Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. Psa 91:112Ki 6:16-17Eph 3:10Heb 1:4Psa 34:71Co 3:22 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim. 1 2Sa 2:8Jos 21:38Jos 5:141Ki 2:82Sa 17:24Luk 2:13Psa 148:2Psa 34:7
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. Gen 25:30Jos 24:4Deu 2:5Gen 14:6Gen 33:14Deu 2:22Gen 27:41-42Gen 33:16 He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. 1Pe 3:61Ki 20:321Sa 26:17Ecc 10:4Exo 32:22Gen 23:6Gen 27:29Gen 27:37 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’” Gen 33:8Gen 33:152Sa 16:4Gen 30:43Gen 31:16Gen 33:11Gen 47:25Job 6:22
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.” Gen 33:1Amo 5:19Gen 27:40-41Gen 32:11Gen 32:8
In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. Gen 35:32Co 1:42Co 1:8-102Ti 3:12Act 14:22Exo 14:10Gen 32:11Isa 28:26 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.” Gen 33:1-3Mat 10:16
Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ Gen 31:42Psa 34:4-6Gen 28:13Gen 31:13Gen 31:3Gen 31:53Psa 50:151Sa 30:6 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Psa 18:35Gen 24:271Ti 1:12-152Sa 7:181Jn 1:8-101Pe 5:52Co 12:11Dan 9:8-9 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. Mat 6:13Pro 18:19Psa 59:1-21Sa 12:101Sa 24:15Dan 3:17Gen 27:41Hos 10:14 But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’” Gen 28:13-15Heb 6:172Ti 2:13Gen 22:17Gen 46:3-4Mat 24:35Tit 1:21Sa 15:29
Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: Pro 18:16Gen 43:11Gen 43:26Pro 17:8Pro 19:6Pro 21:141Sa 25:271Sa 25:8 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, Deu 8:18Job 1:3Job 42:121Sa 25:2Gen 30:43Gen 31:16Gen 31:9 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.” Gen 32:20Gen 33:8-9Isa 28:26Mat 10:16Pro 2:11Psa 112:5
He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ Gen 33:3 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’” Gen 32:4-5
He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau 2with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me. 3” Job 42:8-9Pro 21:141Ki 20:311Sa 25:17-351Sa 6:52Ti 2:25Gen 43:11Jon 3:9
So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. Deu 3:16Deu 2:371Ti 5:8Jos 12:2Gen 35:22-26Gen 35:18Gen 29:21 He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.
So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man 4wrestled with him until daybreak. Hos 12:3-5Eph 6:12Gen 32:28Luk 13:24Gen 32:30Eph 6:18Gen 30:8Luk 22:44 When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. 2Co 12:7-9Hos 12:3-4Gen 32:32Isa 41:14Isa 45:11Mat 26:41Gen 19:22Mat 15:22-28 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” Hos 12:4Psa 115:12-132Co 12:8-91Ch 4:10Psa 67:1Sng 3:4Luk 18:1-7Luk 24:28-29
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
“What is your name?” the man asked.
“Jacob,” he replied.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, 5 but Israel, 6 because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.” Rev 2:17Gen 35:10Isa 62:2-4Hos 12:3-5Gen 27:33-36Gen 17:5Gen 17:15Gen 25:31
And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” Isa 9:6Jdg 13:16-18Job 11:7Gen 27:28-29Gen 28:13-14Hos 6:1Luk 1:19Pro 30:4
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.
So Jacob named the place Peniel, 7 saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” Exo 24:10-11Isa 6:5Num 12:8Deu 5:24Gen 16:13Exo 33:19-23Jhn 1:182Ti 1:10
The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, 8 and he was limping because of his hip. 2Co 12:72Co 12:9Gen 19:15Gen 19:23Gen 32:25Jdg 8:8Mal 4:2Psa 38:17 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon which is at the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon. 1Sa 5:5