32:1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.1
3 And Jacob sent2 messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him3 with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”421 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,5 and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,6 for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,7 saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Jacob Meets Esau
33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company8 that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 11 Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of9 you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.10
18 And Jacob came safely11 to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money12 the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.13
Footnotes
[1]32:2Mahanaim means two camps [2]32:3Or had sent [3]32:20Hebrew appease his face [4]32:20Hebrew he will lift my face [5]32:22Or sons [6]32:28Israel means He strives with God, or God strives [7]32:30Peniel means the face of God [8]33:8Hebrew camp [9]33:12Or along with [10]33:17Succoth means booths [11]33:18Or peacefully [12]33:19Hebrew a hundred qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value [13]33:20El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God1 at Bethel, and there God spoke with us— 5 the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name: 6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”
32:1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.1
3 And Jacob sent2 messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him3 with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”421 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,5 and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,6 for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,7 saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Jacob Meets Esau
33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company8 that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 11 Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of9 you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.10
18 And Jacob came safely11 to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money12 the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.13
Footnotes
[1]32:2Mahanaim means two camps [2]32:3Or had sent [3]32:20Hebrew appease his face [4]32:20Hebrew he will lift my face [5]32:22Or sons [6]32:28Israel means He strives with God, or God strives [7]32:30Peniel means the face of God [8]33:8Hebrew camp [9]33:12Or along with [10]33:17Succoth means booths [11]33:18Or peacefully [12]33:19Hebrew a hundred qesitah; a unit of money of unknown value [13]33:20El-Elohe-Israel means God, the God of Israel
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God1 at Bethel, and there God spoke with us— 5 the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name: 6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
So we are continuing our study in the book of Genesis this afternoon. We'll be in Genesis 32 and 33. We will, be looking at a scene from the life of Jacob, where he's going to encounter God in a in a new and unusual way. But to begin our time, the prophet Hosea, centuries later wrote of Jacob's journey in this wild encounter with God. He wrote of it, in Hosea chapter 12 verses 3 through 6, which is in your worship guide.
Jeffrey Heine:
And we will begin with those words of Hosea the prophet, and then move into Genesis 32 and 33. So look with me at Hosea chapter 12 and let us listen carefully for this is God's word. The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb, he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood, he strove with God.
Jeffrey Heine:
He strove with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us. The Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name. So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.
Jeffrey Heine:
This is the word of the Lord.
Caleb Chancey:
Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:
Let's pray. Oh Lord, you alone are God. And we come to You in all humility and all confidence because of Jesus. Help us, Spirit, to behold this afternoon the greatness and graciousness of our God. Help us to see and to know the brokenness of the fall and the joy of our salvation in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:
Meet with us in your word, O Lord, and change us. Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening. We pray these things in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Jacob had worked for his uncle Laban for 7 years to marry Rachel, and then he was tricked into marrying her older sister Leah.
Jeffrey Heine:
So he worked 7 more years so he could actually marry Rachel, and then worked 6 more years for his uncle to acquire a flock of livestock, donkeys, camels, cows, goats. It's been 20 years since he ran away from home after tricking his father, Isaac, and stealing his older brother Esau's blessing. 20 years since he last saw his family. Jacob ran because he found out that his brother Esau was plotting to kill him, which is a pretty good reason to skip town. But after 20 years, God speaks with Jacob and tells him it's time to go home.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's a crazy story, but who hasn't tricked their father into blessing them and run away from their murderous brother to go work at their uncle's farm for so they could marry both of their cousins. It's a tale as old as time. It's a bizarre story, but the main variables of the story are honestly not that unfamiliar. Anger, jealousy, family conflict, deceit, these are things that we know. We know what it's like to run away, and we know what it's like to hide.
Jeffrey Heine:
And many of us know what it's like to be brought low, to see our sins for what they are. We know what it's like to wrestle with God, to argue with him, to be confused and angry, to strive with God, to struggle. And where we pick up the story of Jacob today, he has fled Laban's land and subsequently made peace with his uncle, but now he must face his past. He must face his brother, whom he has severely wronged. He must contend with his sin and seek repentance.
Jeffrey Heine:
There isn't an alternate route. There's no escaping it. Have you ever been on a road trip and looked at the weather radar, and realized that although the skies are clear now, you're driving into a storm? If you're like me, you immediately become an amateur meteorologist, and you try to calculate the speed of the storm and the speed of your car, and figure out how you can miss the worst of it. Well, Jacob is driving his caravan of his wives and children, servants and livestock straight into the storm of his brother's vengeance.
Jeffrey Heine:
He's driving all he has, all his inheritance, all his possessions from 20 years of working for Laban. In short, he's driving all of his blessings into the hurricane of Esau's revenge. And Jacob is terrified. Look with me at Genesis chapter 32 verse 3. Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of Seir, in the country of Edom, Instructing them, thus you shall say to my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.
Jeffrey Heine:
I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. I've sent to tell my lord in order that I might find favor in your sight. Jacob sends these messengers ahead of his caravan for, I think, three main reasons. 1st, it's to notify Esau early on that Jacob sees him as his lord and that Jacob sees himself as Esau's servant. That's an attempt to diffuse this overwhelming tension that has built over 20 years.
Jeffrey Heine:
2nd, the messengers are able to communicate to Esau that Jacob is coming with great wealth, an abundance of servants and livestock. Now that's not to gloat. It's likely that he's communicating that he's not coming to ask for anything. That if Esau needed any servants or livestock, Jacob has many. And finally, Jacob sends messengers to get a sense of Esau.
Jeffrey Heine:
Is he still angry? Is he still intent on murder? How does he seem? In verse 6, the messengers return. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you.
Jeffrey Heine:
And there are 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. The messengers return with terrifying news. Esau is coming to you, and he's bringing 400 men with him. Jacob jumps into action.
Jeffrey Heine:
He divides the caravan, this large company of people, into 2 camps, thinking if Esau comes and attacks 1 camp, the other camp will be able to escape. It's not a bad idea, but it's a last ditch effort to salvage whatever he can, because Esau is coming. I went to college in a small rural farming community in Murray, Kentucky, and my first apartment there was a small 2 room unit. I'm pretty sure it was constructed out of tissue paper and balsa wood. It was not great.
Jeffrey Heine:
You could you could hear the person on the other side of the wall brushing their teeth. It was unbelievable. The the student who lived above me, I was on the 1st floor, he was on the 2nd. Now the student who lived above me was a Murray state basketball player, and he was enormous. Every afternoon, I would hear him come home, stomp up the stairs, open his door, sit down and take off his understandably enormous shoes.
Jeffrey Heine:
I would experience the original context of the old saying, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The saying came from listening to the tenant of the apartment above you remove their boots after a long day of work. Because you'd hear the first thud of the boot hitting the floor, and then you'd wait because the second thud was coming. It was inevitable, unavoidable. You'd just wait for the other shoe to drop.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jacob knows that it's time for the other shoe to drop. It's time for Esau's revenge. Have you ever been in that place? Have you ever been in that place where you see your wrong so clearly? No more illusions, no more self deception, Knowing you've sinned, knowing that you've hurt someone, and that now the other shoe has to drop.
Jeffrey Heine:
Now the consequences must come. That's where Jacob is. Just scrambling in the wilderness, trying to save whatever he can, waiting for the inevitable attack. Esau is coming. For the first time in the story of Genesis, we have a record of Jacob calling out to the Lord in prayer.
Jeffrey Heine:
In verse 9. Look with me. And Jacob said, oh, God of my father, Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, oh, Lord, who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. I'm not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff, I crossed this Jordan, and now I've become 2 camps.
Jeffrey Heine:
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. I'd like for us to take a few moments to look at both the content and the construction of Jacob's prayer, Because it's in times like these, these raw and unfiltered times, we find out what someone really believes. Jacob begins by addressing the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac. He begins by rooting himself in the history of God's covenant faithfulness to his father and his grandfather before him.
Jeffrey Heine:
In prayer and in worship, it is critical to know who we are talking to, because otherwise, we might as well be whispering into the wind. That might seem obvious to you. But how often do you just start singing or praying, giving little thought regarding who you're talking to or singing to? In the spring of 2004, at a press conference in North Carolina, Then president Bush was taking questions from reporters. Journalists from the AP led off with a question saying, sir, in regards to the June deadline, president Bush stopped him.
Jeffrey Heine:
And he very pointedly asked the reporter, who are you talking to? The reporter, apologetic, starts his question again. Mister president, in regards to the June deadline, sometimes I wonder if God is listening to my prayers or my worship and wondering, who is he talking to? Is is this supposed to be directed at me? Is he going through these motions and expecting it to somehow be for me like he's doing me a favor?
Jeffrey Heine:
Jacob begins his prayer knowing exactly who he's talking to. The God of my grandfather, Abraham. God of my father, Isaac. And then he appeals to the basis of his coming to the Lord saying, You said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. You said to make my way here to this place, and you said you were going to do good for me, but this doesn't look good.
Jeffrey Heine:
This looks like the end. You told me to come here to bring all that I have here, and that's why I am here, like a sitting duck for my brother Esau who hates me. You told me to go home, and now here I am. And you promised me good. And then Jacob moves from the basis of that prayer and the promises of God to his confession.
Jeffrey Heine:
You see, because of the promises of God, Jacob feels like he can confess. You see, it we cannot honestly confess our weaknesses and our neediness unless we know that it's safe to confess them. We will not own our brokenness until we believe that it's safe to confess these things. And Jacob finds security in the promises of god, and he leans in with that confidence that he gains from god's promises and confesses his brokenness, saying, I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown me. He's saying, I don't deserve any of these blessings.
Jeffrey Heine:
I'm not worthy of any of your steadfast love, any of the good that you have done for me over these years. And he says this. He says this place, this water, I crossed through here 20 years ago with just a staff in my hand, and here I am back with 2 camps worth of people and possessions and livestock. I don't deserve any of this good. I know I don't deserve it.
Jeffrey Heine:
He confesses these things. He confesses that he's not worthy of God's promises, but he's going to claim those promises anyway. His right to the promises of God, his right is simply that God said them. Not that he deserves them, it's that God said them to him. Jacob knows that he's not worthy of God's promises, but God made these promises.
Jeffrey Heine:
I know I don't deserve any good, but you promised me your good. So I'm gonna hold on to your words, and I'm not gonna let go. Jacob then moves to his petition, his request. He says, please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers, the children. His petition is deliver me, lord.
Jeffrey Heine:
Deliver my family and my people. I'm afraid of Esau, and he is coming now with 4 100 men to attack us. Lord, please deliver us. And what Jacob says next shows just how deeply Jacob has been transformed by the Lord as Jacob has grown in knowing and trusting God. After Jacob acknowledges his fear of Esau, his desperate need, he returns to the promises of God.
Jeffrey Heine:
After confessing his unworthiness, after admitting his fear, he again appeals to what God has said. He goes back to the words of God. But you said but you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. This reminds me of back when his grandfather was about to sacrifice Jacob's father, Isaac. And he is holding on to the promise that there would be this offspring.
Jeffrey Heine:
And now Jacob is saying, Esau's gonna come and attack my family, but you said that my family would have to live on, that they would multiply and be as numerous as the sand of the seas. And so he is seeing all of this in front of him, and he's holding fast to the promises of God. He holds fast to what God has revealed. The word of God will be enough for Jacob. He says, I am bombarded with all that I see in front of me, all that I experience, all that I feel, and then there's what you've said.
Jeffrey Heine:
And I'm choosing with all the faith that I can find. I'm choosing to trust in your words. That is the prayer of Jacob. He is assailed by his own brokenness, by the consequences of his sin, by the circumstances of fear and peril. And in the middle of all of that chaos, he grabs a hold of God's promises, and he refuses to let go.
Jeffrey Heine:
Since getting the news back from the messengers, David has divided his camp. He's desperately called out to the Lord in prayer. And now he continues to prepare for the attack. In verse 16, we see that that night, that same night, Jacob takes 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milking camels and their calves, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. All of that he's sending as a gift to his brother Esau.
Jeffrey Heine:
He breaks them up into small groups. He gives servants to each group to lead them, and he says this. When Esau, my brother, meets you and asks, to whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?
Jeffrey Heine:
Say to Esau, all of this belongs to your servant Jacob, and they are a present sent by my lord to Esau. And then tell him that I'm coming behind you. He instructed each group to do this and say, your servant, Jacob, is behind us. Jacob thought that I may appease him with this present that goes ahead of me. And afterwards, I will see His face.
Jeffrey Heine:
Perhaps He will accept me. At best, He is humbling Himself before His brother and offering a gift. And at worst, He's once again trying to buy His brother off like He did with the birthright. But the present goes on ahead of Him. That same night, He takes Rachel and Leah and their female servants and His 11 children.
Jeffrey Heine:
And He sends them across the ford of the Jabbok River. He took them and sent them across the stream, along with everything else that he had. Jacob, with nothing left, is all alone. All of his blessings, all the blessings that he had stolen from his brother, all that he had worked for for 20 years in Laban's field, it was now on the other side of the river. And Jacob, the cheater, the deceiver, the sinner, was left alone in the night, and he was terribly afraid.
Jeffrey Heine:
And then, under the cover of darkness, the attack comes. But it's not Esau. Verse 24 says, a man wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of the day. As we read earlier in the prophet Hosea, he speaks of this wrestling saying, in the womb, Jacob took his brother by the heel. And in his manhood, he strove with God.
Jeffrey Heine:
You see, it wasn't Esau that confronted Jacob in the night. It was God. It was well past evening and those late hours that dissolve into early morning when Jacob and God contend with one another in the darkness. And perhaps most surprising of all, Jacob appears to be winning the fight. It says that the man was not prevailing against Jacob.
Jeffrey Heine:
How could that be? And what does it mean? I think that it means that in God's grace and kindness, he makes himself accessible to us. He condescends to us from the incomprehensible, the ineffable, to be wrestled, to be revealed, to be known. And there in the night, wrestling by the Jabbok River, we see the strength of God greatly restrained.
Jeffrey Heine:
Restrained because as they're wrestling with just one touch, Jacob's hip goes out of socket. It's a severe wounding. An injury usually associated in our day with a massive hit from 2 enormous football players, driving the quarterback's knee into the ground, and 100 of pounds of pressure pushing and tearing the hip out of socket. Here, in the darkest of night, next to the Jabbok River, God touches the hip of Jacob, putting in the hip out of socket and marking him with a limp for the rest of his life. Jacob weeps in pain and struggle, but he still will not let go.
Jeffrey Heine:
God says to Jacob, let me go. For the day has broken. And through his tears, Jacob says, I will not let you go unless you bless me. For once again, Jacob contends for a blessing. It seems like he's come to know who it is that he's wrestling.
Jeffrey Heine:
He's striving with God himself. God asks Jacob, what is your name? I think God knows his name. God isn't looking for information here. He's soliciting a confession.
Jeffrey Heine:
That's usually the purpose of the questions that God asks us. He's asking for us to know the answer, for us to admit what is true. He asks Jacob to confess, who are you? And Jacob says, I'm Jacob. Remember the name Jacob means he cheats.
Jeffrey Heine:
It might as well be sinner. God replies, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. God responds, why is it that you ask my name? As if to say, you know who I am.
Jeffrey Heine:
God blessed him. The wrestling ends. And just like that, as mysteriously as he arrived, he was gone. Israel called the name of the place Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rises upon Israel, and he begins to limp to meet his enemy, his brother.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and he saw his brother Esau coming with 4 100 men with him. And like he did with dividing the camps, Jacob divides his children among Leah and Rachel, and their 2 female servants. He puts the servants with the children in the front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. And He Himself goes on before all of them. And Jacob limped along the road, bowing himself to the ground 7 times until he came near his brother.
Jeffrey Heine:
The last time he lifts himself up off the ground, his hip burning in pain, his heart aching in fear and sorrow. He gets to his feet, and he sees his brother running at him. Esau runs to Jacob, but not to attack him. He runs to embrace him. Esau embraces Jacob, and he falls on his neck.
Jeffrey Heine:
Esau kisses his brother Jacob, and together, they weep. Jacob called out to God in prayer. He clung to the promises of God, what God had said to him, and he refused to let go of the words of God. Jacob strove with God. He clung to God to receive his blessing, and he limped to his enemy in true humility and repentance, and he wept in the forgiving arms of his brother.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jacob named this place of his restoration, El Elohi Israel, which means God, the God of Israel. Think back to how he began his prayer. Oh, God of my father, Abraham. Oh, God of my father, Isaac. And here, he refers to God as the God of Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:
The story of Jacob is messy. Relationally, ethically, spiritually, it's all a mess. But that's how it is with every sinner. Every sinner is a Jacob, and every Jacob is a broken mess. But God does not leave us in the mess alone.
Jeffrey Heine:
He enters in. He shows up in the middle of the night, and He brings His wild goodness, which might be painful. So painful, it might cause a limp for the rest of your life. But it is His goodness. Because God's goodness is not sterilized or domesticated.
Jeffrey Heine:
It isn't always pretty. Encountering God is messy. But how do we encounter God? How do we meet with him like Jacob did? The theologian, Karl Barth, posed that question, and his response was simple.
Jeffrey Heine:
We pray. Prayer isn't always pretty. It isn't always put together and proper. Sometimes it looks like wrestling in the dark. And in prayer, we cling to what God has said in his word, and we refuse to let go.
Jeffrey Heine:
Prayer is meeting with God in the wild and knowing that He is working good in your life, even if you can't see it or it doesn't look good. And our prayers might look more like wrestling than a hug. When I picture Jacob watching his family cross the jebach in the middle of the night and being left alone, I can't help but think of Gethsemane and Jesus alone in the night wrestling with the Father. On the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas. On the night of the Passover meal, Jesus went off to pray alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jeffrey Heine:
Matthew's gospel tells us that Jesus walked off by Himself, and He fell on His face and He prayed, saying, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. God, the son, and God, the father meet in the place of prayer. The will of the son desires that the cup of wrath would pass, but He desires the Father's will more than His own. Prayer is a place for wrestling with God.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's where we cling to His promises and can expect His faithfulness. It is the place where we make known our will, it's Prayer is where we remember that God is at work, doing things we don't always recognize or understand. And faith, this life of being a disciple, a follower of Jesus, is more about what God is doing than what we are doing. Jacob wrestles with God. God condescends to meet Jacob on His level.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jacob is brought low, but he doesn't give up. No emotion, no anger, no confusion, no fear, no doubt, no questions are too great or too overpowering for God. It was out of God's grace that he met with Jacob and contended with him. He brought Jacob to the place of genuine humility and changed his name from cheater, swindler, sinner, to the one who struggles with God. God is the one who is perfect and faithful.
Jeffrey Heine:
Jacob is Israel. He's the one who struggles with God. It's only after watching all of his blessings of family and possessions cross the river without him, after struggling with God, that Jacob is prepared to meet the most severe enemy of his life, his brother whom he had wronged. His humility is real, and his repentance is true. They've been tested and refined through his struggling with the Lord, and that is good.
Jeffrey Heine:
Struggle is normative in the life of the Christian. You know this. But struggle does not have to take us farther away from God. Rather, it can be the place where we meet with God most fully, most honestly, where we can confess our brokenness, our needs, our confusion, and draw near to him. Part of the beauty of the church is that we get to watch this happen together in one another's lives.
Jeffrey Heine:
I have seen many of you draw near to God in seasons of deep struggle after a diagnosis, after another delay in your years long adoption process, after losing parents, after losing children, in deep pain and struggle, I've seen you wrestle with God and hold fast to his promises in the face of your pain. That is the Christian life, the life of humility and repentance. And you can't sell that in a Christian book store, and you can't learn it in a 3 day conference. Resilient saints are only born in the place of struggle. God could have told Jacob that his brother would forgive him.
Jeffrey Heine:
He could have told him that he didn't need to separate his camps and that he could just calm down. God could have comforted him, but he didn't. He attacked him when he was at his lowest point, and he brought him lower. But why? Didn't God promise he would do good for Jacob?
Jeffrey Heine:
Exactly. The wrestling, the struggle, being brought low and humbled, that is the good that God promised. The story of God wrestling Jacob by the Jabbok River is wild and unusual, But the idea of struggling with God is not unfamiliar to us. We all struggle and strive with God at some points in our lives. Humility and repentance, that's what the struggling with God produces.
Jeffrey Heine:
It's the means by which we are refined by the Holy Spirit, recreated to look more and more like our savior. God did not confront Jacob to condemn him. He confronted Jacob to transform him. So are you in a season of wrestling with God? Are you contending, struggling with God?
Jeffrey Heine:
What about? What is it that God is doing in you right here and now today? How is he confronting you? How are you struggling with him? And how is he, in his grace and mercy, refining you?
Jeffrey Heine:
Hear these words from the writer of the letter to the Hebrews. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Jacob held fast to God. He said, you promised you would be here with me, and God who promised Jacob is faithful. We too can hold fast to God and to the confession of our hope in Christ because like Jacob, we can refuse to let go.
Jeffrey Heine:
God is faithful to His promises. We can cling to His words and not be ashamed. So let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let's pray. Jesus, we are comforted in this moment knowing that you pray for us.
Jeffrey Heine:
You intercede. By your spirit, you take these mumblings and groanings, and you present them to the father as prayers for us. And I pray that in this moment, you would give each of us here a renewed sense of joy for our salvation, A renewed sense of hope that you are with us in the wrestling. That you are with us in the struggle, and you are working good even if we can't see it. Help us to encourage one another in this place as brothers and sisters to point to you, that we might trust you, and obey you, and love you.
Jeffrey Heine:
We pray these things in the name of Christ, our King. Amen.