Trusting In God's Faithfulness - Genesis 32:1-23
INTRODUCTION:
Three Sundays ago we left Jacob with everything and Laban going home empty-handed, but with a promise that Jacob would not come and harm him. Jacob had burned that bridge, he could not return to the land of his relatives; the border had been laid and the covenant ratified. Now there was no going back and as Jacob looks to the future he must think about Esau. What will be Esau’s reaction to his return, will he remember why Jacob fled; will he still want to get his revenge for Jacob deceiving him and his father to get the birthright and the blessing?
In our passage this morning we see that Jacob’s encounter with Laban has taught him something about God’s faithfulness to him, God’s commitment to keep His promises to Jacob. When Jacob is put in a fearful place again, we see him turning to God instead of trusting in his own craftiness and deception. We also see him seeking forgiveness from Esau, because I believe he has learned that God would have given him the birthright and the blessing without his deceiving Esau and his father and he wants to make that right and his gift, his offering, to Esau is his restitution for the wrong he had committed to him. Let’s ask God to teach us from His Word this morning and then get into this passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis 32:1-23. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read, and as I read look for the evidence of God’s faithfulness to Jacob.
Genesis 32:1-23,
“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. 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.’”’ 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 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.”’ 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. 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.’ 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.” (Genesis 32:1–23, NASB95)[1]
TWO CAMPS (Genesis 32:1-2)
Laban has left and Jacob is moving south from Mount Gilead down into the valley of the Jabbok river, which is on the east side of the Jordan river, it is a tributary to the Jordan and it is about half way between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea in present day Jordan. As Jacob moves into this area we are told that the angels of God met him. The last time he had seen angels was in his dream 20 years earlier when he had seen them ascending and descending the ladder up to heaven. Here as he is about to enter back into the land of promise God gives him a glimpse of the host of angels who have been with him and protecting him. Upon seeing them, he declares that this is God’s camp and he gives the place a Hebrew name which means “Two camps or two companies, or hosts.” This word often refers to the encampment of an army, in naming it “two camps” Jacob refers to the company of the angels of God and to his company of all that he has and those that are with him.
I believe that God allowed Jacob to see these angels so that he was assured of God’s faithfulness to him to watch over and protect him and to fulfill the promises of blessing him, making him into a great nation, and bringing him back to the land of promise. Jacob sees these angels who have been with him watching over him and now welcoming him back to the land of promise. I do not think that we know how much the angels of God are a part of our everyday lives watching over us and protecting us. They are mentioned a few times in Scripture, Jesus speaking of causing children to stumble in their faith said in Matthew 18:10, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10, NASB95)[2] Jesus spoke of children having an angel that could speak to God the Father on their behalf. The author of Hebrews gives us a warning in chapter 13, verse 2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2, NASB95)[3] Peter tells us that angels long to look into this plan of redemption that was spoke of by the Old Testament prophets and preached to us by those sent by the Holy Spirit to share with us the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe angels are in the affairs of our world much more than we know. I am reminded of an event in the history of Israel, during the lifetime of the prophet Elisha, this event is found in 2 Kings 6 when the King of Aram was warring against Israel, the Arameans, those who were Abraham’s relatives. Remember multiple times Laban was called Laban the Aramean. They were not to cross the border that Jacob and Laban had set up to do the other harm, but they did. Elisha kept telling the king of Israel where the Arameans were going to attack. When the king of Aram learns this he surrounds the city where Elisha is so that they may take him. Elisha’s servant is terrified, but Elisha assures him that those with them outnumber those who are against them. Then he prays that the servant’s eyes might be opened to see the angel army that is protecting them. Listen to 2 Kings 6:17, “Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17, NASB95)[4] God had sent his angel army to protect Elisha and a great victory was won that sent the Arameans home humbled and no longer coming against Israel.
God encourages Jacob in our passage this morning by allowing him to see the angels who have been protecting him and his family. Never forget that God has His watchful eye on you as well, and has at His disposal armies of angels that He could send out to care for you.
ESAU AND 400 MEN (Genesis 32:3-8)
Jacob understands that his next immediate threat is Esau so he sent messengers ahead to go to Esau and let him know that Jacob was on his way. His desire was to find out how Esau was feeling towards him. At this time we learn that Esau has moved away from his father Isaac. We are told that he is in the land of Seir, in a country that took on his nickname Edom. Edom is in the southwest, south of the Dead Sea. Esau had moved outside the borders of Canaan and had settled and became a powerful and affluent figure in that area. Though he moved to this place of his own free will, it was God’s way of making the way for Jacob to return to the Promise Land. So Jacob sends messengers to deliver his message that he is coming, but he is not in need of anything because he has prospered during the 20 years that he stayed with Laban. The messengers return, but not with a message from Esau, but the information that he was coming to meet Jacob and he is not coming alone, but has 400 men with him.
This is not the information that Jacob wants to hear, this can only mean one thing. Esau has not forgotten, Esau is still angry and he is coming to get his revenge. Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed we are told. He had his family to think about, his flocks and his herds, his servants and all his belongings. The first thing that Jacob did was to divide the company in half. He made two camps, one with half of the people and the flocks and herds and one with the other half. His thought was that if Esau came upon one of the camps and slaughtered it, the other camp might have the chance to escape. This was a good defensive plan. Jacob knew that he could not retreat, because he could not pass the pillar and heap that marked the border with Laban. He could only go forward, and so instead of seeking some crafty, devious way to get out of this situation, which was what Jacob was accustomed to doing, Jacob instead did what was the right thing this time.
THE FAITHFUL GOD (Genesis 32:9-23)
In verse 9 we find Jacob praying about what he believes to be a coming crisis. He begins by acknowledging that the Lord is the God of his grandfather Abraham and the God of his father Isaac, he appeals to God on the basis of the covenant relation to his family. He addresses God as the Lord, recognizing Him by His covenant name. He then reminds God of His command to return to the land of his birth and to his relatives and that God had promised to prosper him. God wants His people to remind Him of His word and His promises, when we do this we are reminded ourselves and this is a motivation to our faith because God is always faithful to keep all of His promises. Jacob then confesses his own unworthiness to God, he recognizes that he does not deserve God’s mercy, that he does not deserve faithfulness because he is a sinner. He does not deserve the material blessings that God has given him, he has been faithless while God has been faithful. Jacob comes to God with the correct attitude, he recognizes his total dependency upon God. He remembers that when he left the land of promise he only had his staff and God in His merciful lovingkindness and faithfulness has blessed him and prospered him so richly that there is enough to divide it into two camps. Jacob then pleads with this merciful and faithful God to deliver him from the hand of Esau to show His mercy and faithfulness to him again, he pours out his fear that he will come and attack and harm him and his wives and children. Deliver me that you may keep your promise to prosper me and to make my descendants as innumerable as the sand of the sea, Jacob prays. Jacob could look back over his life and see how God had delivered him time and time again, he had just witnessed it again with Laban. I believe Jacob could have stopped here and done nothing else and God would have delivered him. As we will see later on Esau was not coming to meet him in anger or with revenge in mind, he was coming to welcome him home.
Jacob, however prepares a gift for Esau out of the blessing that God had given to him. The extravagance of this gift gives us just a little idea of how much God had blessed and prospered Jacob, he was a very wealthy man. He gave of the best of his flocks and herds, goats, sheep, camels, cattle, and donkeys. 550 animals in all not counting the foals of the camels. He sent this all ahead of him with space between each one so that Esau would come upon them one at a time with the message that they were a gift from Jacob and he was coming behind. Jacob hoped to appease Esau so that when he saw him he would accept him. I think it was Jacob’s way of asking forgiveness for the way he had tricked and deceived Esau. I believe we are seeing a huge change in Jacob, it took 20 years of discipline, but he is at the point where he is ready to meet God and make Him his God. Not only will the Lord be the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, but also the God of Jacob.
Jacob in the night moves his family across the Jabbok, doing it under the cover of darkness rather than being caught be Esau in the middle of the creek during the daytime. Once his four wives and his eleven children and all the belongings are moved across Jacob spends the rest of the night in God’s camp, and he will learn that it truly is God’s camp.
CONCLUSION:
God is merciful and faithful; that is what I see in this passage. We see it in God opening Jacob’s eyes to see the angels, the angels welcoming him home, but also the angels who have been with him and watched over him and protected him.
We see God’s mercy and faithfulness in the promises He has already fulfilled in Jacob’s life. We also see Jacob declaring his unworthiness to be the recipient of God’s merciful lovingkindness and faithfulness. Jacob had gone from having only a staff to being prospered by God so much that it could be divided into two camps. We see that Jacob is at a point in his life where he recognizes his total dependence on the Lord and he is ready declare that God is the God of Jacob. He has sent an extravagant gift to his brother to appease him, but I believe also as an offering of apology. Jacob is not the man who went to Haran 20 years earlier. Jacob is beginning to trust. Have you had an encounter with God, have you declared to God your unworthiness to be a recipient of His mercy and His grace. When we come to that point in our life, God wants us to receive His grace through Jesus Christ. He will deliver us from the hand that is against us, from Satan our enemy and He will bring us into the Promised Land, into heaven when we in faith trust in His Son’s death and resurrection on our behalf.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995