32
1 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Sier, the country of Edom. 4 And he commanded them, saying, “Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. 5 “I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.”‘” 33:8
The journey from Galeed, where Jacob made his covenant with Laban the Syrian, to Mahanaim is approximately 450 miles taken into account all the livestock he had with him, and the terrain, it could have taken him a whole month maybe to get there. these verses do not tell us what was said between the angels and Jacob. All I know, is that after this meeting, Jacob sends messengers to Seir (Which is in Edom). If we look at the Hebrew definition of angels, and messengers in verses one and three, they are the same Strong’s concordance number (H4397), Which is used throughout the bible when speaking of angels of the lord, and or messengers. (Compare Gen 16: 7, 9 10, Judges 6:22, 13:3, 1 Sam 23:27, 29:9, 1 Ki 19:2,), the word angel is one way we see the Strong’s number H4397 used in the bible, however it is not the only way we see it being used in the context of the scriptures. Sometimes it is used to describe messengers, and not necessarily as an angelic form of messenger. In my opinion, it was the angelic form of messengers who Jacob sent in his stead to speak with his brother Esau, and not some of his servants. I draw this conclusion from the website Chabad.org. This is a Jewish website, that has the complete Jewish Bible with commentaries from Rabbi Rashis (A well known and respected Rabbi among the Jewish community). In Rabbi Rashi’s commentary on verse four (In the complete Jewish bible), is where we read that “Jacob sent angels ahead to his brother Esau” Rashi says they are “literally angels” Jacob sends to his brother Esau. Another point to be made here is that in the complete Jewish Bible it says that “Jacob Sent” and not commanded as all other Bible translations read. This makes sense, because Only God can tell his angels what to do, and not do. Jacob has no authority to command God’s angels anything. Angels of God are also known as ministering spirits for man, and in the Hebrew definition listed above you will see that they are also defined as messengers. They are sent to certain men in the bible to help minister to God’s chosen people when they are in dire need (Compare Judges 13: 1-3, Ps 91: 11-12, Matt 4:11). because Jacob sends these angels to his brother, I can only conclude that Esau, and his bitterness towards him, has been weighing heavily on Jacob’s mind. God promised him that He would be with him wherever he goes (Gen 28:15, 31:3), so the Lord has sent these angels to minister and strengthen him in his time of trouble. Now, when these angels come to Esau and give him the message of Jacob his brother, that he is coming back home, I must wonder to myself, “Does Esau know that these are angels of the Lord, ‘and not servants of Jacob?” Just food for thought.
6 Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. 33:1 7 So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds, and camels, into two companies. 8 And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.” 35:3
As I explained in the prior verses, in my opinion, these messengers are angels of God, and not of the flesh (servants of Jacob). Again, we are not told of the conversation between Esau and these angels of the Lord, so we don’t know what was said or wasn’t said, other than what Jacob told these messengers to say to his brother Esau. The only thing these messengers (angels), told Jacob upon returning to him, is that Esau is coming to meet him and brings four hundred men with him. I myself can only come to the conclusion that The Lord is using this occasion to test Jacob and see where his heart is. We must remember; that the angels of the Lord can do nothing without permission from God. God test’s men all the time as a way of molding us and shaping us to become what He desires in us. (Compare Exo 16:4, Jer 18:4-6,). Again, I refer to Rabbi Rashis’s commentary to the Complete Jewish Bible which reads this way:
We came to your brother, to Esau: Concerning whom you said, “He is my brother,” but he still behaves toward you like the wicked Esau. He still has hatred (Genesis Rabbah 75:7).
Since Rabbi Rashis, says that these messenger are “Literally angels,” Then Jacob can’t help but have fear for his life and that of his family. To him this is a message from God, The God that said He would be with him, when he returns to the land of his father. Jacob’s first inclination is to break up his tribe into two companies to ensure that if Esau attacks one of them, the other can escape to safety. Then immediately after Jacob does this, we see in the following verse’s, the change in Jacob’s heart as he humbly goes to God for protection.
9 Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’
There are many gods people worshiped back in Jacob’s time, and even today. If there is any doubt as to who Jacob is praying to, it is made very plain: The God of Abraham and Isaac, The God who told him it was time to leave the land of Haran. This is the same God who also appeared to him when he was heading to Haran some twenty years earlier, and Jacob named that place Luz (Gen 28:13-15)
10 “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which you have shown your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. 24:27
Jacob Starts his prayer with a humbling attitude. This is the new Jacob, not Jacob the supplanter (Deceiver), He acknowledges that he does not deserve the blessing God has given him since he first left for Haran. The Lord has shown Jacob that He is true to His word in all that He told him. God told him twenty years ago of all the things He would do for him, but back then Jacob said “IF” if you will do this and that for me then you will be my God ( Gen 28:20-21). The Lord has been true to His Word, and God is worthy of his praise. Jacob also acknowledges to the Lord that he had nothing but his staff with him when he left the land of his fathers: no possessions, no treasures, just the clothes on his back, and the staff in his hands. But now Jacob returns having much more than when he left, and Jacob is basically saying, “It is you oh Lord who has provided for me all of what I now have, just as you promised you would.’
11 “Deliver me, I pray, from the hands of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come attack me and the mother with the children. Ps 59″1-2 12 “For you said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'” 22:17
“And now I come to you O Lord, asking for your protection from my brother, for me and my family.” Jacob will not try to do trickery, or deception in dealing with his brother, instead he will put his trust in the Lord for protection. In that trust, in verse twelve, Jacob is not calling out God on His promise to him, he has already acknowledged God’s truth, but instead he is thus saying, ” I know your word to be true, ‘You said you would treat me well and you have, “You said you would make my descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude, and I know that you will, ‘I am just coming to you to confirm, that in my heart I know it will be you who will carry the day for me. I can’t say for certainty that this is Jacobs thought in his prayer to the Lord here in verse twelve. What I would like to do, is share to the reader my own thoughts when I go into prayer myself, to show how I am drawing this conclusion. Whenever I go into prayer I know in my heart that the Lord will provide for me all my needs, with this said some would say, and I have thought this myself, “then why pray if you already know God will provide for you?” my answer is simple: When we pray We must acknowledge not only to ourselves, but to God as well, where our blessings truly come from. If we don’t do this then we risk boasting to ourselves and become as fools (Pro 10:21, 121:23, 14:8,24, Judges 7:2, 2 Cor 12:5, Gal 6:14, Eph 2:8-9). This is just one mans interpretation of verse twelve. It is up to each individual to study the scriptures daily, and rely on God’s Spirit to reveal to them His truths.
13 So he lodged there that same night, and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother:
Jacob stays the night in the place I believe to be, what he calls Mahanaim (H4266), the place where the two angels met him upon arriving to the Jabbok river. “He took what came to his hand” speaks of the gifts of God. The present is all the flocks he acquired thru his righteousness, (That God bestowed to him), while serving Laban the Syrian.
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16 Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put some distance between successive droves.”
Jacob had great wealth as we can see by these verse’s. Back in the time of the patriarchs, and beyond, a mans wealth can be measured in the flocks, and herds of animals they have, as well as any silver or gold. We see here that Jacob had what could be considered an abundance of livestock. The way I see it, Jacob has a total of four to five droves in all his livestock, depending on if the ewes and rams were separate): each drove consisting of one animal kind: The Goats, ewes, and rams, the milk camels with their colts, the forty cows and ten bulls, and the twenty females donkeys with the ten foals.
17 And he commanded the first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these in front of you?’ 18 “then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.'” 19 So he commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;
Not only does Jacob try to appease his brother Esau by giving him all that he has, but also by humbly calling himself a servant of Esau. In the blessings giving to them by their father Isaac, it is Esau who was told that he would be the servant of Jacob. By considering himself Esau’s servant, Jacob is basically saying that he comes in peace and not claiming the birthright that has been giving to him by their father (Gen 27:29, 37, 40), again we see the change in Jacob’s heart. no more the deceiver but humbled in his heart. Jacob will give all the livestock he has in order to reconcile with his brother and live in peace. Although not scriptural, I believe Jacob, in recognizing God’s truth, trusts in Him enough now, to know that What God has giving him before, can once again find grace in the Lord for all his needs. By faith Jacob knows that his righteousness will be counted to him by God almighty (Rom 4:9 ESV).
20 “and also say, ‘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.” Prov 21:14 21 So the present went over before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.
The final part of this message that Jacob commands his servants to say to Esau, is one of reconciliation with his brother. Jacobs recognizes that he did his brother wrong in stealing his birthright, and admits such to him. verse twenty Jacobs says that he hopes Esau will accept him, I believe another way of putting this, is that Jacob is asking for forgiveness from his brother. Everything we see Jacob doing here is a reflection of his new character, his new man (if you will), it is a reflection of God’s spirit working inside him, changing him from the inside out, and creating in him this new person. “No more shall you be called Jacob” ( H3290), (Gen 32:28).
22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had.
I believe Jacob wants to be alone so that he can pray to God earnestly, without distractions. (Ps 5:1-8), in prayer we find refuge from our fears and our enemies, in prayer, we find peace within ourselves, and in prayer we find God: when we seek him out we will find Him (Jer 29:11-13).
24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. vv. 31-32 26 And He said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob” 25:26 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
I have been thinking about these verses for some time now, not just since I first started this chapter but maybe a month before-hand. There was something I either heard, or read about, I don’t remember now, in regards to Jacob wrestling with God, and it hit a nerve with me. So I have been thinking of how to best express the way I feel these verses can be interpreted. I know it is not the only way to interpret this encounter Jacob has with the Lord. I don’t think I have some kind of special knowledge than anybody else when it comes to understanding God’s word, I just feel that this is the way God’s spirit is leading me, at this juncture in my spiritual growth to His truths. I know that I can come back a year from now and read these same verses and get a completely different meaning of these scriptures, but for now I feel I must go as the Spirit leads me. Most commentary’s I have read believe this to be a physical wrestling match Jacob is having with God, and I believe that to be true, because in verse twenty five we read; “He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.” What I also see though has to do with Israel “The man,’ and Israel “The nation.” All men and women, at some point in their lives, wrestle with God over many different issues, be it with our family, our marriages, our finances, or our walk with God. This is how I see Jacob, “The man” wrestling with God. He has been through a lot these past twenty years, from having to leave the land of his fathers out of fear for his life, from his own brother Esau, to being deceived at every turn from his father in law (Laban the Syrian). Even his wives have treated him as property, and not a husband. Even Rachel (The love of his life), trading him to her sister like a sex slave for a mere handful of mandrakes, OUCH!! all the while, maybe thinking to himself, “You sent me here oh Lord?” The only positive thing he has to show during his stay in the land of Haran, that has any meaning to what God promised him is his children (Gen 28:13-15). Here he is, some twenty years later, fearing for his life and that of his family. So Jacob sends his family across the ford of Jabbok without him, for the day of reckoning has come, between him and His God. We don’t know what was said in Jacob’s prayer, but I believe it could have gone something like this: “Oh Lord, God of my fathers, I have been through so much these past twenty years, how much more do you require of me? ‘in my righteousness I have been found worthy of your blessings while I was away from the land of my fathers. ‘You told me it was time to come back from which I was born, back to my kindred, and you would be with me. “Yet your messengers came back from my brother Esau saying, ‘he comes with four hundred men with wickedness and hatred in his heart. “I am fearful for my life and that of my family, where is your blessings oh Lord? how can I obtain these promises if I and my family are dead?” I need reassurance Father, and I will not leave this place until you bless me, so that I may have confidence in what lay ahead of me tomorrow. This is also part of the wrestling I see going on between Jacob and God. Of course there would have to be more to Jacob’s pleas with God, because we are told he wrestled with God all night. And God, just as he did with Job would give His response. I am not even going to pretend what God may have said in His replies to Jacob, for His ways are much higher than mine and his thoughts much deeper (Isa 55:8-9). In the end Jacob prevails but not without a price. God breaks the hip socket of Jacob’s and he will walk with a limp for the rest of his life. the hip socket, or as some translation say, his thigh (H3409) This can also be considered the loin of the man; the place where his sword would be worn. To me I see this as a symbolism of Jacob’s pride, in breaking his hip, He broke his pride, and with it the sword of his pride. Jacob will no more have to war with God, and therefore he has no more the need of the sword of armor. The last thing God does is give Jacob a new name. “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob (H3290) but Israel (H3478) “For you have struggled with God , and with men and have prevailed.” Just as Jacob wrestled with God so to has Israel “The nation” as a whole. For the most part, throughout their existence, the Nation of Israel has had this wrestling match going on with God (Compare Isa 49:14, Jer 2:20-35), but not just that, they have wrestled with many other nations, and still do to this day. Israel “The nation” Through the prophets Isiah and Jeremiah, God describe them as His bride, His wife, and He had to give them a decree of divorce because of their transgressions against Him (compare Isa 50:1, Jer 3:6-9). In the end however Israel “The nation” Like Israel “The man” will prevail with God (Compare Isa 62:2-4, 10-12, Jer 16: 14-15, 33:7-9).
29 Then Jacob asked saying, “Tell me your name, I pray.” And He said,
“Why is it that you ask about my name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name Penial: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank. v.25
Peniel (H6439) As we know, no one has seen God at any time (Compare Exo 33:20-23, John 1:18, John 6:46), with this in mind we can surmise that Who Jacob saw was God in the flesh, who we know as Jesus the Christ. Jacob named the place Penial, or Penuel as some render the name. The Strong’s concordance defines Peniel as “Facing God,” and the BDB definition is “Face of God.” Jesus Himself said that if you have seen, me then you have seen the Father (John 14:9). Jacob also says in his statement, That he has seen God face to face and his life is preserved. As I stated in my earlier comments on Jacob wrestling with God; Jacob goes to God in prayer asking for protection from Esau. Also as I said earlier, I was giving an example of how Jacob might have been wrestling with God and the type of prayer he might have gone to the Lord about. I just thought it necessary to re-emphasize that this is just my opinion on the matter and it is not based on scripture. After wrestling with God all night, the Lord blesses Jacob, and this is when Jacob states that his life has been preserved. Again, we don’t know what kind of blessing God gave to Jacob, we only know that afterwards Jacob says his life has been preserved. In my humble opinion the blessing could have to do with God re-assuring Jacob that He will protect him from his brother Esau, and for him not to be afraid, but to go humbly to his brother and ask for forgiveness. This is all conjecture, and is open to debate if anyone cares to comment on my interpretation of these verses. Jacob ask The Lord His name, and God replies: “Why is it that you ask about my name?” He never gives Jacob an answer as to His name. Ever since I first started my work I have always found it interesting in learning the meanings of the names of the bible. Anyone who has read my work will see that I always show the meanings of the names in scriptures. Names are very important in the bible; They reflect the character of the person, or in some instances the name of the person will reveal their significance in God’s story to us. When we read prophecies we can determine the location of the names God gives, when He cast His judgment on certain nations. There are many instances where we see that it is God Himself who gives the name to certain people. I myself, for some years now, in my prayers, sometimes call God “The Great I Am, as He told Moses to tell the people of Israel, when Moses asked God who he should tell the people what His name is who sent him (Exo 3:14),To me, in a sense by calling Him I Am, this sums up God as a whole, just as John said God is love. Love sums up God’s character, (Compare 1 John 4:8), for out of Love comes truth, kindness, compassion, mercy, grace, peace, and joy, fill in the rest yourself. For love has no part in hate, envy, covetousness, greed, wickedness, and evil. So when God told Moses I Am That I Am, just fill in the blank like we do with love: I am the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 1:8, 11, 21:6, 22:13), I am YHWH Yireh- the Lord will provide (compare Gen 22:13-14, and Matt 6:30-33), I am the Almighty God (Gen 17:1-5), I am the Most High God (Compare Gen 14:18-20, Ps 9:1-2), I am the Everlasting (Compare Gen 21:33, Ps 90:1-4). I could go on and on, like I said: fill in the blank; The Almighty who was, and is, and is to come (Rev 4:8). In the time of the patriarchs He is only known as God Almighty (Exo 6:3), So this is what Jacob would come to know Him as. The Lord God almighty goes by many names, and rightfully so, for He is all things to us. God’s name means so much to me, that I don’t feel I even touched the surface on His name and what it represents. I hope and pray that I did Him justice in what I wrote here, and shed a little light into who the Great I Am is, and His name.