Genesis 31:1-32:20 (32:21-33:20)

Reading for Friday, Week 3

Genesis 31-32:20 (English Standard Version)

Genesis 31

Jacob Flees from Laban

¹Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, "Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth."²And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you."

⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵and said to them, "I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸If he said, 'The spotted shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, 'The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore striped. ⁹Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. ¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!' ¹²And he said, 'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.'" ¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is thereany portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. ¹⁶All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."

¹⁷So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ²⁰And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²²When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."

²⁵And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? ²⁸And why did you not permit meto kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of yourfather spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.' ³⁰And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did yousteal my gods?" ³¹Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ³² Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵And she said to her father, "Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me." So he searched but did not find the household gods.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, "What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹These 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. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night."

⁴³Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now,let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me." ⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." Therefore he named it Galeed, ⁴⁹ and Mizpah, for he said, "The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. ⁵⁰If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me."

⁵¹Then Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. ⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

⁵⁵ Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Genesis 32

Jacob Fears Esau

¹Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²And when Jacob saw them he said, "This is God’s camp!" So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, ⁴instructing them, "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, 'I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.'"

⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him." ⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸thinking, "If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape."

⁹And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,' ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹²Butyou said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

¹³So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove." ¹⁷He instructed the first, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, 'To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?' ¹⁸then you shall say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.'" ¹⁹He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, "You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, ²⁰and you shall say, 'Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he thought, "I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me."

Pastor's Commentary:

God came to Jacob and told him that he was to leave Laban and return to the land where he had come from. But there were two problems with this. First of all, Jacob was working for Laban at the time. He was kind of like Laban's servant. Although Laban had Jacob serve him for seven years in order to marry Rachel, Laban gave him Leah instead. He could marry Rachel for another seven years of work. Although he had worked for fourteen years, Laban kept Jacob on with the promise of some of Laban's flocks. But Laban changed Jacob's wages again. If Jacob's wages were the spotted sheep and goats, God would cause the offspring of the sheep and goats to be spotted. If Jacob's wages were the white sheep and goats, God would cause the offspring to be white. Laban noticed the difference and changed the wages ten times.

Jacob understood that Laban would not approve Jacob taking his family and flocks and herds back to the promised land. Therefore, he leaves secretly. Laban, however, catches up with him. Even so, God rescued Jacob. God told Laban not to have anything good or bad to say to Jacob. It is funny that Jacob's God comes to talk with Laban in the night, but Laban has to look for his gods, which were probably little statues. Rachel hid them in her saddle. The key for us is that God is where He has promised to be for us. God, of course, is everywhere. We don't have to find Him in a statue or somewhere else He has not promised to be. But we should be ready to find him wherever He has promised. God comes to us through His Word and Sacraments. You can be sure God is there because of His promise.

Even so, Jacob and Laban make an agreement. Neither of them would attack the other. Then Jacob goes on and Laban returns.

At first, Jacob is encouraged by the presence of the angels of God encamping with him. But then Jacob hears word that Esau, his brother, is coming to him with four hundred men! Right away, he divides his camp into two camps, thinking that if Esau attacks one of them, the other will escape. His knees start to knock a bit as he realizes what it means. He decides to send Esau a gift, several waves of flocks and herds as presents for his brother.

Often our lives go from the frying pan into the fire. Often we are like Jacob, we go from one crisis into another. If we learn anything from Jacob, we can see that God watches the whole thing. God resolved to help Jacob for the sake of Jacob's offspring, Jesus Christ our Savior. We can be sure that no matter what happens to us, we have forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus.

Genesis 32:21-33:20 English Standard Version

Genesis 32:21-33:20 (English Standard Version)

²¹So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²²The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." ²⁷And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." ²⁸Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said,"Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.³²Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Genesis 33

Jacob Meets Esau

¹And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ²And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, "Who are these with you?" Jacob said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." ⁶Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down.⁸Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company that I met?" Jacob answered, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." ⁹But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."¹⁰Jacob said, "No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." Thus he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, "Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead ofyou." ¹³But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir."

¹⁵So Esau said, "Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But he said, "What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord." ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city.

¹⁹And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

Pastor's Extended Commentary, Genesis 32:21-33:20 (oopse... I forgot this part...)

Here Jacob is afraid. He sends all of his presents for Esau ahead of him, as well as his workers, family, flocks and herds, the whole of his possessions. He alone remains on the bank of the Jordan that night. And that night, Jacob wrestles with Someone until morning. It seems that Jacob got the upper hand in this business, for the Person Jacob was wrestling had to "cheat" in order to get out of Jacob's grip. He touched Jacob's tendon and it separated. This is, of course, shrouded in not a little mystery. But Jacob wanted to know the name of the Man he wrestled with until morning. He would not let go until the Man blessed him. The Name of the Man can be seen in the name that He gave to Jacob: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. Jacob wrestled with God. God let him win, for the sake of the promises God made to him. It was to strengthen Jacob's faith that God wrestled with him and let him win. Jacob called the place "Penuel" which means, "Face of God." He saw God face to face and did not die, but was blessed by God.

Therefore, strengthened by God's blessing, Jacob goes out and meets Esau, who wanted to kill him. But Esau's heart is melted at the sight of the presents Jacob gave him, and for the sake of the wives and children that God had given to Jacob. God led them to reconcile.

There will come a time when we too will see the face of God. On that day, when the skies roll up like a scroll and when we see Jesus face to face, we can be confident. For Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead. The very One who will come to us on that Day is the One who bought us and loved us.