[And He Walks With Me] Genesis 32
1-2 Seeing God’s angels provided no new revelation to Jacob, but it was confirmation of God’s promise to be with you in 31:3. This must have bolstered Jacob’s faith!
3-5 Given the way things were left when Jacob and Esau last saw each other (see 27:41-46), Jacob expected Esau would meet him with hostility. He therefore took great pains to demonstrate his intent to reconcile. He sent messengers, announcing his arrival so that Esau would not think he was setting a surprise attack. He addressed Esau as my lord Esau and referred to himself as your servant Jacob, indicating a degree of respect and deference typically reserved for the clan leader (i.e., the one who received the father’s blessing). He declared, I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and… slaves, suggesting that he had no need for anything that was Esau’s and no intention of taking the birthright that was rightfully his. Finally, he explained his intention to inform my lord and to seek your favor.
6-8 The messengers’ report could be taken two ways. Either Esau was so excited that he was bringing his whole household of four hundred men to meet his brother in celebration, or Esau was so enraged that he was bringing his private army of four hundred men to meet his brother in battle. Jacob’s reasonable response was to be greatly afraid and distressed.
Jacob responds to his fear with the prudent strategy of dividing his people into two camps.
9-12 In addition to strategically dividing his camp, Jacob took the matter to the Lord in prayer. His prayer, however, was not one of desperation. Rather, he simply reminded God and himself of the way God had provided and fulfilled promises thus far. No doubt, he was also thinking about how he saw the angels of the Lord in vs 1, and all of these things bolstered his faith. A key strategy for reinforcing weak faith and building additional faith is thanksgiving and praise.
13-15 Without any additional clarification of his brother’s intentions, Jacob again acts strategically. He separated 220 goats, 220 sheep, 30 milk camels and their young, 50 head of cattle, and 30 donkeys and then sent them, one by one, ahead of himself and the main body of the household. Each of these represented a substantial amount of wealth. All of them together was worth a small fortune. In fact, “it is larger than many towns would have been able to pay in tribute to conquering kings even at later dates.”[70] Jacob, however, saw them as a small price to seek reconciliation with Esau and protect the rest of his household from Esau’s wrath.
The gifts may have also presented an additional, tactical advantage for Jacob. If Esau was intent on destroying him, the men with him would now be distracted attending to the livestock. Their ability to maneuver would be greatly encumbered. And if they were mercenaries fighting for the right to plunder Jacob’s estate, they may even be satisfied with what he sent ahead before seeing the rest of his household.[71]
20 Jacob’s aim throughout this scene was to appease Esau. Both his words and actions confirm the sincerity of his transformation.[72]
24 Often, it feels like we are wrestling with God when we have done everything we can and are now left alone to wait. Most people have a long, anxious, sleepless night at some point or another during their lives, and it is tempting to think at those times that God is distant or even absent altogether. Yet, the image of a man [wrestling] with Jacob should be of great encouragement to us because it means that God is there, even during those sleepless nights when we wait anxiously for resolution to dawn, and it suggests that those long, anxious, sleepless nights may actually grant us a new level of intimacy with our Lord. Until this point, Jacob had experienced only brief glimpses of God, but now, he has had a full night grappling with him!
27-28 What God does here is an extraordinary validation of the transformation already evidenced in Jacob’s words and deeds. Jacob meant “He Grasps the Heel” or trickster, but now, he will be called Israel, which sounded similar to the Hebrew word meaning “he struggled (with) God” (see CSB text note). The preposition there is important. This was not struggling against God, but on the same side. At last, Jacob was aligned with God’s character and command for his life, and we can live the same way!
31 The sun and the hip both provided tangible reminders of Jacob’s experience with God. The sun, of course, was for the moment. Eventually, the clouds would return, but the limp would last at least until the hip was healed.
[70] Keener and Walton 2016, Genesis 32:14-15
[71] Keener and Walton 2016, Genesis 32:1-21
[72] Sproul 2016, Genesis 32:4,5