Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever had to ‘face the music’ as they say, regarding mistakes you’ve made in your past? At the same time did you hope there might be mercy so you could have another chance at straightening out your life going forward? I wonder if you hoped somehow God might intervene in it all and miraculously bring you great grace?
Today we are in that very situation with our friend Jacob, with whom we’ve been traveling for several days. We’re in Genesis 32. Yesterday we saw his fearful reaction to the report his ‘messengers’ had brought him regarding their search for Esau, his brother, and the meeting they’d had with Esau. Their report is only one sentence, but it was enough to send Jacob into a tailspin of near panic: “We went to your brother Esau and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” (Gen. 32:6) Jacob was probably putting himself in Esau’s shoes and imagining what he would do to someone who had cheated and deceived him as badly and repeatedly as he had cheated and deceived his brother Esau, even though more than 20 years had passed. They say time ‘heals all wounds’ but you and I both know sometimes time ‘makes mountains out of molehills, right?
When you hear the word BRIBE what comes to your mind? I don’t know exactly what word fits best with what Jacob did in response to the report from his messengers, but Genesis 32:13-16 explains to us that Jacob selected hundreds of animals from his herds, divided them into three groups, and selected some servants to lead what I will call was a ‘peace parade’ toward Esau. Jacob sent them off with this instruction: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong and where are you going, and who owns all these animals?’ then you are to say to him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.” (Gen. 32:17,18)
Can you picture it in your mind’s eye? At least three large droves of animals, being led by their shepherds, preparing to meet Jacob’s twin brother Esau and his 400 men!! Do you suppose these shepherds hoped that as soon as they identified who they were, Esau’s men would be lenient and not just take the animals and kill the shepherds?! Can you see them replaying the scenarios over and over in their minds…all the ‘what if’ possibilities? Does this scene remind you of a time in your life when you walked toward a courthouse and a judge, or toward your boss for an employee evaluation, or toward a person with whom you’ve had a long standing feud? Can you remember the feelings that welled up inside of you?
The Genesis record tells us what Jacob was thinking which had motivated him to this ‘peace parade’. “Jacob thought, ‘I will pacify Esau with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.’ So Jacob’s gifts went ahead of him, but he spent the night in the camp.” (Gen. 32:20,21) It’s true isn’t it, my friends? There is this part of us that somehow believes gifts can buy love or at least calm tensions. We see it all around us don’t we? In families as parents who have too little time for their children, shower them with gifts, when all the kids really long for is time, conversation and love with their parents. We see it with children as they try to earn the love of their parents with gifts and promises and good grades etc. So where have you seen this type of what some might call ‘generosity manipulation’?
That night something life changing happened for Jacob. Genesis 32 tells us Jacob sent his wives and children and all his remaining possessions across the river Jabbok, and he remained alone. Why? We don’t know for sure, but I presume Jacob wanted to think, reflect and probably pray. Tomorrow may be the end of it all if Esau and 400 men descend upon them in retaliation for all Jacob had done to Esau 20 years before! Then suddenly an unnamed man showed up and started wrestling with Jacob… not for a few moments or hours, but all night long!
This ‘wrestler’ does not identify Himself by name, but it becomes clear before long Jacob knows he is wrestling with some divine being, perhaps an angel. We have very little description of what they said as they wrestled. The record says: “the man touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled… Then the man said, ‘let me go for it is daybreak’. But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ The man asked him, ‘what is your name’? ‘Jacob’ he answered. 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…” (Gen. 32:24-29) We’ve just come through the summer Olympic games and wrestling is one of the sports. Have you ever seen an older man walking with a limp, and when you asked the reason he told you a story of a war injury, or an athletic injury, or an illness? I wonder what story Jacob told when he was asked about his limp?
Who was this ‘wrestler’ and why did he wrestle with Jacob all night long? We don’t know for sure, but I believe he was an angel sent by God to actually help Jacob wrestle with himself… specifically his shameful past, his deceitfulness, all the great damage he had done to his family and especially his immature relationship with God. Jacob had not taken much advantage of the unusual opportunity he had to learn about God from his grandfather Abraham, and it appears to me Jacob had not invested much in getting to know God or maturing his relationship with God. But God had made it clear repeatedly that He wanted to include Jacob in His Covenant work of establishing a new nation of God’s people. But it would require Jacob becoming a changed man... a man who dealt with his shameful past; a man who would substantially change the way he lived and the relationship he had with God; and a man who would change how he led his family.
God has not shared with us all He taught Jacob that night, but by morning Jacob was a different man in two ways. First, he would walk with a limp, reminding him of this long night of wrestling, and second he would be known by a new name. . . Israel! Jacob never wanted to forget this night with God. The record says “So Jacob called this place Peniel, saying, “it is because I saw God and yet my life was spared.’ Then Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so Jacob divided the children among their mothers…. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother Esau.” (Genesis 33:1-3) I want us to stop right here for today, and stand in this scene. Esau, with 400 men probably on mules, donkeys and camels. Facing them Jacob, and behind him his four wives and their children. Over there more flocks and herds and shepherds of Jacob. Jacob leans on his shepherd’s staff, his hip still painful from the night’s wrestle. Obviously Esau has already met the ‘peace parade’ Jacob had sent. But Jacob has no idea what Esau did when he met them. Are Jacob’s shepherds alive or dead? 20 years of animosity and fear is bubbling up in both men. The painful memories of their young adult years are very real, still. What will they say to each other? What will they do?
What have you done when you had to face up to your mess, your painful past? What have you done when you’ve wrestled with God about major life decisions or issues in your life? Let’s just pause right here… what does Jesus want to say to you and me about our past and our future, as He sees it? May I ask… have you experienced the power of Jesus FREEING you from your past? Are you living in the power of this Scripture: “There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death!” (Romans 8:1,2)
I wonder if this song sums up what Jacob wrestled with that night and what he felt as he approached his brother Esau, the next morning …
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 32.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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