Bible Study In Defence of Jacob

[Asyncritus]

As we all know, Jacob gets some pretty bad press: crook, deceiver, charlatan, cheat etc etc.

I'd like to take a look at his meeting with Esau on the way back from Paddanaram to show that he's nothing of the sort, really, but rather a most faithful man

After all, would God say 'I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and this crook Jacob'? Highly unlikely, I would have thought.

So here's this somewhat detailed study.

 

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1 ¶ And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

[Most curious happening. The nearest things I recall are Joshua meeting the captain of the Lord's host (ch 6.13), and Elisha praying for God to open the eyes of the servant to see the chariots of fire. In both cases, the appearance is to strengthen men of faith, just as here.]

3 ¶ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

As a direct result of that meeting, presumably (although it doesn't say so), he takes the following action.

4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

There is no hostility in his remarks, and the conciliatory tone is very apparent: '..that I may find grace in thy sight'. This is in entire agreement with the Lords's remark: '...agree with thine adversary quickly', and Jacob joins the huge list of OT faithful men who obeyed the Lord's command even though He had not come as yet.

Esau is not so easily placated.

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

Esau has obviously heard of the size of Jacob's entourage, and is determined to meet force with force. Take no chances, is his motto, as he brings this sizable contingent. It is curious that he reveals his hand - probably telling Jacob's messengers that he was coming with 400, otherwise how did they know so exactly?

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.


We note no hostile disposal of his forces. He does not make warlike preparations, though with the sons he had, he might well have done so. He splits them into two groups, neither of which does he command to defend themselves, merely seeking that at least one of the groups should escape. He again does not defend himself, as the Lord later commanded.

Had Esau destroyed one group, and been hellbent on murder and mayhem, then being shepherds, they would have had no chance at all of survival - either of the 2 groups, because having finished one lot off, they would have proceeded to decimate the other, which could not have gone far given the nature of the members. It was a futlle, optimistic. if well-intentioned effort.

 

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He realises precisely this, and turns to the One to Whom he has ever attributed whatever success he has had in his life:

31.42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight

31.11 And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.
13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

31.9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

9 ¶ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:

He affirms what he said to his wives, and his obedience to the command of God.


10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

It's difficult to see anything BUT humility in the man, in these words - and we would do well to appropriate them to ourselves in our own prayers.

I came alone, he says, and just look at how much You have given me - just as you promised.

11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

I can't deliver myself - but You can. Esau, he says, will have to go through me first, before he gets to the mother and her children, but implies - knowing him, he probably will.

12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

There is an immensely faithful declaration here. 'You said I will be as the sand of the sea. If Esau wipes me out, how can your promise be fulfilled?'

I believe you, Lord: I'm standing on the promises of God, my Saviour.

13 ¶ And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.

The size of the gift cannot be overestimated. This represents well over £1,000,000 - the breeding bulls alone, if they were top grade, as I would expect them to be, are about £100,000 each in today's prices. Each goat, is about £80 - 150, and I don't have a valuation of the camels and donkeys. But the immense value is fairly plain.

 

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Given that, it is difficult to sustain the charges of swindling. greed, and covetousness. This is open-handed generosity of spirit, and again a fulfilment of another of the Lord's commandments:

Lk 14. 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.


And yet another:

Matthew 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

The humility of the man's spirit is perfectly clear, too. Listen to the tone of these words:

18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.
19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

He now separates his possessions from himself, knowing that it would be he himself that would be the object of Esau's vengeance, if he decided to wreak it.

In any case, with himself gone, Esau would have the lot anyway.

22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

Everybody is sent over - and he is left alone to await his fate at Esau's hands, whatever it might be. The man's courage is faultless. He has sent the innocent and uninvolved over, and he alone is left. Esau's gang of thugs would come on them, not find him, and acting on Esau's orders, might leave them alone, until they found him. In any case they could not get too far.

So he awaits his fate at his brother's hands in the darkness of the night.

 

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Would Esau come alone at night to finish him off, or wait till daybreak? What would the cunning hunter do? For sure he would be confused, and not expect Jacob to be alone: he would surely be hiding in the middle of the groups? But alone he was, with grim determination to meet whatever was coming.

What follows is surely one of the most remarkable accounts in the Scriptures.

Left in the dark, alone, by himself, suddenly, it seems, he is pounced upon by this man. Was it Esau? Or one of his formidable hatchet men? Did he intend to kill him, or merely administer a terrible beating? Jacob did not know, but it is certain that he intended to stop whoever it was from reaching his wives and children.

And so this vicious, hand to hand battle began, and continued through the night, testifying to Jacob's great strength of arm, and skill in wrestling. He was certainly no pushover or weakling. His labour in the fields had hardened his muscles, and given him real punching power and iron grip, and they were exerted to the full in the darkness and anonymity of that frightening night.

So much so, that the angel could not beat him by fair means, and had to resort to supernatural power.

The lesson is very plain. Because he held on so stongly to God, and would not let go of Him however dark the night may have been, he was greatly blessed, and given a new name - as we will be:

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

 

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Whatever injuries and scars those struggles cause, may be carried through our lives - but will not matter in the end.

Hosea takes this up, using the strength and power of their father Jacob as an exhortation to the wicked, weakling nation that they would do well to heed:

2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. [i.e. the nation]

Your father:

3 ...took his [wicked] brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: [holding on to him desperately in the dark night of struggle]

4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him:
[this is the godly attitude. See that you follow his example].

he [God] found him [Jacob] in Bethel, [after all this was over]

and there he [God] spake with us; [it was written for our learning]

5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. [You've got plenty of good examples to follow in your father Jacob].

Your father Jacob was a faithful man, Judah. He supplanted his wicked brother. He was so strong that he had power over the angel of God. A wicked man could not do this! He prevailed - and defeated the angel. He wept and made supplication to him, and was heard, in that he feared.

Therefore, copy his example, supplant wickedness, keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God - as he did, and said very clearly:

Gen 49.18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

Jeremiah is also most illuminating on the point, and there is no vestige of condemnation in his words:

31. 7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.


8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.


9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.


10 ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.


11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. [Esau].

 

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The conclusion of the matter is no less extraordinarily in favour of Jacob than the struggle:

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

There is no trace of condemnation in the angel's words - rather admiration and praise. A prince is someone higher than the normal run of the mill person, and as a prince was Jacob in the estimation of God. There aren't too many greater compliments paid to mortal man than this one.

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.


The matter concludes with God blessing him.

The morning comes, and Jacob on some eminence no doubt, sees in the distance, the oncoming cloud heralding the coming of Esau.

 

[Asyncritus]

He divides the children and their mothers into 2 groups, and keeps Rachel and Joseph, the youngest and the weakest, at the back. Surely, he thinks, Esau will not slaughter women and children.

Esau arrives, and is met with little besides kindness and subservience. The 400 men probably encircles the whole multitude, who are fearing for their lives, no doubt.

¶ And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.


3 And he passed over before them,

He puts himself in harm's way FIRST, and goes to greet Esau

and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

publicly declaring his subservience

Esau in his turn, and to his credit, doubtless sweetened by the enormously valuable gift, cannot help but greet Jacob in friendly fashion:

4 And Esau ran to meet him (!! - like the prodigal son returning home!) , and embraced him (!!!), and fell on his neck, and kissed him (!!!!!): and they wept.

Now note the humility in his conversation with Esau.

5 ¶ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.

6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.
10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

 

[Asyncritus]

Here is an unmistakable reference to last night's struggle, which Esau could not possibly recognise.

11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

I'm sorry this has gone on so long, but it has been an instructive exercise for me to confirm the sterling qualities of the man exhibited here.

I can find no fault in:

1. God's sending His angels to strengthen him as He did with Joshua and others

2. Voluntary and profound humility and submission to his brother.

3. The complete absence of any hostility in his speaking of, and to Esau.

4. Seeking to protect the weak, the women and the children by whatever means at his disposal.

5. Receiving God's profound blessing as a result of his struggle with the angel, which struggle is

6. Used as a great exhortation by Hosea

7. Showing enormous generosity of spirit in the size of the absolutely HUGE gift (worth £1,000,000 at least) he gives to Esau

8.Putting himself in harm's way FIRST.

I really can't see anything to decry in the above.

 

[tim-from-pa]

Great Study! I think if I had to wrap up Jacob in a few words, he just had this tendency to want to do things his way and beat God to it so-to-speak. He had to add his own plan to everything to feel secure.

Yes, he tricked Esau out of the birthright, but God would have given it to Jacob eventually anyway considering Esau despised it. But Jacob had to rush things his way first and again, beat God to it by being tricky. This is why he later had all these other troubles whereas God would have made things a little smoother sailing for Jacob had he waited on the Lord.

You can see his doubt and guilt in the famous story dreaming of angels ascending and descending he wakes up and makes the pledge that if God brought him back safely that he'd give him a tithe.

I take comfort in characters like Jacob, as it shows he was very human, and yet God used him to make the greatest promises ever uttered to a man as a foundation of God's Kingdom.