Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Catching Up with Yesterday
The slogan of the “Ingsoc Party” in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
That clever slogan may work for politicians who have the authority to rewrite history books, but nobody can change history itself. Two decades before, Jacob had fled from Esau to Laban, and now he was fleeing Laban only to be confronted by Esau! After twenty years, Jacob’s past was catching up with him, and he was afraid. It’s strange how we convince ourselves that we can escape the past and not reap what we’ve sown. We try to forget our sins, but our sins don’t forget us. What Jacob did to his father and brother was forgiven by God, but neither time nor geography could change the consequences of those acts.
As you study Jacob’s actions during this crisis time in his life, you see illustrated the conflicts all of us occasionally experience between faith and fear, trusting God and scheming, asking God for help and then acting as though we don’t even know God. A crisis doesn’t make a man; it shows what a man is made of.
BEHOLDING (32:1–8)
Greatly relieved that Laban had left him and that Mizpah stood between them, Jacob headed toward Bethel, the destination God had appointed for him (31:3, 13; 28:15; 35:1). But Jacob knew that eventually he had to meet Esau because, in traveling to Bethel, he would come near Mount Seir, where Esau lived (33:16).
Preparation. “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city” (Prov. 18:19 NKJV). 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.
Protection. Imagine Jacob’s surprise when he saw an army of angels before him! “This is God’s host [army]!” he exclaimed, and he called the place Mahanaim, which means “the two camps,” Jacob’s camp and God’s camp. Twenty years before, Jacob had seen the angels at Bethel and learned that God was with Him (Gen. 28:10–12). But now he discovered that God’s angelic troops were there to protect him and fight for him. So there was no reason to be afraid. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
Angelology is a popular subject today, and secular stores display dozens of books about angels, not all of them biblical in content. You can even attend seminars and learn how to contact angels and get their assistance in solving your problems. Angels are real beings, and they do minister to God’s people (Ps. 34:7; 46:7, 11; Heb. 1:13–14), but it’s God who commands them, not mere humans. One day in heaven we’ll find out how much they’ve helped the family of God in times of difficulty and danger. Meanwhile, we’ll have to let God tell His heavenly hosts what to do.
Plotting. As Jacob and his family, servants, flocks, and herds traveled slowly southwest toward Bethel, the messengers were moving rapidly to Mount Seir. By the time Jacob reached the Jabbok, a tributary of the Jordan, the messengers had returned with an ominous message: Esau and four hundred men were coming to meet Jacob. Expecting the worst, Jacob jumped to the conclusion that his brother had come to take vengeance on him and his family. A guilty conscience often makes us see the darkest possible picture.
When faith is crowded out by fear, we’re prone to start scheming and trusting our own resources. A woman said to evangelist D. L. Moody, “I’ve found a wonderful verse to help me overcome fear,” and she quoted Psalm 56:3: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” “I can give you a better promise,” said Moody, and he quoted Isaiah 12:2: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid.”
Believers who are walking by faith need not fear the enemy or whatever bad news may come their way. “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD” (Ps. 112:7). But Jacob was “greatly afraid and distressed” (Gen. 32:7) and therefore reverted to his old policy of scheming.
Instead of remembering the encouraging vision of God’s angelic army, Jacob divided his camp into two bands so that if one group was attacked, the other group could escape. It was a poor strategy against four hundred men, and Jacob would have been better off to maintain the original two bands—his company and God’s army of angels—and trust the Lord to see him through.
PRAYING (32:9–12)
Jacob’s prayer is one of the great prayers recorded in Scripture, and yet it was prayed by a man whose faith was very weak. He was like the father of the demonized child who cried out, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 NKJV). Every statement in this prayer indicates that Jacob had a profound knowledge of God’s ways and God’s character, and yet he was praying in desperation and not in confidence. Note the arguments he presented to God as to why the Lord should deliver him from Esau.
God’s covenant (v. 9a). God in His grace had called Abraham and made a covenant with him (12:1–3), and that covenant was affirmed both to Isaac and to Jacob. It was on the basis of that covenant that Jacob asked God for the help he desperately needed. God’s people today approach the throne of grace through Jesus Christ on the basis of the new covenant that He made through His own blood (Heb. 8:6–13; 12:22–24).
God’s command (v. 9b). Jacob certainly was happy to get out from under Laban’s control, but it was God’s idea that he leave Padan Aram and return to his own land (31:13). Jacob forgot that God’s commandment always involves God’s enablement, for the will of God will never lead us where the power of God can’t protect us and provide for us. But Jacob’s imagination ran ahead of his theology, and he was sure Esau was coming to destroy him.
God’s care (v. 10). As Jacob reviewed the past twenty years, he reminded God of the wonderful way He had cared for him. In every trial and burden that came to Jacob, God had been faithful and kind to care for him. When Jacob arrived at Laban’s home, all he owned was his pilgrim staff, and now, by the blessing of God, he was a wealthy man. Why would God care for him for twenty years and then allow him to be murdered by his brother?
God’s purposes (v. 11). Jacob wasn’t thinking only of himself, but he had his family and God’s great plan in mind as well. Jacob’s sons would multiply and become the nation of Israel, and through Israel, God would bring blessing to all humankind. The Savior would come from the tribe of Judah and die for the sins of the world, and Paul would come from the tribe of Benjamin and carry the gospel to the Gentiles. Was this eternal purpose destined to fail because of the anger of one man?
God’s promise (v. 12). Jacob reminded the Lord of the promises He had made to him at Bethel (28:12–15), especially that He would do him good and multiply his descendants. God told Jacob that He would be with him and bring him back to Bethel, and that He would accomplish His purposes in and through him. If God allowed Esau and his men to kill Jacob and his family, none of those promises would be fulfilled.
While we don’t want to imitate Jacob’s fear, unbelief, scheming, and his proneness to jump to conclusions, we would do well to pray the way he prayed. He claimed God’s promises, remembered God’s goodness, and rested completely on God’s character and covenant. No matter what circumstances we may face or what fears may grip our hearts, we can trust God to be faithful to His character and His Word. “I will trust and not be afraid.”
APPEASING (32:13–21)
You would think that a prayer with that kind of solid theological content would have brought God’s peace to Jacob’s heart, but it didn’t, and in his restlessness, he decided to act. “I will pacify him,” he said (v. 20 NIV) and put together an expensive gift.
Sir Robert Walpole, England’s first prime minister, said of Parliament, “All those men have their price.” Many people of the world follow that philosophy (“Every man has his price”), the very philosophy Jacob was following as he put together his gift of 580 valuable animals. He divided them into separate herds and commanded the herdsmen to keep a space between each herd so that Esau couldn’t help but be impressed with his brother’s generosity.
Even more, each of the herdsmen was to make the same speech to Esau: “They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau” (v. 18 NIV). With words like “your servant” and “my lord,” Jacob was back to groveling again and ignoring the fact that God had made him lord over his relatives, including Esau (27:29). Jacob discreetly planned to follow behind the last drove, hoping that the combined impact of the gift would prepare Esau to forgive him and welcome him when they finally met.
We’ve already learned that faith is living without scheming. But before we criticize Jacob, we need to examine our own hearts to see if we’ve ever been guilty of praying piously and then depending on our own schemes and resources. It’s true that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20), but Jacob’s gift wasn’t a work of faith because God didn’t command it. The old wives’ saying “The Lord helps those who help themselves” is totally unbiblical. True faith is based on God’s Word (Rom. 10:17), and whatever we do that isn’t motivated by faith is sin (14:23), no matter how successful it may appear.
The real problem wasn’t Esau; it was Jacob. Therefore, God was now going to solve that problem.
WRESTHNG (32:22–32)
It was dangerous to ford the river at night, but Jacob would rather hazard the crossing than risk losing his loved ones; so he moved his family to what he hoped was a safe place. Having forgotten about God’s army, he wanted something between his family and his brother’s army. Jacob devised his own two camps.
Now Jacob was left alone, and when we’re alone and at the end of our resources, then God can come to us and do something in us and for us. Note the three encounters Jacob experienced that difficult night.
Jacob met the Lord (vv. 22–26). British essayist Walter Savage Landor called solitude “the audience-chamber of God,” and he was right. When we’re alone, we can’t escape into other people’s hearts and minds and be distracted; we have to live with ourselves and face ourselves. Twenty years before, Jacob had met the Lord when he was alone at Bethel, and now God graciously came to him again in his hour of need (vv. 28, 30; Hos. 12:2–6).
God meets us at whatever level He finds us in order to lift us to where He wants us to be. To Abraham the pilgrim, God came as a traveler (Gen. 18), and to Joshua the general, He came as a soldier (Josh. 5:13–15). Jacob had spent most of his adult life wresthng with people—Esau, Isaac, Laban, and even his wives—so God came to him as a wrestler. “With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd” (Ps. 18:26 NKJV).
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. During that “dark night of the soul,” Jacob discovered that he’d spent his life fighting God and resisting His will, and that the only way to victory was through surrender. As A. W. Tozer said, “The Lord cannot fully bless a man until He has first conquered him.” God conquered Jacob by weakening him.
Jacob met himself (vv. 27–32). More than anything else, Jacob wanted the blessing of the Lord on his life, and for this holy desire he’s to be commended. But before we can begin to be like the Lord, we have to face ourselves and admit what we are in ourselves. That’s why the Lord asked him, “What is your name?” As far as the Genesis record is concerned, the last time Jacob was asked that question, he told a lie! His father asked, “Who are you, my son?” and Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn” (27:18–19 NKJV).
The Lord didn’t ask the question in order to get information, because He certainly knew Jacob’s name and that Jacob had the reputation of being a schemer and a deceiver. “What is your name?” meant, “Are you going to continue living up to your name, deceiving yourself and others, or will you admit what you are and let Me change you?” In the Bible, receiving a new name signifies making a new beginning (17:4–5, 15; Num. 13:16; John 1:40–42), and this was Jacob’s opportunity to make a fresh start in life.
The new name God gave him was “Israel,” from a Hebrew word that means “to struggle,” but scholars aren’t agreed on what the name signifies. Some translate it “one who wrestles with God” or “God strives” or “let God rule.” The explanation in Genesis 32:28 is that Jacob had gained power because he prevailed. He lost the battle but won the victory! By seeking God’s blessing and finally being weakened and forced to yield, he had become a “God-empowered prince.” Like Paul, who had his own battle to fight, Jacob became strong only when he became weak (2 Cor. 12:1–10).
G. Campbell Morgan called Jacob’s experience “the crippling that crowns” and interpreted “Israel” to mean “a God-mastered man.” I’m inclined to agree with him. When God rules our lives, then He can trust us with His power, for only those who are under His authority have the right to exercise His authority. While at home, Jacob had served himself and created problems, and for twenty years he served Laban and created further problems, but now he would serve God and become a part of the answer.
Once again Jacob gave a special name to a significant place, this time Peniel (Penuel, Gen. 32:31), which means “the face of God.” He thought that seeing God’s face would bring death, but it actually brought him new life. It was the dawning of a new day for Israel/Jacob (v. 31): He 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. The great test was about to come, for Esau had arrived on the scene.
Now Jacob was ready for the third encounter: to meet Esau.
FAILING (33:1–16)
Jacob had lifted up his eyes and seen the angels (32:1–2), and he had even seen God face-to-face (v. 30), but when he saw Esau and his four hundred men, he seemed to lose everything he had gained in his struggle with himself and with the Lord. It’s one thing to be blessed on the mountaintop with God and quite something else to carry that blessing down into the valley. Jacob failed himself, his family, and his God in several ways.
By scheming instead of trusting (vv. 1–2). The “prince with God” stopped reigning and started scheming. Like too many of God’s people today, he failed to live up to his new position in the Lord. By putting Rachel (his favorite wife) and Joseph (his favorite son) behind the other family members, he created a new problem in the home, and it’s no wonder Joseph’s brothers hated him in later years. You certainly knew where you stood in Jacob’s household!
By bowing instead of limping (vv. 3–7). When Eastern peoples met in ancient days, they bowed often and exchanged traditional greetings (“Salaam” or “Shalom”), but there was more than tradition involved in the way Jacob and his family greeted Esau. Jacob was now a “prince with God,” but he wasn’t acting like it. “I have seen servants on horses, while princes walk on the ground like servants,” said Solomon (Eccl. 10:7 NKJV), and Jacob was exhibit A of this tragedy. After all, the elder (Esau) was supposed to serve the younger (Gen. 27:29), so why should the younger brother bow?
Jacob’s strength was in his limp, for it was a constant reminder that God had conquered him and he could trust the Lord to see him through. Had Jacob limped, his brother would have noticed it and asked the cause, and that would have been Jacob’s golden opportunity to tell him what God had done for him. You don’t see Esau bowing! Instead, he ran to his brother, fell on his neck, and kissed him.
By pleading instead of witnessing (vv. 8–15). The fact that Esau ran to his brother, embraced him, kissed him, and wept is evidence that a change had taken place in his heart. Jacob was given an open door to talk with Esau about the past and get family matters straightened out, for, after all, God’s army was hovering near and Jacob didn’t have to be afraid. But instead of confessing his sins and giving witness to God’s grace in his life, Jacob spent the time begging Esau to accept the gifts he had sent.
Jacob said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God” (v. 10 NIV). Jacob had seen God face-to-face, but he said nothing to Esau about it! “God has been gracious to me,” he added (v. 11 NIV), but he didn’t tell his brother the facts and give God the glory. He didn’t tell Esau that he had a new name, probably because he wasn’t living up to it at that time. He was made a prince, but he was acting like a pauper.
By promising but not performing (vv. 12–17a). Esau did the gracious thing and offered to accompany his brother south to his home in Mount Seir, but Jacob had no desire to spend more time with Esau than was necessary. Like his farewell with Laban, Jacob’s meeting with Esau was a truce, not a true reconciliation. But Jacob gave the impression that his destination was indeed Mount Seir (v. 14), and he offered every excuse he could think of to convince Esau to go before him and let him proceed at his own pace. The repetition of the phrase “my lord” in this paragraph may indicate Jacob’s respect and courtesy, but it also suggests that Jacob was groveling again. One thing was sure: Jacob was deceiving again.
Esau started back to Mount Seir, traveling south, while Jacob moved northwest to Succoth and then further on to Shechem. There’s no record that Jacob ever visited his brother in Mount Seir. It’s likely that after they met at Isaac’s funeral, they never saw each other again (35:27–29).
DELAYING (33:17B—34:31)
God’s command was that Jacob return to Bethel (31:13) and then to his home where Isaac still lived, which was Hebron (35:27). Instead, he tarried first at Succoth and then settled near Shechem. At Succoth, the pilgrim who was supposed to live in a tent (Heb. 11:9–16) built a house for himself and sheds for his flocks and herds. (The word succoth means “booths.”) When he moved near Shechem, Jacob purchased a piece of property and became a resident alien in the land. He was setthng down in the land.
It’s obvious that Jacob wasn’t in a hurry to obey God and return to Bethel. We commend him for erecting an altar and giving public witness of his faith in the Lord, but sacrifice is no substitute for obedience (1 Sam. 15:22). The name he gave the altar (“God, the God of Israel”) indicates that he claimed his new name “Israel,” but he certainly wasn’t living up to all that his name implied. While he tarried in that part of the land, his daughter Dinah was raped and two of his sons became murderers. It was an expensive detour.
Carelessness (34:1). Why was it so important that Dinah get to know the women of the land? Why didn’t her mother advise her and somebody dependable accompany her on her sightseeing trip? (Her brothers were out in the field with the flocks.) For that matter, why was Jacob tarrying in this pagan neighborhood and deliberately endangering his family? He should have been at Bethel leading them closer to the Lord.
The name of the Lord isn’t mentioned once in this chapter, and the wisdom of the Lord is surely absent as well. When we disobey the Lord, we put ourselves and our loved ones in danger. Consider what happened to Abraham in Egypt (12:10–20) and Gerar (20:1ff.), Lot in Sodom (19:1ff.), Isaac in Gerar (26:6–16), Samson in Philistia (Judg. 14; 16), and Peter in the high priest’s courtyard (Luke 22:54ff.).
Defilement (vv. 2–5). Three times in the narrative the word defiled is used to describe Shechem’s wicked deed (vv. 5, 13, 27). The young prince claimed that he did it because he loved her and wanted her for his wife, but committing violent rape and keeping the girl confined in a house (v. 26) was a strange way to declare his love.
But his actions and words bore witness only to the fact that God’s people and the people of Canaan had different standards of conduct. To the Jews, sexual activity that violated the law of God brought defilement to the victim and judgment to the guilty party. In later years, the Mosaic law with its penalties sought to protect people by declaring sexual misconduct both a sin and a crime (Deut. 22:23–29). The silence of Jacob when he heard the tragic news (Gen. 34:5) showed neither indifference nor cowardice on his part. Since his sons were in the field with the sheep and cattle and he could do nothing without their help, he was wise to wait.
Deception (vv. 6–24). When Jacob’s sons were told what had happened, they were grieved that their sister had been violated and angry at the man who did it. Both responses were normal and right. Instead of immediately declaring war, they pretended to seek peace with their neighbors and offered to do business together and even to intermarry. All that the men of Shechem had to do was agree to be circumcised. Of course, it would take more than circumcision to make Jews out of Canaanites since no covenant conditions were involved.
The Canaanites saw this policy as an opportunity to absorb Israel and gradually possess their wealth and their people, but Jacob’s sons used it as a means to weaken the men and get them ready for slaughter. Never suspecting the danger, the men of the city submitted to the surgery.
Vengeance (vv. 25–31). At a time when the males in Shechem were in too much pain to defend themselves, Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s full brothers, rallied some men from Jacob’s camp and attacked the Shechemites, killing Hamor and his son and all the males in the city. Then they looted the city and took captive the women and children. It was an evil thing to do, and when Jacob heard about it, he was both angry and frightened. But during his lifetime, since he had done his share of scheming and fooled his father, he couldn’t rebuke his sons without incriminating himself.
Simeon and Levi certainly went too far by slaughtering the Canaanites and looting their city in order to avenge their sister, and Jacob never forgot it (49:5–7). By their deception and ruthless destruction, they ruined Jacob’s testimony before the people of the land. What good was it for Jacob to build an altar and worship the true God before his pagan neighbors if his children were going to act like pagans? But it’s sad to see that Jacob’s greatest concern wasn’t the vindication of purity or even his witness in the land, but rather his own safety. Had Jacob and his family been in Bethel where they belonged, this tragedy might not have occurred.
But true to His promise (28:15), God wasn’t finished with Jacob. There were still heartaches and joys to come, but the God of Jacob would prove Himself faithful through it all.
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION OR GROUP DISCUSSION
1. What is your inner reaction when you see someone groveling who either should be above it or who has no reason to do it?
2. Why do you suppose God allowed Jacob to see His angels as he neared Esau’s territory?
3. Jacob’s prayer in 32:9–12 is a strong one. Of what things did he remind the Lord? Why were these important?
4. Fear may lead us back to putting our trust in God. What, however, did Jacob’s fear of meeting Esau prompt him to do?
5. Have you ever been afraid of dealing with a person or situation? How did you handle that situation? Did you act with faith or lack of it?
6. Comment on Tozer’s statement: “The Lord cannot fully bless a man until he has first conquered him.”
7. What was the significance of Jacob’s name change? What should God’s statement in 32:28 have meant to Jacob?
8. What do you admire or not admire in the way Jacob dealt with his brother (33:1–17)?
9. What tragic events took place near Shechem because Jacob disobeyed God’s command to return to Bethel?
10. Why is delayed obedience like failed obedience? Is there any issue in your life where this truth is relevant?