To come back home means facing Esau, the twin brother Jacob deceived and ran away from twenty years ago to escape the wrath of anger and retaliation from Esau.  Fear seeps in and overcomes Jacob.  Jacob’s emotions of dread in seeing Esau for the first time overwhelms him. So, God sends a team of angels to help him form a plan of reconciliation. Jacob’s anticipated fear may have guided this plan of pacifying Esau with gifts of wealth with a backup plan for escape. But most of all, Jacob is hoping for a welcome but expecting a war between them. 

God wants a right relationship between two brothers and with God, Himself.  God will wrestle Jacob to the ground to prove His will and purpose in and for Jacob whom He has called.

Genesis 32

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

32 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”

⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷ In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

¹³ He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau:¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”

¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”

¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” ²¹ So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles With God

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Confrontations are difficult at best between people who have wronged each other and seek the justice of revenge and restitution. But God will intervene with His plan that supersedes our wisdom when we seek Him first.  Wrestle with what God has to say, but ultimately, obey God.  A right attitude, with a humbled heart, and opened mind, led by God’s Holy Spirit should be the first step toward approaching reconciliation.  God will prepare the heart of the one being confronted when we prepare our hearts to do His will to reconcile.

Gifts to pacify was part of the culture then to promote peace and avoid war between to opposing factions.  Today, our offenses are not easily pacified with gifts, especially if trust has been shaken.  Gifts might raise our eyebrows as we wonder if this is just another way gain control over us and take all we have.  No one likes the bait and switch method of relationships.  Be honest and sincere in what ever God tells us to do.

“Anticipating a difficult reunion with Esau, Jacob took the wise approach and sent messengers ahead to inform his brother that he was coming. But instead of committing the whole matter to the Lord, who had protected him from Laban, Jacob adopted a condescending attitude that wasn’t befitting to the man God had chosen to carry on the Abrahamic covenant. Sending the messengers was a good idea, but calling Esau “my lord” and himself “your servant,” and trying to impress Esau with his wealth was only evidence that Jacob wasn’t trusting God to care for him.” –Warren Wiersbe, Study Bible

A believer who is walking by faith need not fear the enemy or whatever bad news may come. Where can we look for help in such times? In the face of the most terrifying calamity he could imagine, the Psalmist was confident that God was ultimately in control of the world. He writes; “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Psalm 46:1–3, ESV).

Jacob was “greatly afraid and distressed” (verse 7) and therefore reverted to his old policy of scheming.  God sent a “man” to wrestle Jacob’s emotions and dread to bring these feelings of fear under His control while leading Jacob which is the best blessing of all we could ever imagine or dream!  This blessing is the sweet, holy reconciliation between God and humanity made is his image, between brothers, sisters, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, who belong to God.  Jacob’s limp will remind him of God’s relentless love and faithfulness to him. 

God meets us at whatever level He finds us in order to lift us to where He wants us to be. Jacob had spent most of his adult life wrestling with people—Esau, Isaac, Laban, and even his wives—so God came to him as a wrestler. But he doesn’t leave Jacob where He met Him; God renamed Jacob, Israel, with more challenging work to be done.

At Bethel, God had promised to bless Jacob, and from a material point of view, the promise was fulfilled, for Jacob was now a very wealthy man. But there’s much more to the blessing of God than flocks, herds, and servants; there’s also the matter of godly character and spiritual influence.

Jacob had a new name; he had a new walk (he was limping); and he had a new relationship with God that would help him face and solve any problem if only he would exercise faith.

Avoid scheming and manipulation to get others “on your side”; instead may we be led by the love of God in us.  May God lead our responseto Him and to others with honest and complete forgiveness. “Love keeps no record of wrong.” (1 Corinthians 13) Love like God loves us who forgives and forgets our sins. 

To God be the glory for providing the perfect One who reconciles us to Him! Be reconciled to God by believing in Jesus, who One and Only way to the heart of God in relationship with God.  Only Jesus. 

Lord,

Thank you for teaching us what it takes to build our faith in you.  Help us to avoid human scheming and plotting our plan; but to seek you instead for wisdom, insight, and understanding in all our relationships and circumstances.  May our focus be keenly fixed on You—the greatest relationship of all!

In Jesus Name, Amen