Genesis 32

Genesis 32

Esau is somewhat lost in the story while Jacob is away with Laban. Since he was not chosen to carry on Abraham’s blessing, he is somewhat forgotten. But after Jacob’s time with Laban, he discovers that he will soon encounter his brother once more, and he is afraid. Jacob has a right to be afraid after all he had done to Esau in the past. It is at that moment that he remembers how he had stolen the birth right and the blessing away from Esau. Esau has every right to be mad at Jacob and to hold a grudge against him. So Jacob begins taking measures to protect his family. He divides his family and servants into two groups so that at least some of them will be spared shall Esau attack. He also sends a messenger ahead of him, telling Esau that he is his servant, hoping to mend the broken relationship.

What is interesting however is that it appears as if he comes to God last. He has already prepared for his encounter with Esau in every way he knows how, and then He turns to God for help (almost like insurance in case his plans fall through). But why harp on Jacob when this is exactly how we (or least I) do it all the time. We try to come up with the best plan that we can develop in our own minds, and if all else fails, we turn to God. How different would it be if we turned to Him first, and went from there? Thankfully, God does help us through our situations at times, even when we turn to Him last. For Jacob, He had already promised a great future and was not going to let His plans fall through. But we can learn a great deal from Jacob about where to turn when faced with adversity, and it should never be ourselves.

So that night he sends his servants ahead of him, hanging out in the back to be the last to meet with Esau. In some ways this seems almost like bribery. He is sending presents and gifts ahead of him to appease Esau (to help lessen Esau’s anger towards Jacob). Each group that would meet Esau was then instructed to say that Jacob was on his way as well. Jacob’s hopes were that Esau would forget all that had happened in their past and start over. But it would not be easy for Esau to do that. He had been wronged so many times, Esau could have rejected every gift, seen it all as an act, and taken his anger out on Jacob. But Jacob was trusting that God would take care of Him. Jacob believed that God would use his actions for His purposes and protect Jacob in his upcoming encounter with Esau. This passage does show that Jacob was putting a lot of faith in God’s promises to him

The end of Genesis 32 is the story of Jacob wrestling with God. This is a very confusing passage, and the idea of Jacob seeing God face-to-face can be controversial. Was it an angel or was it really God? That question is debated all across the board. But beyond the theological controversies of this passage, I think it shows a development in Jacob’s spiritual life. Why would a person wrestle with someone else? The answer is that they are struggling over some idea, or fighting over something that both parties want. In this case, Jacob was struggling with how much he could trust God. All throughout his life we have seen him go back and forth. At times it seems as if he is growing in God and trusting Him more and more. At other times it seems as if he is trying to depend on his own strength and not even thinking about how God could help him. The thing is that we do this very thing, forgetting that the God who helped us in past situations could help us now as well if we would just turn to Him. Maybe the discussion here should not be over who this person might have been but over how this is a picture of our spiritual lives, of our relationship with the Lord. For it is in this passage that Jacob’s name is changed to Israel, and as we will later see, Israel struggled with this very thing. They turned form God countless times, forgetting what He had previously done for Him. What a fitting time for Jacob to have his name changed.

Matt