his men to meet him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21 3–12 (J). The Approach of Esau, and Jacob’s Prayer
3–12 (J). The Approach of Esau, and Jacob’s Prayer
3. the land of Seir] This name for the country occupied by the Edomites (Gen_14:6) seems to mean the “shaggy,” or “rough,” “forest-covered” country; see Gen_33:14; Gen_33:16, Gen_36:8. It is applied not only to the mountains on the east of the Arabah desert, but also to the mountain country of the Arabah and the southern borders of Palestine.
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the field of Edom] The future home of Esau’s descendants is here so called by a not unnatural anachronism. Cf. Gen_14:7, “the country of the Amalekites”; Gen_21:34, “the land of the Philistines.”
The description of the country by the twofold name “land of Seir” and “field of Edom” indicates the two sources of the narrative.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 20 (Gen_32:3 to Gen_33:16.)
JACOB’S RECONCILIATION WITH ESAU.
(Gen_32:3 to Gen_33:16.)
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(3) Jacob sent messengers.—As Jacob travelled homewards to Hebron the news somehow reached him that Esau, at the head of a large body of retainers, was engaged in an expedition against the Horites. These, as we have seen on Gen_14:6, were a miserable race of cave-men, utterly unable to cope with Esau and his trained servants. We learn from Gen_36:6 that Esau’s home was still with Isaac at Hebron, and probably this was a mere marauding expedition, like that against the people of Gath, which a century later cost Ephraim the lives of so many of his sons (1Ch_7:21); but it revealed to Esau the weakness of the in habitants, and also that the land was admirably adapted for his favourite pursuit of hunting. He seems also to have taken a Horite wife (Gen_36:5), and being thus connected with the country, upon Isaac’s death he willingly removed into it, and it then became “the country,” Heb. the field of Edom. Its other name, Seir, i.e. rough, hairy, shows that it was then covered with forests, and the term field that it was an uncultivated region. It was entirely in the spirit of the adventurous Esau to make this expedition, and on his father’s death to prefer this wild land to the peaceful pastures at Hebron, where he was surrounded by powerful tribes of Amorites and Hittites. The land of Seir was a hundred miles distant from Mahanaim, but Esau apparently had been moving up through what were afterwards the countries of Moab and Ammon, and was probably, when Jacob sent his messengers, at no very great distance. At all events, Jacob remained at Mahanaim till his brother was near, when he crossed the brook Jabbok, and went to meet him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 21 And Jacob sent messengers (with the messengers of Jacob,…
And Jacob sent messengers (with the messengers of Jacob, the messengers of Elohim form a contrast which can scarcely have been accidental) before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, vide on Gen_14:6. Seir, nearly equivalent in force to Esau (Ewald) and meaning the rough or bristling mountain (Gesenius), was originally occupied by the Horites, but afterwards became the seat of Esau and his descendants (Deu_2:4; 2Ch_20:10) though as yet Esau had not withdrawn from Canaan (Gen_36:5-8) the country (literally, plain or level tract= Padan male Hos_12:13) of Edom, as it was afterwards called.
Vers. 3-8.
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Faith and fellowship.
Jacob"s preparation against danger betokened his sense of duty to do his utmost under the circumstances, and his sense of past errors and ill desert towards his brother. There is an exercise of our own judgment in times of distress and extremity which is quite consistent with dependence upon God. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3, 9, 10, 11, 13, 21 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his…
Gen_32:3-9
And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother.
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The alarm
I. We will consider, in the first place, THE PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES WHICH JACOB ADOPTED. In the first instance, as soon as he heard of the evil which apparently awaited him, he immediately divided the people that were with him into two bands, in the hope that if one company was suddenly surprised and smitten, the other might in the interim escape.
II. But in the second place, let us notice WHAT WAS JACOBS CHIEF RESOURCE IN THIS PRESSING EXIGENCY. It was the throne of grace. Prayer is, in fact, the peculiar privilege and the natural habit of a truly pious mind. Prayer also is a very powerful proof of the state of the heart. If we see men, who profess and call themselves Christians, struggling and contending in their own strength, with second causes, as the source of their sorrows, in the hope of overcoming them, and not affectionately, earnestly, spontaneously spreading their case before the Lord, we have reason to doubt the sincerity of their religious profession.
III. But, with these prefatory remarks, let us now examine THE NATURE OF JACOBS PRAYER. It is a very beautiful example of real prayer. It is simple, full, and energetic. We will glance briefly at its leading topics.
1. There is, first, a simple and vindicatory statement of the circumstances in which Jacob was placed. He had not brought himself thoughtlessly or wilfully into this difficulty. Thou saidest unto me, return unto thy country and thy kindred. I am here, in obedience to Thy command. There is a very wide distinction between those trials and sufferings into which a man is brought by wilfulness and sin, and those which come upon him independently of his own control, and in respect to which, his mind must necessarily be free from guilt.
2. But, secondly, though in this instance Jacob was free to appeal to the knowledge of God for his acquittal from any wilful trangression in those steps which had led him into danger, yet he did not hesitate, in other respects, to take at once the only ground upon which a human creature can consistently stand before God; and, consequently, we find the justification of his conduct in his present circumstances, immediately followed by an humble acknowledgment of his utter unworthiness before God. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, that Thou hast showed unto Thy servant. How different is this from the proud feeling of independence with which men generally regard their property in this life I The language of a prosperous man among his fellows, as well as in his heart, is too frequently, My power, and the might of my hand, have gotten me this wealth.
3. But, thirdly, in the midst of humiliating confession, Jacob did not forget His mercies. He thankfully records them. He extols the mercy and the faithfulness of God. With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and lo, I am become two bands. If we would secure the continuance of our blessings, we should be free to remember them. But once more we notice, that Jacob continues his prayer by an affectionate enunciation of Gods promises. I fear lest Esau come and smite me, and the mother with the children; and
Thou saidst I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. We are always safe when we can grasp the promises of God, and convert them into prayers. Thou hast said, a new heart will I give thee, and a new spirit will I put within thee. O Lord, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.
4. Lastly, Jacob evidently showed that he placed an unfeigned and implicit confidence in the covenant, the promises, and the mercies of God. All the language of his prayer, tends to call up before him an animating view of the character of Him whom he addressed. This is precisely the spirit in which the Christian is now encouraged to approach the Lord. He has purer light, and greater knowledge. (E. Craig.)
Jacobs preparation for meeting his angry brother
I. HE TOOK THOSE MEASURES DICTATED BY HUMAN PRUDENCE.
1. He sends messengers of peace.
2. He divides his company into two bands.
3. He sends a present.
II. HE TOOK THOSE MEASURES DICTATED BY RELIGION. Prayer.
1. He appeals to God as the Covenant God and Father (Gen_32:9).
2. He pleads Gods gracious promise to himself. The Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.
3. He confesses his own unworthiness, and Gods goodness and faithfulness (Gen_32:10).
4. He presents his special petition expressing his present want (Gen_32:11). He prays to be delivered from his brothers anger, the possible consequences of which were fearful to contemplate.
5. He cleaves to Gods word of promise (Gen_32:12). God had promised to do him good, and to make his seed as the sand of the sea for multitude. And Jacob pleads as if he said, how could this promise be fulfilled if himself and his family were slain? This prayer shows the kind husband, the tender father, the man of faith and piety. (T. H. Leale.)
Jacobs return from Padan-aram
I. In regard to THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH JACOB WAS PLACED, we may observe that he was surrounded by a numerous family, to whom he was strongly attached, and some of whom were of a very tender age; and that he saw the whole of them, with himself, liable, in the course of a few transitory hours, to be cut off by the sword of an enraged brother.
II. THE CONDUCT WHICH JACOB ADOPTED UPON THIS OCCASION IS FULL OF INTEREST AND INSTRUCTION. It was equally removed from presumption and despair; and presents one of the most edifying examples of sanctified affliction.
1. He did everything in his power to avert his brothers wrath, and conciliate his favour.
2. He made an arrangement in regard to his family, which was calculated at least to save some of them.
3. He had recourse to earnest prayer.
(1) It was addressed to the God of his fathers. Jacob had descended from ancestors distinguished by their piety; and he avails himself of that circumstance to raise his drooping faith.
(2) In Jacobs prayer we observe an humble acknowledgment of his absolute demerit before God.
(3) When asking of God the favour of protection, Jacob gratefully acknowledges the blessings he had already received.
(4) The prayer which is now under our consideration contains an encouraging reference to the Divine direction, which Jacob was then in the very act of obeying.
(5) In this most impressive prayer the patriarch pleads the promise of God in regard to his posterity. The facts which have now occupied our attention contain many practical lessons of general application. They remind us, in a very impressive manner--
1. Of the established connection between sin and punishment.
2. The history of Jacob suggests the immense importance of genuine piety.
3. The example of Jacob, on the occasion described in the text, teaches the important lesson, that to obtain from God the blessing we desire, it is our duty to use the requisite means, and at the same time to place an absolute reliance upon His mercy. (T. Jackson.)
Lessons
1. Providence ordereth returns of messages sometimes to be cross to the expectation of His saints.
2. Messages of peace are delivered to wicked men from saints sometimes without answerable return.
3. Faithful messengers will perform their charge whatever the issue be Pro_25:13).
4. Wicked men though intreated, may show themselves in their power and terror to the saints (verse 6).
5. Creature-terrors are apt to stir up fears vehemently in the hearts of Gods dearest ones.
6. Fears in saints are not so violent, but that they rationally provide for their safety under them.
7. It is good prudence to save part from ruin when the whole is in danger.
8. Military order in setting troops in place, is not unbeseeming saints (verse Gen_14:15).
9. Gods armies do not quiet saints sometimes, when sense worketh on outward danger.
10. Smitings of some by enemies are reasonable warnings for others to escape (verse 8). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Faith in prayer to God is the saints immediate help against fear in the hour of temptation.
2. The saints providence for themselves is but in order to their refuge in God.
3. God in gracious relations to poor souls is the proper object of prayer.
4. Saints may be bold to fly to God for help in the execution of His commands.
5. God in the promise of grace to His people is the special object of their faith and prayer.
6. Special faith evidencing and applying promises is very necessary to effectual prayer in temptation (Gen_32:9). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Jacob at Mahanaim
I. JACOBS PLAN.
1. How it originated.
(1) In the report he heard of Esaus approach at the head of four hundred men (Gen_32:6).
(2) His fear lest Esau might intend to carry out his old purpose of revenge (Gen_32:7; Gen_27:42).
(3) His perplexity. Not having strength to resist such a force (Gen_32:7).
(4) His desire to save, if possible, the half of his property (Gen_32:8).
2. In what it consisted. In the division of his flocks and herds, &c., into two companies. It must have been a huge company at the first, for him to think, after the message he sent (Gen_32:4-5), that his brother would imagine the half was all he had. He thought that one half, hearing the attack upon the other, might in the confusion escape while Esau was driving off his plunder.
3. The plan was well contrived. A little of the old Jacob is here planning and scheming.
4. How he wronged his brother by his unjust suspicions.
5. How he wronged God, by not in the first place seeking His guidance and help. His old method of taking the plan into his own hands. Still relying too much on human sagacity.
II. JACOBS PRAYER.
1. Having made his plans, according to his own wisdom, then he asked God to bless him; and in the end found that his plans were all needless. Prayer at the first would have saved him much perplexity and fear.
2. When he did pray he displayed great humility of soul and dependence upon God.
(1) He approached God in His covenant relation as the God of Abraham.
(2) He reminds his Divine friend of his own obedience in obeying His call to return.
(3) He mentions the promise, I will deal well with thee.
(4) He protests his own great unworthiness.
(5) He gratefully acknowledges the good hand of God in so increasing his substance.
(6) He supplicates present help in his time of need.
(7) He reminds God of the covenant promise. Having presented this his prayer, he proceeds to select a present for his brother.
III. JACOBS CONDUCT. All being ready, his company divided, the present prepared, Jacob sent the present forward in divisions, each drove with servants, and each servant with a message; one part of the message being that Jacob was himself about to follow the gift. The spirit of the gift conciliatory. Conciliation his avowed purpose (Gen_32:20). The present was designed to break down every feeling of revenge and anger supposed still to exist in the mind of Esau. Jacob himself would remain that night, which at one time he feared would be his last, with his company. Growing more confident as the night advanced, he arose and sent over his wives and children. Thus committed to the care of God all that he had. Learn:
1. That the fruit of past sins is sure to spring up in our way. Jacob cannot forget the evil he had done; nor return, after this long absence from home, without confronting its results.
2. That, prayer is the best means of meeting great difficulties. Our best plans ineffective without that blessing which prayer secures. Prayer puts the heart into the best condition for enduring trial. (J. C. Gray.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v3 Gen_32:1. The angels of God met him.] “Lit., came,…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_32:1. The angels of God met him.] “Lit., came, drew near to him, not precisely that they came from an opposite direction.” (Lange.)—
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Gen_32:2. Mahanaim.] Heb. Two camps. Probably alluding to the meeting of his own encampment with that of God. But some contend that this is the usual Hebrew plural of dignity or majesty. Mahanaim was situated S.W. of Mizpah in Gilead, probably the modern Mahneh.—
Gen_32:3. The land of Seir.] This is Arabia Petrea, on the east and south of the Dead Sea.—
Gen_32:7. Greatly afraid and distressed.] Heb. “Straitened.” In the Scriptures this word denotes “a sore strait,” from which there seems to be no way of escape. Two bands. “The word Mahanah (see Gen_32:2) is used throughout these verses as signifying the parts of Jacob’s company, and ought to have been carefully preserved in the A.V., as it is by the LXX. It is caprice of this kind, rendering the word “host” in Gen_32:2, “band” in Gen_32:7, and “company” in Gen_32:8, which has so obscured the meaning of Scripture for English readers.” (Alford.)—
Gen_32:10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies.] Heb. I am less than all the mercies; i.e., I am too little for them. Of all the truth, which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant. Heb. The truth which Thou hast done. In Scripture truth is represented as something which may be done or acted, as well as spoken. (St. Joh_3:21; 1Jn_1:6.) With my staff I passed over this Jordan. (Onk.)—By myself alone I crossed over this Jordan—
Gen_32:11. The mother with the children.] “These words, like ‘root and branch,’ betoken utter extirpation of a family or a community: compare Hos_10:14.” (Alford.)—
Gen_32:13. Took of that which came to his hand.] The usage of the Heb. implies, not as the A.V., that which came uppermost, but rather that which he possessed,—which he had previously acquired.
Gen_32:22. The ford Jabbok.] “Nearly the same word as is rendered wrestled in (Gen_32:24), from which the brook may have derived its name. This brook is the Zerka, and empties into the Jordan on the east side, a distance below the sea of Galilee.” (Jacobus). The brook at the ford is about ten yards wide.—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_32:3-23
JACOB’S PREPARATION FOR MEETING HIS ANGRY BROTHER
I. He took those measures dictated by human prudence.
1. He sends messengers of peace. Jacob had to pass through Mount Seir, where Esau had taken up his abode. He sends messengers to his brother to sue for peace and favour, in terms of great humility. They bring back the unfavourable report that Esau is coming with a band of men, as with hostile intent. Jacob now remembers his former sin. The very mention of his brother’s name brings the past vividly before him. He must make no delay in conciliating his brother. The messengers are charged to use words of lowly submission. Esau is to be addressed as lord, Jacob not even insisting upon the temporal prerogatives of the birthright. He accepts a humiliating position.
2. He divides his company into two bands. This arrangement he carried out both with respect to his flocks and to his family. The manner in which he arranges the latter shows how he felt that the situation was desperate. He places in front the handmaids and their children, then Leah and hers, and lastly, the best beloved Rachel and Joseph. Those he cared for least he places the nearest to the danger. He was forced to consider the agonising question as to who he should be willing first to lose.
3. He sends a present to his brother. (Gen_32:13-15.) It is a liberal one, consisting of quite half the flocks he had acquired. (Gen_32:7-8.) He puts a space between drove and drove, so as to make an effective impression of liberality upon his brother. Thus he hopes to appease his anger.
II. He took those measures dictated by religion. He betakes himself to prayer, which he utters in touching words. There are pious and noble elements in this prayer.
1. He appeals to God as the Covenant God and Father. (Gen_32:9.)
2. He pleads God’s gracious promise to himself. “The Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.”
3. He confesses his own unworthiness, and God’s goodness and faithfulness. (Gen_32:10.) Twenty years ago, when he crossed over Jordan in his flight from Esau, his sole property was the staff he carried in his hand. Now, he is blessed with all this increase. He disclaims all merit of his own, and acknowledges that God’s goodness had made him great. He also praised God for His “truth,” i.e., for His faithfulness. In the Scriptural usage of the term, God had “done” truth in fulfilling His word of promise.
4. He presents his special petition expressing his present want. (Gen_32:11.) He prays to be delivered from his brother’s anger, the possible consequences of which were fearful to contemplate.
5. He cleaves to God’s word of promise. (Gen_32:12.) God had promised to do him good, and to make his seed as the sand of the sea for multitude. And Jacob pleads as if he said, how could this promise be fulfilled if himself and his family were slain? This prayer shows the kind husband, the tender father, the man of faith and piety. There is an element of selfishness in it, for it was wrung from him by the dread of danger. But it is at such times that the soul is cast upon God. In the religious life, the highest motives come last. We begin first to turn to God from a sense of our danger.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_32:3-5. Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau. Observe in these conciliatory instructions to the messengers,
(1) That he declines the honour of precedency given in the blessing, calling Esau his lord. Isaac had said to him, “Be lord over thy brethren.” (Gen_27:29). But Jacob either understood it of spiritual ascendancy, or, if of temporal, as referring to his posterity, rather than to himself. He, therefore, assumes the air and language of deference to his brother as David did towards Saul, (1Sa_24:7-9), from purely prudential considerations.
(2). He would have him know that he was not come to claim the double portion, nor even to divide with him his father’s inheritance. Now, as these were things which had so greatly provoked Esau, a relinquishment of them would tend more than anything else to conciliate him.—(Bush).
Jacob in this message mentioneth his property, that Esau might not think that he sought to him for any need; but only for his favour. And this was something, to a man of Esau’s make; for such like not to hear of, or be haunted with, their poor kindred. (Luk_15:30). “This thy son,” saith he, that felt no want: he saith not, This my brother; he would not own him, because in poverty.—(Trapp).
Confidence in men mostly stands or falls with their fortunes.
Gen_32:6. This was a formidable force. Esau had begun to live by the sword (Gen_27:40), and had surrounded himself with a numerous body of followers. Associated by marriage with the Hittites and the Ishmaelites, he had rapidly risen to the rank of a powerful chieftain. It is vain to conjecture with what intent he advanced at the head of so large a retinue. It is probable that he was accustomed to a strong escort, that he wished to make an imposing appearance before his brother, and that his mind was in that wavering state, when the slightest incident might soothe him into good will, or arouse him to vengeance.—(Murphy.)
When Jacob was well rid of his father-in-law, he thought all safe; and his joy was completed by the sight of that army of angels. But he is damped and terrified with this sad message of Esau’s approach and hostile intentions. This is the godly man’s case while here. One trouble follows in the neck of another. Ripen we apace, and so get to heaven, if we would be out of the gun-shot. The ark was transportative till settled in Solomon’s temple; so, till we come to heaven we shall be tossed up and down and turmoiled: whilst we are—as Bernard hath it—“in this exile, in this purgatory, in this pilgrimage, in this vale of tears.”—(Trapp.)
Gen_32:7-8. This fear of his brother was the direct consequence of his sin, the sin that embittered his whole life.—(Robertson.)
This was his weakness, and may be ours in like case, as looking to the present peril, and, “forgetting the consolation,” as the apostle speaketh Heb_12:5, that he might have drawn from the promise of God, and presence of angels. Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fears: but Satan, in a distress, hides from us that which should support us, and greatens that that may appal us.—(Trapp.)
The disposal of his company into two bands, so that if one was attacked the other might escape, is characteristic of Jacob. He was a scheming man, and never neglected to take every possible precaution.
Gen_32:9. He appeals to the God of Abraham and Isaac, to Jehovah the God of promise and performance.—(Murphy.)
We must not overlook the name of Jehovah in his prayer. The danger is so great that a more general belief in a general providence will not sustain him.—(Hengstenberg.)
Promises must be prayed over. God loves to be burdened with, and to be importuned in His own words; to be sued upon His own bond. Prayer is putting the promises into suit. Such prayers will be nigh the Lord day and night. (1Ki_8:59). He can as little deny them as deny Himself.—(Trapp.)
Gen_32:10. Nothing is more humbling than the grace of God.—(Starke.)
Thankfulness was Jacob’s distinguishing grace, as faith was Abraham’s. Abraham appears ever to have been looking forward in hope,—Jacob looking back in memory; the one rejoicing in the future, the other in the past; the one making his way towards the promises, the other musing over their fulfilment.—(J. H. Newman).
With my staff, etc. That is, having nothing but a staff when I passed over this Jordan, I am now become so prosperous as to be able to divide my people, and my flocks and herds into these two large and imposing bands.—(Bush).
Jacob, though now grown so great, forgets not his former meanness.—(Trapp).
Gen_32:11. The literal rendering is, “the mother upon the children.” It is founded upon what sometimes happens in the sacking of a city, when a devoted mother rushes between her child and the implement of death about to be plunged into its heart and is thus massacred with or upon her offspring. (Hos_10:14.)—(Bush.)
Gen_32:12. So Jacob interprets that promise,” I will be with thee,” (Gen_28:15) which, indeed, hath in it whatsoever heart can wish, or need require. This promise was so sweet to the patriarch, that he repeats and ruminates it. God spake it once, he heard it twice; as David (Psa_62:11) in another case. A fly can make little of a flower; but a bee will not be off till he hath the sweet thyme out of it.—(Trapp).
To remind God of His promises is one of the privileges of prayer.
Gen_32:13-16. The sum total of cattle selected for this purpose was five hundred and fifty; a most magnificent present for one in his circumstances. It was a striking proof of his high estimation of the covenant promise, that he was willing for its sake to forego so large a part of his possessions. Jacob here voluntarily subjects himself to so immense a loss, that he may purchase a secure return to the land of his inheritance.—(Bush.)
Gen_32:17-20. I almost think I hear Jacob telling his servants what they were to say to Esau. He would repeat it many times over, and then ask, “What did I say?” until he had completely schooled them into the story. When they went into the presence of Esau, they would be very particular in placing much stress on Jacob’s saying, “the present is sent unto my lord!” and this would touch his feelings.—(Roberts.)
Gen_32:21-23. He lodged that night; but lay upon thorns and had little rest. The master is the greatest servant in the house, and hath most business. Jacob “sent them over the brook,” which he would not have done had he not been, upon his prayer, well confirmed and settled in his mind concerning the Lord’s protection.—(Trapp.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v9 Gen 32:9 - Gen 32:12.
Genesis
THE TWOFOLD WRESTLE - GOD’S WITH JACOB AND JACOB’S WITH GOD
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Gen 32:9 - Gen 32:12.
Jacob’s subtlety and craft were, as is often the case, the weapons of a timid as well as selfish nature. No wonder, then, that the prospect of meeting his wronged and strong brother threw him into a panic, notwithstanding the vision of the camp of angels by the side of his defenceless caravan of women and children. Esau had received his abject message of propitiation in grim silence, sent no welcome back, but with ominous haste and ambiguous purpose began his march towards him with a strong force. A few hours will decide whether he means revenge. Jacob’s fright does not rob him of his ready wit; he goes to work at once to divide his party, so as to ensure safety for half of it. He schemes first, and prays second. The order might have been inverted with advantage, but is like the man-in the lowest phase of his character. His prayer shows that he is beginning to profit by the long years of schooling. Though its burden is only deliverance from Esau, it pleads with God on the grounds of His own command and promise, of Jacob’s unworthiness of God’s past mercies, and of His firm covenant. A breath of a higher life is stirring in the shifty schemer who has all his life been living by his wits. Now he has come to a point where he knows that his own power can do nothing. With Laban, a man of craft like himself, it was diamond cut diamond; and Jacob was equal to the position. But the wild Bedouin brother, with his four hundred men, is not to be managed so; and Jacob is driven to God by his conscious helplessness. It is the germ, but only the germ, and needs much tending and growth before it matures. The process by which this faint dawning of a better life is broadened into day is begun in the mysterious struggle which forms the main part of this lesson, and is God’s answer to his prayer.
1. We have, first, the twofold wrestling. The silent night-long wrestle with the ‘traveller unknown’ is generally regarded as meaning essentially the same thing as the wonderful colloquy which follows. But I venture to take a somewhat different point of view, and to suggest that there are here two well-marked stages. In the first, which is represented as transacted in unbroken silence, ‘a man’ wrestles with Jacob, and does not prevail; in the second, which is represented as an interchange of speech, Jacob strives with the ‘man,’ and does prevail. Taken together, the two are a complete mirror, not only of the manner of the transformation of Jacob into Israel, but of universal eternal truths as to God’s dealings with us, and our power with Him.
As to the former stage, the language of the narrative is to be noted, ‘There wrestled a man with him.’ The attack, so to speak, begins with his mysterious antagonist, not with the patriarch. The ‘man’ seeks to overcome Jacob, not Jacob the man. There, beneath the deep heavens, in the solemn silence of night, which hides earth and reveals heaven, that strange struggle with an unknown Presence is carried on. We have no material for pronouncing on the manner of it, whether ecstasy, vision, or an objective and bodily fact. The body was implicated in the consequences, at all events, and the impression which the story leaves is of an outward struggle. But the purpose of the incident is the same, however the question as to its form be answered. Nor can we pronounce, as some have done, on the other question, of the personality of the silent wrestler. Angel, or ‘the angel of the covenant,’ who is a transient, and possibly only apparent, manifestation in human form of Him who afterwards became flesh and dwelt among us, or some other supernatural embodiment, for that one purpose, of the divine presence,-any of these hypotheses is consistent with the intentionally reticent text. What it leaves unspoken, we shall wisely leave undetermined. God acts and speaks through ‘the man.’ That is all we can know or need.
What, then, was the meaning of this struggle? Was it not a revelation to Jacob of what God had been doing with him all his life, and was still doing? Was not that merciful striving of God with him the inmost meaning of all that had befallen him since the far-off day when he had left his father’s tents, and had seen the opened heavens, and the ladder, which he had so often forgotten? Were not his disappointments, his successes, and all the swift changes of life, God’s attempts to lead him to yield himself up, and bow his will? And was not God striving with him now, in the anxieties which gnawed at his heart, and in his dread of the morrow? Was He not trying to teach him how crime always comes home to roost, with a brood of pains running behind it? Was not the weird duel in the brooding stillness a disclosure, which would more and more possess his soul as the night passed on, of a Presence which in silence strove with him, and only desired to overcome that He might bless? The conception of a Divine manifestation wrestling all night long with a man has been declared ‘crude,’ ‘puerile,’ and I know not how many other disparaging adjectives have been applied to it. But is it more unworthy of Him, or derogatory to His nature, than the lifelong pleading and striving with each of us, which He undoubtedly carries on? The idea of a man contending with God has been similarly stigmatised; but is it more mysterious than that awful power which the human will does possess of setting at naught His counsels and resisting His merciful strivings?
The close of the first stage of the twofold wrestle is marked by the laming of Jacob. The paradox that He, who could not overcome, could yet lame by a touch, is part of the lesson. If His finger could do that, what would the grip of His hand do, if He chose to put out His power? It is not for want of strength that He has not crushed the antagonist, as Jacob would feel, with deepening wonder and awe. What a new light would be thus thrown on all the previous struggle! It was the striving of a power which cared not for a mere outward victory, nor put forth its whole force, lest it should crush him whom it desired to conquer only by his own yielding. As Job says, ‘Will He plead against me with His great power?’ No; God mercifully restrains His hand, in His merciful striving with men. Desiring to overcome them, He desires not to do so by mere superior power, but by their willing yielding to Him.
That laming of Jacob’s thigh represents the weakening of all the life of nature and self which had hitherto been his. He had trusted to his own cunning and quick-wittedness; he had been shrewd, not over-scrupulous, and successful. But he had to learn that ‘by strength shall no man prevail,’ and to forsake his former weapons. Wrestling with his hands and limbs is not the way to prevail either with God or man. Fighting with God in his own strength, he is only able to thwart God’s merciful purpose towards him, but is powerless as a reed in a giant’s grasp if God chooses to summon His destructive powers into exercise. So this failure of natural power is the turning-point in the twofold wrestle, and marks as well as symbolises the transition in Jacob’s life and character from reliance upon self and craft to reliance upon his divine Antagonist become his Friend. It is the path by which we must all travel if we are to become princes with God. The life of nature and of dependence on self must be broken and lamed in order that, in the very moment of discovered impotence, we may grasp the hand that smites, and find immortal power flowing into our weakness from it.
2. So we come to the second stage, in which Jacob strives with God and does prevail. ‘Let me go, for the day breaketh.’ Then did the stranger wish to go; and if he did, why could not he, who had lamed his antagonist, loose himself from his grasp? The same explanation applies here which is required in reference to Christ’s action to the two disciples at Emmaus: ‘He made as though He would have gone further.’ In like manner, when He came to them on the water, He appeared as though He ‘would have passed by.’ In all three cases the principle is the same. God desires to go, if we do not desire Him to stay. He will go, unless we keep Him. Then, at last, Jacob betakes himself to his true weapons. Then, at last, he strangely wishes to keep his apparent foe. He has learned, in some dim fashion, whom he has been resisting, and the blessedness of having Him for friend and companion. So here comes in the account of the whole scene which Hosea gives {Hos 12:4}: ‘He wept, and made supplication unto Him.’ That does not describe the earlier portion, but is the true rendering of the later stage, of which our narrative gives a more summary account. The desire to retain God binds Him to us. All His struggling with us has been aimed at evoking it, and all His fulness responds to it when evoked. Prayer is power. It conquers God. We overcome Him when we yield. When we are vanquished, we are victors. When the life of nature is broken within us, then from conscious weakness springs the longing which God cannot but satisfy. ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’ As Charles Wesley puts it, in his grand hymn on this incident:-
‘Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair.’
And God prevails when we prevail. His aim in all the process of His mercy has been but to overcome our heavy earthliness and selfishness, which resists His pleading love. His victory is our yielding, and, in that yielding, obtaining power with Him. He delights to be held by the hand of faith, and ever gladly yields to the heart’s cry, ‘Abide with me.’ I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me,’ is music to His ear; and our saying so, in earnest, persistent clinging to Him, is His victory as well as ours.
3. We have, next, the new name, which is the prize of Jacob’s victory, and the sign of a transformation in his character. Before this time he had been Jacob, the worker with wiles, who supplanted his brother, and met his foes with duplicity and astuteness like their own. He had been mainly of the earth, earthy. But that solemn hour had led him into the presence-chamber, the old craft had been mortally wounded, he had seen some glimpse of God as his friend, whose presence was not ‘awful,’ as he had thought it long ago, nor enigmatical and threatening, as he had at first deemed it that night, but the fountain of blessing and the one thing needful. A man who has once learned that lesson, though imperfectly, has passed into a purer region, and left behind him his old crookedness. He has learned to pray, not as before, prayers for mere deliverance from Esau and the like, but his whole being has gone out in yearning for the continual nearness of his mysterious antagonist-friend. So, though still the old nature remains, its power is broken, and he is a new creature. Therefore he needs a new name, and gets it from Him who can name men, because He sees the heart’s depths, and because He has the right over them. To impose a name is the sign of authority, possession, insight into character. The change of name indicates a new epoch in a life, or a transformation of the inner man. The meaning of ‘Israel’ is ‘He {who} strives with God’; and the reason for its being conferred is more accurately given by the Revised Version, which translates, ‘For thou hast striven with God and with men,’ than in the Authorised rendering. His victory with God involved the certainty of his power with men. All his life he had been trying to get the advantage of them, and to conquer them, not by spear and sword, but by his brains. But now the true way to true sway among men is opened to him. All men are the servants of the servant and the friend of God. He who has the ear of the emperor is master of many men.
Jacob is not always called Israel in his subsequent history. His new name was a name of character and of spiritual standing, and that might fluctuate, and the old self resume its power; so he is still called by the former appellation, just as, at certain points in his life, the apostle forfeits the right to be ‘Peter,’ and has to hear from Christ’s lips the old name, the use of which is more poignant than many reproachful words; ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you.’ But in the last death-bed scene, when the patriarch lifted himself in his bed, and with prophetic dignity pronounced his parting benediction on Joseph’s sons, the new name reappears with solemn pathos.
That name was transmitted to his descendants, and has passed over to the company of believing men, who have been overcome by God, and have prevailed with God. It is a charter and a promise. It is a stringent reminder of duty and a lofty ideal. A true Christian is an ‘Israel.’ His office is to wrestle with God. Nor can we forget how this mysterious scene was repeated in yet more solemn fashion, beneath the gnarled olives of Gethsemane, glistening in the light of the paschal full moon, when the true Israel prayed with such sore crying and tears that His body partook of the struggle, and ‘His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’ The word which describes Christ’s agony is that which is often rendered ‘wrestling,’ and perhaps is selected with intentional allusion to this incident. At all events, when we think of Jacob by the brook Jabbok, and of a ‘greater than our father Jacob’ by the brook Kedron, we may well learn what persistence, what earnestness and effort of the whole nature, go to make up the ideal of prayer, and may well blush for the miserable indifference and torpor of what we venture to call our prayers. These are our patterns, ‘as many as walk according to this rule,’ and are thereby shown to be ‘the Israel of God,’-upon them shall be peace.
4. We have, as the end of all, a deepened desire after closer knowledge of God, and the answer to it. Some expositors {as, for instance, Robertson of Brighton, in his impressive sermon on this section} take the closing petition, ‘Tell me, I pray thee, Thy name,’ as if it were the centre point of the whole incident. But this is obviously a partial view. The desire to know that name does not come to Jacob, as we might have expected, when he was struggling with his unknown foe in the dark there. It is the end, and, in some sense, the issue, of all that has gone before. Not that he was in any doubt as to the person to whom he spoke; it is just because he knows that he is speaking with God, who alone can bless, that he longs to have some deeper, clearer knowledge still of Him. He is not asking for a word by which he may call Him; the name is the expression of the nature, and his parting request is for something far more intimate and deep than syllables which could be spoken by any lips. The certain sequel of the discovery of God as striving in mercy with a man, and of yielding to him, is the thirst for deeper acquaintance with Him, and for a fuller, more satisfying knowledge of His inmost heart. If the season of mysterious intercourse must cease, and day hide more than it discloses, and Jacob go to face Esau, and we come down from the mount to sordid cares and mean tasks, at least we long to bear with us as a love-token some whisper in our inmost hearts that may cheer us with the peaceful truth about Him and be a hidden sweetness. The presence of such a desire is a sure consequence, and therefore a good test, of real prayer.
The Divine answer, which sounds at first like refusal, is anything but that. Why dost thou ask after My name? surely I need not to give thee more revelation of My character. Thou hast enough of light; what thou needest is insight into what thou hast already. We have in what God has made known of Himself already to us-both in His outward revelation, which is so much larger and sweeter to us than it was to Jacob, but also in His providences, and in the inward communion which we have with Him if we have let Him overcome us, and have gained power to prevail with Him-sources of certain knowledge of Him so abundant and precious that we need nothing but the loving eye which shall take in all their beauty and completeness, to have our most eager desires after His name more than satisfied. We need not ask for more sunshine, but take care to spread ourselves out in the full sunshine which we have, and let it drench our eyes and fire our hearts. ‘And He blessed him there.’ Not till now was he capable of receiving the full blessing. He needed to have self beaten out of him; he needed to recognise God as lovingly striving with Him; he needed to yield himself up to Him; he needed to have his heart thus cleansed and softened, and then opened wide by panting desire for the presence and benediction of God; he needed to be made conscious of his new standing, and of the higher life budding within him; he needed to experience the yearning for a closer vision of the face, a deeper knowledge of the name,-and then it was possible to pour into his heart a tenderness and fulness of blessing which before there had been no room to receive, and which now answered in sweetest fashion the else unanswered desire, ‘Tell me, I pray thee, Thy name.’
In like manner we may each be blessed with the presence and benediction of Him whose merciful strivings, when we knew Him not, came to us in the darkness; and to whom, if we yield, there will be peace and power in our hearts, and upon us, too, the sun will rise as we pass from the place where our foe became our friend, and by faith we saw Him face to face, and drank in life by the gaze.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v3 i.e. Esau’s country. Gen 25:30. (See Scofield "Gen 36:1").
Edom
i.e. Esau’s country. Gen 25:30. (See Scofield "Gen 36:1").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv9, 13 Jacob’s Prayer
Jacob’s Prayer
v. 9. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
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v. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. This was the proper reaction from the abject fear and panic with which Jacob had been suffering, carrying the matter to the true God in humble prayer. His prayer had the proper form, for he reminded God of His promises, at the same time declaring his own unworthiness so far as all the mercies and all the truth of the Lord were concerned, for his entire possessions twenty years before, when he crossed the Jordan near this point, had consisted of a staff, and now there were two bands of animals and of servants whom he was taking back to his home country.
v. 11. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children, literally, upon the children, since a mother will protect her children against the enemy with her body. The situation was so serious in the eyes of Jacob that he utterly despaired of all human help.
v. 12. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. Because an attack such as was now threatening him would tend to defeat the divine promise in the patriarchal blessing, therefore Jacob once more reminded the Lord of this promise, Gen 28:14. Faith clings to the divine promises, and he that prays properly always refers the Lord to His own Word with its many assurances of mercy, blessing, help, and assistance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19 This is a mountainous area in the region of…
Seir
This is a mountainous area in the region of Edom. (See: How to Translate Names)
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This is what you will say to my master Esau: This is what your servant Jacob says: 'I have been ... in your eyes.'
This has a quotation within a quotation. The direct quotation can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "'This is what I want you to tell my master Esau. Tell him that I have been ... in his eyes.'" (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)
my master Esau
Jacob is using polite language and refers to his brother as "my master."
your servant Jacob
Jacob is using polite language and refers to himself as "your servant."
that I may find favor in your eyes
The phrase "find favor" is an idiom which means to be approved of by someone. Here "eyes" are a metonym for sight, and sight is a metaphor representing his evaluation. AT: "that you may approve of me" (See: Idiom and Metonymy and Metaphor)
translationWords
Esau
Edom
command
lord
servant
Laban
cow
donkey
flocks
favor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 7, 9, 13 32:3-5 Apparently inspired by the vision of angels (32:1,…
32:3-5 Apparently inspired by the vision of angels (32:1, Hebrew mal’akim), Jacob sent messengers (mal’akim) into Edom to meet Esau.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.