Gen 32:6-12, 22-32 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
Jacob lived in Laban’s house twenty years. He married Leah and Rachel and had many children; Rachel was long barren, until “God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb” (Gen 30:22), and she bore Joseph (Gen 30:23-24).
“The LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you’” (Gen 31:3). Jacob set out with his wives, children and flocks; he left without telling Laban — “he didn’t tell him that he was running away” (Gen 31:20). Laban caught up with him. Jacob said to Laban: “These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times” (Gen 31:41); and: “God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night” (Gen 31:42). The two of them made a covenant there, and Laban said: “The LORD watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another” (Gen 31:49). “Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place” (Gen 31:55).
Jacob went on his way, “and the angels of God met him” (Gen 32:1). He sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau (Gen 32:3). Esau had once said he would kill him (Gen 27:41). This lesson begins as the messengers return.
6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies.
8He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.”
9Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’
10I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.
11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children.
12You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
That night Jacob chose many animals from all he had, divided them into droves, and sent them ahead with his servants as a present for Esau, saying, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me” (vv. 13–21).
22He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.
23He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.
24Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.
25When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled.
26The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”
27He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”.
28He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” So he blessed him there.
30Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
31The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.
32Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
Four hundred men. The messengers came back and said: “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him” (v. 6). “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed,” and divided his people and flocks “into two companies” (v. 7), saying, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape” (v. 8).
Not worthy. He prayed, first calling on God: “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD,” and then bringing up God’s own words: “Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good” (v. 9). He said: “I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies” (v. 10). He said plainly what he was afraid of: “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him” (v. 11). And at the end he brought up God’s promise again: “You said, ‘I will surely do you good’” (v. 12).
A present. That night he chose many animals as a present and had his servants send them ahead, drove by drove (vv. 13–21). The passage records what he said: “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me” (v. 20).
Left alone. He rose up that night and took his wives, his servants and his eleven sons, “and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok” (v. 22), and “sent over that which he had” (v. 23). “Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day” (v. 24). “When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man touched the hollow of his thigh” (v. 25).
I won’t let you go. “The man said, ‘Let me go, for the day breaks.’ Jacob said, ‘I won’t let you go unless you bless me’” (v. 26). The man asked, “What is your name?” and he gave his name, Jacob (v. 27). The man said: “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed” (v. 28). Jacob asked the man’s name, and he said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” “So he blessed him there” (v. 29).
Peniel. “Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, ‘I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved’” (v. 30). “The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh” (v. 31).
Who was the man? The passage says that Jacob “wrestled with a man there” (v. 24), and the man did not give his name (v. 29). Jacob said: “I have seen God face to face” (v. 30). The prophet Hosea later spoke of this: “in his manhood he contended with God. Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him” (Hos 12:3-4). Each of these ways of saying it is read just as it stands.
The man said to Jacob: “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel” (v. 28). The chapter’s last sentence is: “Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day” (v. 32).
Readers can see this: the name Israel comes from this night. The people who read this book were themselves called the children of Israel.
Perhaps you, too, must face someone, or something, soon: you have been afraid of it for a long time and have already worked out several ways of escape.
This lesson does not say that if you pray, you will not be afraid anymore. What it shows you is this: Jacob was so afraid that he split his people into two companies, and still he prayed, saying plainly, “for I fear him” (v. 11); that night he was left alone, and even at daybreak he would not let go: “I won’t let you go unless you bless me” (v. 26). A psalm says: “I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps 34:4).
This week: Think of a person or a matter you are very afraid to face. This week, as Jacob did, tell God plainly, one thing at a time, what you are afraid of; if you can, take one very small step.
Scripture: World English Bible.