Genesis 32

Genesis 32:1

6. Jacob and Esau Reconciled (Chaps. 32, 33)32:1-8 En route to Canaan, Jacob met a band of angels and called the place Mahanaim (two hosts or double camp). The two camps may be God’s army (v. 2) and Jacob’s entourage. Or two hosts may be a figurative expression for a great multitude (v. 10). As Jacob neared the land, he remembered his brother Esau and feared revenge. Would Esau still be angry at the way he had been cheated out of the blessing? First, Jacob sent messengers . . . to Esau with greetings of peace. Then when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him with a band of four hundred men, he was so terrified that he divided his family into two companies, so that if the first group was destroyed, the second could flee. 32:9-12 Jacob’s prayer was born out of a desperate sense of need for divine protection. It was based on the ground of covenant relationship which the Lord had established with him and his forefathers, and it was prayed in humility of spirit. He based his plea on the word of the Lord and claimed the promises of God. The best prayer comes from a strong inward necessity. By human security systems, we often protect ourselves from a dynamic prayer life. Why do we do ourselves this wrong? 32:13-21 Jacob next sent three successive droves of animals totaling 580 head as gifts for Esau, hoping to appease him. Esau would get the gift in three installments. Jacob’s maneuvers manifested his unbelief or at least a mixture of faith and unbelief. 32:22-32 After sending his immediate family across the stream Jabbok (he will empty), Jacob spent the night alone at Peniel for what was to be one of the great experiences of his life. A Man wrestled with him. That Man was an angel (Hos_12:4), the Angel of Jehovah, the Lord Himself. The Lord put the socket of Jacob’s hip . . . out of joint, causing him to walk with a limp the rest of his life. Although Jacob lost the encounter physically, he won a great spiritual victory. He learned to triumph through defeat and to be strong through weakness.

Emptied of self and of confidence in his own cleverness, he confessed he was Jacob, a supplanter, a “con man.” God then changed his name to Israel (variously translated as “God rules,” “one who strives with God,” or “a prince of God”). Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (the face of God) because he realized he had seen the Lord. Pfeiffer points out that verse 32 is still true among Jews today: The sciatic nerve, or thigh vein, must be removed from the slaughtered animal before that portion of the animal may be prepared for consumption by orthodox Jews."