Jacob, "There be Angles."

Good afternoon from the Panhandle. You want to know something wild? Well here it is. God is God and He can do what ever He wants, and appear in any form He wants. Wow! I think we Christians know God is great, all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at once. But I think we forget what that means. “Sure He is all powerful, but I don't think He can handle my problem,” “Or knows about my problem.” … Jacob is going to find out just how real and powerful God is in this Chapter. Now was it God that Jacob wrestled with or an angle, I don't know. But I know this if God wanted to bodily wrestle with Jacob to teach him a spiritual lesson He could. And so Jacob continued his trip back to Canaan and home.

After twenty years spent in Aram, Jacob now returns to Canaan. As his departure was marked by a great moment in his spiritual life, so he is now approaching to a crisis in his life of no less significance.

We have here Jacob still upon his journey towards Canaan. So many memorable things occur in this return trip of Jacob's family.

CHAPTER 32 AT A GLANCE

I. With good tidings from his God v. 1-2.

II. With bad tidings from his brother, to whom he sent a message to notify his return v. 3-6. In his distress,

1. He divides his company v. 7-8.

2. He makes his prayer to God v. 9-12.

3. He sends a present to his brother v. 13-23.

4. He wrestles with the angel v. 24-32.

(From Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Genesis 32:1-4

1 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.

1. The Host of God (vs. 1-3)

When Laban had finally left, his departure was a peaceable one. Jacob then continued his journey to Canaan. On this leg of his journey Jacob was then met by some angels of God, and he called the place where they appeared Mahanaim, i.e., double camp or double host, because the host of God joined his host as a safeguard.

This appearance of angels caused him to remember the vision of the ladder, on his flight from Canaan. Just as the angels ascending and descending had then represented to him the divine protection and assistance during his journey and sojourn in a foreign land, so now the angelic host was a signal of the help of God for the approaching conflict with Esau which Jacob was dreading greatly. And it signaled a fresh pledge of the promise (Genesis 28:15), "I will bring thee back to the land,"

Mahanaim was afterwards a distinguished city, which is frequently mentioned, situated to the north of the Jabbok; and the name and remains are still preserved in the place called Mahneh (Robinson, Pal. Appendix, p. 166), the site of which, however, has not yet been minutely examined (see my Comm. on Joshua, p. 259).

(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Genesis 32:4-9

4 He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my master 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, menservants and maidservants. 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, O LORD, 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 groups. 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.'"

2. Jacob now sends a message to Esau (vs. 4-12)

Jacob then sent a message to Esau apprising him of his arrival. In to the land of Seir. Arabia Petraea, with which Esau became connected by his marriage with a daughter of Ishmael. He was now married 56 years to his first two wives, and 20 to his last, and therefore, had a separate and extensive establishment of children and grandchildren.

Jacob endeavored to make amends for the past by a humble and respectful approach to his older brother, in which he styles himself, "your servant" and Esau, "my lord." He informed him of his wealth, to let Esau know that he did not expect anything from him.

"Four hundred men with him." This was a formidable force. Esau had begun to live by the sword (Gen 27:40), and had surrounded himself with a numerous body of followers. Associated by marriage with the Hittites and the Ishmaelites, he had rapidly risen to the rank of a powerful chieftain. It is vain to conjecture with what intent Esau advanced at the head of so large a assemblage. It is probable that he was accustomed to a strong escort, that he wished to make an imposing appearance before his brother, and that his mind was in that wavering state, when the slightest incident might soothe him into good-will, or arouse him to vengeance.

Jacob, remembering his own former dealings with Esau, has good cause for alarm. He took it upon himself a means of deliverance. He divided of his community into two camps, that if one were attacked and captured, the other might meanwhile escape. He never neglected to take all the precautions in his power. A wise move when not knowing what he would face.

Next, Jacob prayed. He appealed to the God of Abraham and Isaac, to Yahweh the God of promise and performance. "I am less than;" unworthy of all the mercy and truth of God. "With my staff." Jacob left his home originally without an escort and without means. It was evidently intended that he should return in a short time; but unforeseen circumstances lengthened the period.

Genesis 32:13-22

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, `To whom do you belong, 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.

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

3. Jacob sends forward a present to Esau (vs. 14-22)

“He spent the night there,” Mahanaim may have been about twenty-five miles from the Jabbok. At some point in the interval he awaited the return of his messengers. Spending the night in the camp, not far from the ford of the Jabbok, he selected and sent forward to Esau his valuable present of five hundred and fifty head of cattle. `They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau”. The cattle are selected according to the proportions of male and female which were adopted from experience among the ancients.

“each herd by itself,” with a space between, so that Esau would have time to estimate the great value of the gift. The repetition of the announcement of the gift, and of Jacob himself being at hand, was calculated to appease Esau, and persuade him that Jacob was approaching him in all brotherly confidence and affection. "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead;” Jacob designed this gift to be the means of pacifying his brother before he appears in his presence.

Genesis 32:22-32

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 men 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.

4. Jacob wrestles with a man? (vs. 23-32)

"Passed over the ford of Jabbok." (vs. 22). The Jabbok rose near Rabbath Ammon, and flowed into the Jordan, separating North Gilead from South, or the kingdom of Og from that of Sihon.

"Jacob was left alone," on the north side, after all had passed over. "A man wrestled with him." When God has a new thing of a spiritual nature to bring into the experience of man, He begins with the senses. He takes man on the ground on which He finds him, and leads him through the senses to the higher things of reason, conscience, and communion with God.

Jacob seems to have gone through the principles or foundations of faith in God and repentance toward him, which gave character to the history of his grandfather and father, and to had entered upon the stage of spontaneous action.

[A man] appeared to him in his loneliness; one having the bodily form and substance of a man. Wrestled with him - encountered him at the very point in which he was strong. He had been a taker by the heel from his very birth, and his subsequent life had been a constant and successful struggle with adversaries. And he, the stranger, saw that he could not prevail over him. Jacob, true to his character, struggles while life remains, with this new combatant. Since “the man” could not win, he touched the socket of his thigh, so that it was wrenched out of joint.

The thigh is the pillar of a man's strength, and it’s joint with the hip the seat of physical force for the wrestler. Let the thigh bone be thrown out of joint, and the man is utterly disabled. Jacob now found out that this mysterious wrestler had won by one touch. In all his might, he could no longer stand alone. Without any support what-so-ever from himself, Jacob hung on to the other fellow, and in that condition learned by experience the practice of sole reliance on one mightier than himself. This is the turning-point in this strange drama. Henceforth Jacob now feels himself strong, not in himself, but in the Lord, and in the power of His might. What follows is merely the explication and the consequence of this bodily conflict.

{And he,} the Mighty Stranger, said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak.". The time for other pursuits had come. He did not shake off the clinging grasp of the now disabled Jacob, but only calls upon him to relax his grasp. But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." Desperate now of his own strength, he is Jacob still: he declares his determination to cling on until his conqueror blessed him. He now knew he was in the hand of a higher power, who can disable and again enable, who can curse and also bless. Jacob knew that he was now utterly helpless without the healing, quickening, protecting power of his victor, even if he died in the effort, he would not let him go without receiving this blessing. Jacob's sense of his total debility and utter defeat was now the secret of his power with his friendly vanquisher. He could overthrow all the pretense of the self-reliant, but he cannot resist the earnest appeal of the helpless.

Genesis 32:28-30

28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men 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."

5. [What is your name?] (vs. 28-30)

He reminds Jacob of his former self, Jacob, the supplanter, the self-reliant, self-seeking. But now he was disabled, dependent on another, and seeking a blessing from another, and for all others as well as himself.

Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, - a prince of God, in God, with God. In a personal conflict, depending on yourself, you were no match for God. But in prayer, depending on another, you have prevailed with God and with men. The new name is indicative of the new nature which has now come to its perfection of development in Jacob.

Unlike Abraham, who received his new name once for all, and was never afterward called by the former one, Jacob will hence, be called now by one or now by the other, as the occasion may serve. Both names have a spiritual significance for two different aspects of the child of God, according to the apostle's paradox, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).

Genesis 32:31-32

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.

6. Peniel - the face of God (vv. 31-32)

The reason of this name is assigned in the sentence, "I have seen God face to face." He is at first called a man. Hosea terms him the angel (Hosea 12:4-5 (3,4). And here Jacob names him God.

Most commentators do not pretend to define with undue nicety the mode of this wrestling. And they are far from saying that every sentence of Scripture is to be understood in a literal sense. But until some persuasive reason is found, they will not depart from the literal sense in this instance. The whole theory of a revelation from God to man is founded upon the principle that God can adapt Himself to the understanding of the being whom He has made in His own image. We all would do well to accept this principle, and we should not dare limit its application "further than the demonstrative laws of reason and conscience demand." If God walked in the garden with Adam, argue with Cain, gave the specifications of the ark to Noah, partook of the hospitality of Abraham, took Lot by the hand to deliver him from Sodom, we cannot state that He may not, for a worthy end, enter into a bodily conflict with Jacob. These various manifestations of God to man differ only in slightly. If we accept anyone of these, we are bound by reason to accept all the others.

[My life is preserved.] The feeling of conscience is, that no sinner can see the infinitely holy God and live. "And he halted upon his thigh." The wrenching of the tendons and muscles was mercifully healed, so as to leave a permanent monument, in Jacob's halting gait, that God had overcome his self-will.