Book of Genesis Chapter 32 Commentary by Pastor
Ron Beckham
Audio Bible Study - Genesis 32:1-15
Verses 1-2. "Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. Jacob said when he saw them, 'This is God’s camp.' So he named that place Mahanaim."
Jacob was no stranger to what we call "angels," a race of beings that preceded the onset of humanity. His father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham, had both seen and interracted with them on a number of occasions, and Jacob had met them often enough to be relatively unafraid when they appeared. Ordinarily, angels are not seen because we are usually blind to such beings, though they minister to us constantly (Hebrews 1:14). However, God at His discretion will reveal them to us, and as it says in Hebrews 13:2 - "some (perhaps many of us) have unwittingly entertained (them)."
But Jacob did see angels at the moment of this verse and he knew precisely what they were. They "met him" face-to-face. We will see in the next few verses that he had very little time to rejoice that he and his family had survived the encounter with Laban, as seen in the preceding chapter, because his mind was on the next problem, which was an impending encounter with his brother, Esau. It had been many years, but Jacob knew enough about his twin brother to remember that the man was very angry at him, and he also knew that Esau did not get over a grudge easily. "Mahanaim" means "two camps," by the way. The place where he was at the moment was not only an encampment for his caravan, but he knew that the angels of God were encamped in that place with him.
Verses 3-5. "Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He also commanded them saying, 'Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'"
There was a part of Jacob that was becoming more bold. There was still a timid side to him, seen when he ran away from his brother, Esau, decades before, and more recently when he ran once again; this time from his father-in-law, Uncle Laban. But now he would face his twin brother once more, and this time he would not run, though we will see in the next verse that he was afraid. It is true, by the way, that bravery is not found in a lack of fear, though some have less fear than others, but true bravery is doing what we must do, even though we are afraid.
And so Jacob continued moving his large caravan westward toward the land of Canaan for multiple reasons. One of them was that he had no place to go back to. The door to Haran, the place of his Uncle Laban, was now closed to him. The two had become enemies. Second, he was homesick. He truly missed his parents and the land of his birth. And third, God was with him and had told him to return. If he wanted to continue to have God's blessing(s) on his life, this trip was absolutely necessary.
Verses 6-8. "The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, 'We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.' Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; for he said, 'If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.'”
Jacob had continued to be somewhat concerned that the end of his journey westward would include an encounter with his brother, Esau. He was not pleased about that possibility because Esau hated him, as seen at the end of Chapter 27, the point in his past when he had fled Canaan in order to avoid a violent death. There always was the possibility that his brother was dead or had moved away to some other location, but not anymore. Esau was very much alive, he now knew that Jacob was returning, and he was on his way to meet his brother, Jacob, with "four hundred men," and no doubt all of them were armed to the teeth.
Jacob was terrified. As it is with so many, God may have called us in some manner, we may have faith to the extent of KNOWING He is with us, and yet the reality of some physical threat can throw us into terror. Once again though, in spite of his fear, Jacob was now acting in an intelligent, capable manner. He divided his large company of people and animals into two groups, likely splitting up his wives and children as well. His reasoning was good - Esau had no idea how large this caravan was, and he might attack one group only, not realizing that a second one existed.
Verses 9-12. "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 relatives, and I will prosper you,’ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”
Jacob had done what he could in protecting his family, himself, his people and his possessions from harm, and now he performed the most intelligent act of all. He prayed. God had clearly been with his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac, and so he prayed to the God of those men. He reminded the Lord that he was returning to Canaan because God had directed him to do so. He recognized that, like the rest of us, he was unworthy of all the "lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness" of God toward him. None of us deserve the grace of God and so we should "pray without ceasing" and "in everything give thanks," as Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.
Everyone is afraid sometimes, even though the Lord calls out to us in places like Isaiah 35:34, "Be strong, do not fear." To his credit, Jacob did what we all should do; he called out to the Lord and confessed his fear. We know from this verse that Jacob's caravan was now crossing the Jordan River in two large groups, and he was remembering that when he forded that river decades before, he crossed with only himself and his shepherd's staff. He continued to confess his fear to the Lord, expressing his concern that Esau would kill him, his wives and his children, and in that context he reminded the Lord that he was to have many descendants - if he and his children were killed, God's promise would fulfilled.
Verses 13-15. "So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys."
At last we are beginning to see something of the extent of God's physical blessing upon the life of this man, Jacob. The Lord had taken hundreds of animals, possibly thousands of them from his Uncle Laban's herds and had delivered legal ownership of them to Jacob. This relatively younger man now had dozens, possibly hundreds of male and female servants and Jacob was no longer a simple worker; he was the effective manager of a truly impressive array of people, tents and animals.
Do you wish you were like him? If you could, would you become someone who prospered in all circumstances? If you are such a person, you likely have discovered that not only does prosperity bring certain good feelings to your life, but there are negative side-effects as well. One of them is that others will envy your success. You will find that you have enemies. Perhaps you would have had them anyway, but there will likely be more of them if you are rich than if you are poor.
Father, help us to be intelligent in what we do, but even more, help us to be men and women of prayer who reach out to You in all situations. Give us Your wisdom that we might make the right decisions, and fill us with Your Spirit, that we may be true sons and daughters of God. In Jesus Name. Help us. Amen.
Audio Bible Study - Genesis 32:16-32
Verses 16-20. "He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, 'Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.' He commanded the one in front, saying, 'When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, 'After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;' and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ For he said, 'I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”
We saw in Genesis 31:22-23 that Jacob's uncle and father-in-law, Laban, followed him in a forced-march and came against him with "his kinsmen," an armed group of men. Now, here in Verse 6 of this chapter, a very short time after they made a sort of peace and Laban returned to Haran, Jacob has received the frightening news that his twin brother, Esau, was aimed right at him with a force of "four hundred" undoubtedly well-armed fighting men. That's the way it was in those days. This is essentially about a family of shepherds, but in order to protect their herds of animals, families and supplies, all the young men had to learn the use of weapons and master the art of warfare in order for the community to survive. Jacob undoubtedly now wished he had spent more time studying military tactics as a boy. But he did have the good sense to send conciliatory presents to his brother. Jacob had a good mind and for the most part, he used it.
We saw an excellent example of the dual status of shepherds in Genesis 14:24 and its context, when Abraham took a force of "three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house," on a forced march to the north, after which he demonstrated an understanding of military tactics and won a battle against an army which was superior in numbers to his group. Abraham undoubtedly had another factor in his favor - he had faith in the Lord and for the most part, he prayed before he acted. His son, Isaac, also had such faith, which is not passed genetically, but instead faith is a decision for each one of us. We may have advantages, such as being raised in a godly home, but every person has their own decision - Will I personally trust in the Lord? Or not!
Verses 21-23. "So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp. Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had."
This was a very long day for Jacob, son of Abraham, son of Isaac, consisting of one huge shock after another. His uncle and father-in-law, Laban, had suddenly appeared at Jacob's location, accompanied by a group of armed men. "If it hadn't been for the Lord..." he must have been thinking... "we would all have been destroyed or taken as captives..." But the worst did not happen, and then this - after all these years and decades, his murderous twin brother, Esau, was also on his way to meet him. This was the man who hated him and had threatened to kill him. Laban had come from the east and Esau was on his way from the west. What was next? - More armed men from the north and south?
Jacob was intelligent, careful, and he had done his best for his loved ones. He sent ahead unsolicited lavish presents to his brother. He had taken his wives, Leah and Rachel, his children, and his two maids, Bilhah and Zilpah, and all his possessions across the Jabbok River, a tributory of the Jordan River, and then returned. Maybe those on the other side would be safer if he was not with them. And it was also an opportunity for prayer, something sorely needed on this dark night. And that's the way it is for most of us - We pray when needs arise, instead of praying all the time out of love for the One who hears our prayers.
Verses 24-26. "Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, 'Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.' But he said, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.'”
Jacob was now alone, just as he was when he ran from Canaan and fled to Haran, so many years ago. And yet he was not alone, just as you are never alone, for the Lord is always with you and me. The fact that we often do not see Him is merely because we are blind to the things of the Spirit. He sees, but we are usually blind, except when He enables us to see, and Jacob now saw "a man (who) wrestled with him until daybreak." This "man" was called an "angel" in Hosea 12:4 and called "God" by Jacob, and this was certainly not merely a "man" as we think of them.
This Wrestler saw that Jacob was not going to stop. This man, this Jacob, unlike his brother, Esau, WANTED the blessing of God. It was "daybreak" and God had other plans for Jacob on this day. He went so far as to dislocate Jacob's femur (the bone in his thigh) from his hip socket, and at last Jacob now KNEW that he wanted God and the blessing of God, more than anything in this world. What is most important to you? Do you want money, power, fame, good looks, prestige? - what? It's time to recognize that everything of this world is passing away, but His blessing is forever.
Verses 27-28. "So he said to him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Jacob.'”
He said, 'Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.'”
This "angel" or what might have been a "theophany," a visible appearance of God to a human being, now asked Jacob a question: "What is your name?" It's interesting that God, and if this was an angelic being, then this "angel," already knew his name. He knows your name and mine - He knows everything about us. Then why ask? To get his attention, is one part of it. Jacob was still shocked by the appearance and departure of Laban, he was terrified of Esau's reappearance, and now he was wrestling with a powerful being that possibly was God Himself.
Too much had happened, was happening, and God now broke through all of that and spoke to Him. And this is interesting - He changed the man's name. Previously, all of his life, he was "Jacob," which meant something like, "he grasps the heel" as he had done with his twin's heel at their birth. It also came to mean "he cheats" or "he supplants." But no longer. This younger twin now wanted God more than anything in life. He had wanted the birthright (Chapter 25) and took it, He wanted the blessing and took it (Chapter 27), but now he wanted the Lord, and He was his. He sought God, found Him, and his name was now, "Israel" ("God strives" or "he strives with God").
Verses 29-32. "Then Jacob asked him and said, 'Please tell me your name.' But he said, 'Why is it that you ask my name?' And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, 'I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.' Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
We now see a lot of boldness in Jacob, who had been a timid young man. He had been strongly influenced by his mother and was a very different person from his outgoing brother, Esau, who became a man's man. Esau probably had not changed very much, but Jacob was remarkably different than he had been before. He was now God's man. As he said, "I have seen God face to face." He felt that he only just barely survived the experience and was filled with wonder. He was stunned that his name had been changed to "Israel" by the God he loved.
"Penuel" was a site on the Jabbok River and Jacob limped across the river to be reunited with his family. He was a changed man, in mind, body and spirit. The "sons of Israel," as observed through the human writer, Moses, through the centuries have remembered and observed the transformation of Jacob into a man of unusual faith by not eating the sinew of the hip of an animal. Jacob was touched by God in his hip, but most important of all, he was touched in his heart by the love of our Lord.
Father, please touch us, fill us with the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Change our name, change our hearts. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Cause us to be men and women of faith who trust in You. Thank You, Father. In Jesus Name. Amen.
