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Genesis Chapter Thirty-two

Genesis 32

Chapter Contents

Jacob's vision at Mahanaim, His fear of Esau. (1-8) Jacob's earnest prayer for deliverance, He prepares a present for Esau. (9-23) He wrestles with the Angel. (24-32)

Commentary on Genesis 32:1-8

The angels of God appeared to Jacob, to encourage him with the assurance of the Divine protection. When God designs his people for great trials, he prepares them by great comforts. While Jacob, to whom the promise belonged, had been in hard service, Esau was become a prince. Jacob sent a message, showing that he did not insist upon the birth-right. Yielding pacifies great offences, Ecclesiastes 10:4. We must not refuse to speak respectfully, even to those unjustly angry with us. Jacob received an account of Esau's warlike preparations against him, and was greatly afraid. A lively sense of danger, and quickening fear arising from it, may be found united with humble confidence in God's power and promise.

Commentary on Genesis 32:9-23

Times of fear should be times of prayer: whatever causes fear, should drive us to our knees, to our God. Jacob had lately seen his guards of angels, but in this distress he applied to God, not to them; he knew they were his fellow-servants, Revelation 22:9. There cannot be a better pattern for true prayer than this. Here is a thankful acknowledgement of former undeserved favours; a humble confession of unworthiness; a plain statement of his fears and distress; a full reference of the whole affair to the Lord, and resting all his hopes on him. The best we can say to God in prayer, is what he has said to us. Thus he made the name of the Lord his strong tower, and could not but be safe. Jacob's fear did not make him sink into despair, nor did his prayer make him presume upon God's mercy, without the use of means. God answers prayers by teaching us to order our affairs aright. To pacify Esau, Jacob sent him a present. We must not despair of reconciling ourselves to those most angry against us.

Commentary on Genesis 32:24-32

A great while before day, Jacob being alone, more fully spread his fears before God in prayer. While thus employed, One in the likeness of a man wrestled with him. When the spirit helpeth our infirmities, and our earnest and vast desires can scarcely find words to utter them, and we still mean more than we can express, then prayer is indeed wrestling with God. However tried or discouraged, we shall prevail; and prevailing with Him in prayer, we shall prevail against all enemies that strive with us. Nothing requires more vigour and unceasing exertion than wrestling. It is an emblem of the true spirit of faith and prayer. Jacob kept his ground; though the struggle continued long, this did not shake his faith, nor silence his prayer. He will have a blessing, and had rather have all his bone put out of joint than go away without one. Those who would have the blessing of Christ, must resolve to take no denial. The fervent prayer is the effectual prayer. The Angel puts a lasting mark of honour upon him, by changing his name. Jacob signifies a supplanter. From henceforth he shall be celebrated, not for craft and artful management, but for true valour. Thou shalt be called Israel, a prince with God, a name greater than those of the great men of the earth. He is a prince indeed that is a prince with God; those are truly honourable that are mighty in prayer. Having power with God, he shall have power with men too; he shall prevail, and gain Esau's favour. Jacob gives a new name to the place. He calls it Peniel, the face of God, because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God. It becomes those whom God honours, to admire his grace towards them. The Angel who wrestled with Jacob was the second Person in the sacred Trinity, who was afterwards God manifest in the flesh, and who, dwelling in human nature, is called Immanuel, Hosea 12:4,5. Jacob halted on his thigh. It might serve to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of the revelations. The sun rose on Jacob: it is sun-rise with that soul, which has had communion with God.

── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》

Genesis 32

Verse 1

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

And the Angel of God met him - In a visible appearance; whether in a vision by day, or in a dream by night, as when he saw them upon the ladder, is uncertain. They met him to bid him welcome to Canaan again; a more honourable reception than ever any prince had that was met by the magistrates of a city. They met him to congratulate his arrival, and his escape from Laban. They had invisibly attended him all along, but now they appeared, because he had greater dangers before him. When God designs his people for extraordinary trials, he prepares them by extraordinary comforts.

Verse 2

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

This is God's house — A good man may, with an eye of faith, see the same that Jacob saw with his bodily eyes. What need we dispute whether he has a guardian angel, when we are sure he has a guard of angels about him? To preserve the remembrance of this favour, Jacob gave a name to the place from it, Mahanaim, two hosts, or two camps probably they appeared to him in two hosts, one on either side, or one in the front, and the other in the rear, to protect him from Laban behind, and Esau before, that they might be a compleat guard. Here was Jacob's family that made one army, representing the church militant and itinerant on earth; and the angels another army, representing the church triumphant, and at rest in heaven.

Verse 4

[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:

He calls Esau his lord, himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist upon the prerogatives of the birth-right and blessing he had obtained for himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed. He gives him a short account of himself, that he was not a fugitive and a vagabond, but though long absent had dwelt with his own relations. I have sojourned with Laban, and staid there till now: and that he was not a beggar, nor likely to be a charge to his relations; no, I have oxen and asses - This he knew would (if any thing) recommend him to Esau's good affection. And, he courts his favour; I have sent that I may find grace in thy sight - It is no disparagement to those that have the better cause to become petitioners for reconciliation, and to sue for peace as well as right.

Verse 6

[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.

He cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him — He is now weary of waiting for the days of mourning for his father, and before those come resolves to slay his brother. Out he marches with four hundred men, probably such as used to hunt with him, armed no doubt, ready to execute the word of command.

Verse 7

[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;

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed — A lively apprehension of danger, may very well consist with a humble confidence in God's power and promise.

Verse 9

[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 addresseth himself to God as the God of his fathers: such was the sense he had of his own unworthiness, that he did not call God his own God, but a God in covenant with his ancestors. O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac. And this he could better plead, because the covenant was entailed upon him.

Thou saidst unto me, Return unto thy country — He did not rashly leave his place with Laban, out of a foolish fondness for his native country; but in obedience to God's command.

Verse 10

[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.

I am not worthy — It is a surprising plea. One would think he should have pleaded that what was now in danger was his own against all the world, and that he had earned it dear enough; no, he pleads, Lord, I am not worthy of it.

Of the least of all the mercies — Here is mercies in the plural number, an inexhaustible spring, and innumerable streams; mercies and truth, past mercies given according to the promise and farther mercies secured by the promise. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, much less am I worthy of so great a favour as this I am now suing for. Those are best prepared for the greatest mercies that see themselves unworthy of the least.

For with my staff I passed over this Jordan — Poor and desolate, like a forlorn and despised pilgrim: He had no guides, no companions, no attendants.

And now I am become two bands — Now I am surrounded with a numerous retinue of children and servants. Those whose latter end doth greatly increase, ought with humility and thankfulness to remember how small their beginning was.

Verse 11

[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.

Lord, deliver me from Esau, for I fear him - The fear that quickens prayer is itself pleadable. It was not a robber, but a murderer that he was afraid of: nor was it his own life only that lay at stake, but the mothers, and the childrens.

Verse 12

[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.

Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good — The best we can say to God in prayer is, what he hath said to us. God's promises as they are the surest guide of our desires in prayer, and furnish us with the best petitions, so they are the firmest ground of our hopes, and furnish us with the best pleas.

Thou saidst, I will do thee good — Lord, do me good in this matter. He pleads also a particular promise, that of the multiplying of his seed. Lord, what will become of that promise, if they be all cut off?

Verse 13

[13] And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

Jacob having piously made God his friend by a prayer, is here prudently endeavouring to make Esau his friend by a present. He had prayed to God to deliver him from the hand of Esau - His prayer did not make him presume upon God's mercy, without the use of means.

Verse 17

[17] And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

He sent him also a very humble message, which he ordered his servants to deliver in the best manner. They must call Esau their lord, and Jacob his servant: they must tell him the cattle they had was a small present which Jacob had sent him. They must especially take care to tell him that Jacob was coming after, that he might not suspect him fled. A friendly confidence in mens goodness may help to prevent the mischief designed us by their badness.

Verse 24

[24] And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Very early in the morning, a great while before day. Jacob had helped his wives and children over the river, and he desired to be private, and was left alone, that he might again spread his cares and fears before God in prayer. While Jacob was earnest in prayer, stirring up himself to take hold on God, an angel takes hold on him. Some think this was a created angel, one of those that always behold the face of our Father. Rather it was the angel of the covenant, who often appeared in a human shape, before he assumed the human nature. We are told by the prophet, Hosea 12:4, how Jacob wrestled, he wept and made supplication; prayers and tears were his weapons. It was not only a corporal, but a spiritual wrestling by vigorous faith and holy desire.

Verse 25

[25] And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

The angel prevailed not against him - That is, this discouragement did not shake his faith, nor silence his prayer. It was not in his own strength that he wrestled, nor by his own strength that he prevails; but by strength derived from heaven. That of Job illustrates this, Job 23:6. Will he plead against me with his great power? No; had the angel done so, Jacob had been crushed; but he would put strength in me: and by that strength Jacob had power over the angel, Hosea 12:3. The angel put out Jacob's thigh, to shew him what he could do, and that it was God he was wrestling with, for no man could disjoint his thigh with a touch. Some think that Jacob felt little or no pain from this hurt; it is probable be did not, for he did not so much as halt 'till the struggle was over, Genesis 32:31, and if so, that was an evidence of a divine touch indeed, which wounded and healed at the same time.

Verse 26

[26] And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Let me go — The angel, by an admirable condescension, speaks Jacob fair to let him go, as God said to Moses, Exodus 32:10. Let me alone. Could not a mighty angel get clear of Jacob's grapples? He could; but thus he would put an honour upon Jacob's faith and prayer. The reason the angel gives why he would be gone is because the day breaks, and therefore he would not any longer detain Jacob, who had business to do, a journey to go, a family to look after.

And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me — He resolves he will have a blessing, and rather shall all his bones be put out of joint, than he will go away without one. Those that would have the blessing of Christ must be in good earnest, and be importunate for it.

Verse 27

[27] And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

What is thy name? — Jacob (saith he) a supplanter, so Jacob signifies. Well, (faith the angel) be thou never so called any more: thou shalt be called Israel, a prince with God. He is a prince indeed, that is a prince with God; and those are truly honourable that are mighty, in prayer. Yet this was not all; having, power with God, he shall have power with men too; having prevailed for a blessing from heaven, he shall, no doubt, prevail for Esau's favour. Whatever enemies we have, if we can but make God our friend, we are well enough; they that by faith have power in heaven, have thereby as much power on earth as they have occasion for.

Verse 29

[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.

Wherefore dost thou ask after my name? — What good will it do thee to know that? The discovery of that was reserved for his death-bed, upon which he was taught to call him Shiloh. But instead of telling him his name, he gave him his blessing, which was the thing he wrestled for; he blessed him there, repeated and ratified the blessing formerly given him. See how wonderfully God condescends to countenance and crown importunate prayer? Those that resolve though God slay them, yet to trust in him, will at length be more than conquerors.

Verse 30

[30] And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Peniel — That is, the face of God, because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God.

Verse 31

[31] And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

He halted on his thigh — And some think he continued to do so to his dying day. If he did, he had no reason to complain, for the honour and comfort he obtained by his struggle was abundantly sufficient to countervail the damage, though he went limping to his grave.

── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Genesis》

JACOB’S PRAYER. Genesis 32.

There are six things we note about Jacob’s prayer.

Ⅰ. Jacob’s fear of his brother’s anger was the prompter of his prayer (verse 11). The cause of Jacob’s fear of his brother was his mean conduct towards him; hence he is seen cringing before Esau like a guilty culprit supplicating for mercy; and acting like a coward in that he sends one company in front of the other, and sends a present to appease his brother’s anger. Note that any punishment we unrighteously inflict upon others is sure to come back upon our heads. But for all that the Lord listened to Jacob’s cry. What a God of grace with whom we have to do!

Ⅱ. Jacob’s relationship to God is his plea in prayer (ver.9). He pleads his relationship to God in the words. “ O God of my father,” ＆c. If we know God as our Father, the right way in speaking to Him is to call Him “ Father” (see John 1:12,13; Gal.4:6). But if we have not answered God’s prayer (11. Cor.5:20), how can we expect Him to answer ours? A father will often grant the request of his child while he refuses the plea of a stranger.

Ⅲ. God’s promise is Jacob’s argument in prayer (ver.9,12). Jacob pleads two “ I wills” of God. When we can pin our prayers to God’s promise, we are sure He will perform His word. Mr. Spurgeon says, “ Prayer should be pillared on promises, and pinnacled with praises.”

Ⅳ. Jacob’s prayer is mingled with confession (ver.10). All God’s servants have ever confessed their unworthiness.

Ⅴ. Jacob’s prayer is perfumed with praise (verse 10). Jacob acknowledges the mercy he had received from God, and gives praise to God. A thankful man is full of blessing, while a thankless man is full of complaint. If we bless God with our praises, He will bless us with His mercies.

Ⅵ. Jacob’s prayer is definite, personal, and answered (5:11). “ Deliver me,” Jacob cries, and the sequel shows how graciously God granted his prayer. His prayer was short and to the point, and it brought a speedy answer.

── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》

JACOB’S BLESSING. Genesis 32:25-30.

Ⅰ. Jacob received no blessing as long as he was struggling (verse 25). Jacob was resisting the man who came to him, instead of submitting. Trusting in the Lord is the condition to be in to receive blessing, not striving against Him.

Ⅱ. Jacob’s humiliation is the beginning of blessing (5:25). The angel touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh. His strength was gone, as his thigh is out of joint. The thigh out of joint humbled Jacob, and led him to see his weakness, and that brought him in joint with God.

Ⅲ. Jacob’s clinging is the secret of his blessing (verse 26). Jacob will not let the angel go till he blesses him; but mark, it is while he clings he is blessed, and not while he is striving. The resistance of unbelief and self-will will never receive blessing, but the tenacity of faith always does.

Ⅳ. Jacob’s changed name an evidence of blessing (verse 28). From Jacob, a supplanter, he is called “ Israel,” i. e., a prince with God. In like manner they who believe in Christ have their name changed from children of wrath (Eph.2:3) to children of God (John 1:12); from sinners to saints.

── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》

JACOB’S ISOLATION.

Jacob’s isolation with God (Gen.32:24).—The very best thing for Jacob was to be alone with God. One has well said in speaking of this aloneness with God, “Jacob was left alone purposely for secret prayer, so the Church gets into ‘the clefts of the rocks’ (Cant.2:14); Isaac into the fields; Daniel to the river’s side; Christ into the mount; Peter up to the house-top; that they may pour out their prayers and solace themselves with God in secret.”

Ⅰ. Alone with God we are stripped of self-righteousness, as in the case of Job (Job 42:6).

Ⅱ. Alone with God we get to know our inward corruption and uncomeliness, as in the case of Daniel (Daniel 10:8).

Ⅲ. Alone with Christ, He instructs in Divine things as He did His disciples (Mark 4:34).

Ⅳ. Alone with God we are led into greater blessing, as in the case of Jacob (verse 28,29).

32 Chapter 32

Verse 1

Genesis 32:1; Genesis 32:9

And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim

The ministry of angels

I. THE ANGELS THEMSELVES.

1. Their number is very great.

2. They are swift as the flames of fire.

3. They are strong.

4. They seem to be all young.

5. They are evidently endowed with corresponding moral excellences.

II. THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS HAS THESE CHARACTERISTICS. It is a ministry of--

1. Guardianship.

2. Cheerfulness.

3. Animation.

4. Consolation.

5. Fellowship and convoy through death to life, and from earth to heaven.

III. THE WHOLE SUBJECT SHOWS IN A VERY STRIKING MANNER--

1. The exceeding greatness of the glory of Christ.

2. The value and greatness of salvation. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

Angelic ministrations

Every man has two lives--an outward and an inward. The one is that denoted here: “Jacob went on his way,” &c. The other is denoted in Genesis 32:24 : “Jacob was left alone,” &c. In either state God dealt with him.

I. THE ANGELS OF GOD MET HIM, We do not know in what form they appeared, or by what sign Jacob recognized them. In its simplicity the angelic office is a doctrine of revelation. There exists even now a society and a fellowship between the sinless and the fallen. As man goes on his way, the angels of God meet him.

II. ARE THERE ANY SPECIAL WAYS IN WHICH WE MAY RECOGNIZE AND USE THIS SYMPATHY?

1. The angelic office is sometimes discharged in human form. We may entertain angels unawares. Let us count common life a ministry; let us be on the look-out for angels.

2. We must exercise a vigorous self-control lest we harm or tempt. Our Saviour has warned us of the presence of the angels as a reason for not offending His little ones. Their angels He calls them, as though to express the closeness of the tie that binds together the unfallen and the struggling. We may gather from the story two practical lessons.

Meeting with angels

I. The angels of God meet us on THE DUSTY ROAD OF COMMON LIFE.

II. God’s angels meet us PUNCTUALLY at the hour of need.

III. The angels of God come IN THE SHAPE WHICH WE NEED. Jacob’s want was protection; therefore the angels appear in warlike guise, and present before the defenceless man another camp. God’s gifts to us change their character; as the Rabbis fabled that manna tasted to each man what each most desired. In that great fulness each of us may have the thing we need. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Jacob’s visible and invisible world

I. JACOB’S VISIBLE WORLD. He had just escaped the persecutions of his father-in-law, and was now expecting to meet with a fiercer enemy in his brother. All was dread and anxiety.

II. JACOB’S INVISIBLE WORLD. What a different scene is presented to him when his spiritual eye is opened, and God permits him to see those invisible forces which were engaged on his side. We are told that “the angels of God met him.” He was weak to all human appearance; but he was really strong, for God’s host had come to deliver him from any host of men that might oppose. The host of God is described as parting into two bands, as if to protect him behind and before; or to assure him that as he had been delivered from one enemy, so he would be delivered from another enemy, which was coming forth to meet him. Thus Jacob was taught--

1. To whom he owed his late mercies.

2. The true source of his protection.

3. His faith is confirmed. It is justified for the past, and placed upon a firmer basis for the future. (T. H. Leale.)

Hosts of angels

1. God has a multitude of servants, and all these are on the side of believers. “His camp is very great,” and all the hosts in that camp are our allies. Some of these are visible agents, and many more are invisible, but none the less real and powerful.

2. We know that a guard of angels always surrounds every believer. “Omnipotence has servants everywhere.” These servants of the strong God are all filled with power; there is not one that fainteth among them all, they run like mighty men, they prevail as men of war. We know that they “excel in strength,” as they “do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” Rejoice, O children of God! There are vast armies upon your side, and each one of the warriors is clothed with the strength of God.

3. All these agents work in order, for it is God’s host, and the host is made up of beings which march or fly, according to the order of command. “Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path.” All the forces of nature are loyal to their Lord. They are perfectly happy, because consecrated; full of delight, because completely absorbed in doing the will of the Most High. Oh that we could do His will on earth as that will is done in heaven by all the heavenly ones!

4. Observe that in this great host they were all punctual to the Divine command. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. The patriarch is no sooner astir than the hosts of God are on the wing. They did not linger till Jacob had crossed the frontier, nor did they keep him waiting when he came to the appointed rendezvous; but they were there to the moment. When God means to deliver you, beloved, in the hour of danger, you will find the appointed force ready for your succour. God’s messengers are neither behind nor before their time; they will meet us to the inch and to the second in the time of need; therefore let us proceed without fear, like Jacob, going on our way even though an Esau with a band of desperadoes should block up the road.

5. Those forces of God, too, were all engaged personally to attend upon Jacob. I like to set forth this thought: “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him”; he did not chance to fall in with them. They did not happen to be on the march, and so crossed the patriarch’s track; no, no; he went on his way, and the angels of God met him with design and purpose. They came on purpose to meet him: they had no other appointment. Squadrons of angels marched to meet that one lone man He was a saint, but by no means a perfect one; we cannot help seeing many flaws in him, even upon a superficial glance at his life, and yet the angels of God met him. All came to wait upon Jacob, on that one man: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him”; but in this case it was to one man with his family of children that a host was sent. The man himself, the lone man who abode in covenant with God when all the rest of the world was given up to idols, was favoured by this mark of Divine favour. One delights to think that the angels should be willing, and even eager, troops of them, to meet one man. Are ye not well cared for, oh ye sons of the Most High!

6. Those forces, though in themselves invisible to the natural senses, are manifest to faith at certain times. There are times when the child of God is able to cry, like Jacob, “The angels of God have met me.” When do such seasons occur? Our Mahanaims occur at much the same time as that in which Jacob beheld this great sight. Jacob was entering upon a more separated life. He was leaving Laban and the school of all those tricks of bargaining and bartering which belong to the ungodly world. By a desperate stroke he cut himself clear of entanglements; but he must have felt lonely, and as one cast adrift. He missed all the associations of the old house of Mesopotamia, which, despite its annoyances, was his home. The angels come to congratulate him. Their presence said, “You are come to this land to be a stranger and sojourner with God, as all your fathers were. We have, some of us, talked with Abraham, again and again, and we are now coming to smile on you. You recollect how we bade you good-bye that night, when you had a stone for your pillow at Bethel; now you have come back to the reserved inheritance, over which we are set as guardians, and we have come to salute you. Take up the nonconforming life without fear, for we are with you. Welcome I welcome I we are glad to receive you under our special care.” Again, the reason why the angels met Jacob at that time was, doubtless, because he was surrounded with great cares. He had a large family of little children; and great flocks and herds and many servants were with him. Again, the Lord’s host appeared when Jacob felt a great dread. His brother Esau was coming to meet him armed to the teeth, and, as he feared, thirsty for his blood. In times when our danger is greatest, if we are real believers, we shall be specially under the Divine protection, and we shall know that it is so. This shall be our comfort in the hour of distress. And, once again, when you and I, like Jacob, shall be near Jordan, when we shall just be passing into the better land, then is the time when we may expect to come to Mahanaim. The angels of God and the God of angels, both come to meet the spirits of the blessed in the solemn article of death.

7. Thus I have mentioned the time when these invisible forces become visible to faith; and there is no doubt whatever that they are sent for a purpose. Why were they sent to Jacob at this time? Perhaps the purpose was first to revive an ancient memory which had well-nigh slipped from him. I am afraid he had almost forgotten Bethel. Surely it must have brought his vow at Bethel to mind, the vow which he made unto the Lord when he saw the ladder, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. Here they were; they had left heaven and come down that they might hold communion with him. Mahanaim was granted to Jacob, not only to refresh his memory, but to lift him out of the ordinary low level of his life. Jacob, you know, the father of all the Jews, was great at huckstering: it was the very nature of him to drive bargains. Jacob had all his wits about him, and rather more than he should have had, well answering to his name of “supplanter.” He would let no one deceive him, and he was ready at all times to take advantage of those with whom he had any dealings. Here the Lord seems to say to him, “O Jacob, My servant, rise out of this miserable way of dealing with Me, and be of a princely mind.” Oh for grace to live according to our true position and character, not as poor dependents upon our own wits or upon the help of man, but as grandly independent of things seen, because our entire reliance is fixed upon the unseen and eternal. Believe as much in the invisible as in the visible, and act upon your faith. This seems to me to be God’s object in giving to any of His servants a clearer view of the powers which are engaged on their behalf. If such a special vision be granted to us, let us keep it in memory. Jacob called the name of that place Mahanaim. I wish we had some way in this western world, in these modern times, of naming places, and children, too, more sensibly. We must needs either borrow some antiquated title, as if we were too short of sense to make one for ourselves, or else our names are sheer nonsense, and mean nothing. Why not choose names which should commemorate our mercies? (C. H.Spurgeon.)

God’s host

I. THE PATH OF COMMON DUTIES IN DAILY LIFE IS THE BEST AND SUREST WAY TO HEAVENLY VISIONS. Jacob’s track lay downward to the deep valley, and through its shadows to the fords of Jordan. So, if our life is led downward, through toil and care and sorrow, heaven may open as freely above it as on the hill-tops. All know how the proof of a soldier is given on the march as much as in battle; and it is so in common life. But in spiritual application there is a difference: the rewards of men are won only on the field; but our Divine Commander observes and honours equally those equally faithful in the daily march, in farm, or shop, or household, or in the shut-in camp of sickness those “faithful in that which is least.”

II. GOD’S CARE OVER THOSE THAT FEAR HIM.

III. GOD’S WAY OF APPEARING FOR MAN’S HELP. (W. H. Randall.)

Lessons

1. Laban’s departure and Jacob’s progress are adjoining. Oppressors retreat and saints advance.

2. God’s servants are careful to move in their own way enjoined by God.

3. In their way commanded, God appoints His angels to meet them Psalms 91:2; Psalms 91:4). God with His angels appears to comfort His, after conflicts with their adversaries (verse 1).

5. God sometimes affords His visible helps unto visible troubles for His saints’ support.

6. God’s angels are God’s mighty host indeed, and that in the judgment of the saints.

7. Not single angels but troops God appoints for the guard of single saints.

8. God’s saints desire to call mercies by their right names. God’s angels are called God’s hosts.

9. It is proper to God’s saved ones, to leave memorials of God’s strength in saving them (verse 2). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Mahanaim

I cannot tell, for Scripture says not, in what form they appeared, or by what sign Jacob recognized them. It is perhaps in the most general view of the passage that its truest comfort lies. It matters not to us what the Patriarchs thought or knew of the ministry of angels, so long as we ourselves recognize the true place of that ministry in the economy of God. In its simplicity, the angelic office is a doctrine of revelation. There are beings beside and (for the present) above man; beings, like him, intelligent, rational, spiritual; beings capable, like him, of knowing, loving, and communing with God; beings, unlike him, pure from the stain of sin--tried once, as all moral natures must be tried, by the alternative of loyalty or self-pleasing--yet faithful among the faithless through that great ordeal, and now for ever secured by the seal of that holiness which they have chosen. Man is not yet, save in one single aspect, the head and the chief of all God’s creation. In the person of the God-Man he has the pledge indeed that one day he shall be so. But as yet, when the eye of faith looks upward through the infinite space, it discerns essences in all things equal to the human, and in their sinlessness superior; it sees those who in heaven’s primeval warfare sided with God and conquered--left not their original estate, nor despised their first habitation. The existence of a nature purer than man’s, more refined in its enjoyments and more elevated in its converse, presents no practical difficulty to the thoughtful. We find nothing but refreshment and nothing but encouragement in the belief that above as well as beneath us are beings performing perfectly the law of their creation; spirits that see God’s face, as well as animals instinctively true to God’s order. Man only mars the sweet accord: higher existences have not fallen, lower existences could not fall. If for man God has provided a redemption, then may there be in the end a restoration of that original perfection in which God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. That contrast which shames shall also comfort. But how much more when we read in the sure word of revelation that there exists even now a society and a fellowship between the sinless and the fallen! As man goes on his way, the angels of God meet him. In all his ways they have charge of him, that he dash not his foot against a stone. That which God has done for man, angels desire to look into. Angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. Angels spend not their immortal age in abject prostration, or in delicious dreamy contemplation: rather do they excel in strength, doing God’s commandments, hearkening (for obedience sake) to the voice of God’s Word. When God spake to man from a material mountain, His holy ones were around Him: “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; and the Lord is among them, as in the holy place of Sinai.” Theirs were those wondrous utterances, which Israel took for the voice of the trumpet, sounding long, and waxing louder and louder; theirs those fearful manifestations of blinding smoke and consuming fire, amidst which the Lord descended, while all the people that was in the camp trembled; theirs, it may be, the hewing and the graving of those tables of stone, on which were written, as by God’s finger, the words of His first testimony. The law was ordained by angels; the law was given by the disposition of angels; the word spoken by angels was steadfast. And if even that temporary, that parenthetical dispensation was thus introduced by the ministry of angels; if man’s recovery was dear to them, even in its earlier and more imperfect stages, while he was but learning his lesson of weakness, and heaving his first sighs after forgiveness and sanctification--well can we understand how they might herald a Saviour’s birth, and soothe a Saviour’s sorrows; strengthen Him in His agony, and minister in His tomb; proclaim His resurrection, predict His advent, and greet at the everlasting doors the return of the King of glory. Not even there, nor then, did their ministry terminate. He Himself has told us how in heaven, in the presence of the angels of God, there is joy still over each sinner that repenteth; how His little ones below, His weak and tempted disciples, have their angels ever in heaven, beholding the face of His Father; how angels carry dying saints into Abraham’s bosom; and how, in the last great crisis of the world’s harvest, it is they who shall execute the reapers’ office, gather together His elect from the four winds, and gather also out of His kingdom all things that offend. Wheresoever there is a work to be done as between God and man, there is the great ladder still reared, and the angels of God are ascending and descending by it. Ministering spirits are they still; and man’s best wish for himself is that he may at last be enabled to do as well as to suffer God’s will, even as they, the inmates of heaven, have from the beginning borne and done it. Thy will be done, he prays, as in heaven, so on earth. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. We know not how extensive, and we know not how minute, may be that ministration even in the things that are seen. We know not what angelic workings may be concealed behind the phenomena of nature, or latent in the accidents and the escapes of human life. We know not how, in seasons of mortal weakness or of fiendish temptation, we may be indebted to their instrumentality for the reviving courage or the resisting strength. We dare not say but that even the indwelling Spirit may avail Himself of their ministry to assist or to protect, to invigorate or to reanimate. This we know--for the Word of God has told us--that one portion of that holy communion and fellowship to which the citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem has come, not only in hope, but in present union and incorporation, is an innumerable company of angels. I read not these words as glimpses only of a glorious future, but as expressive of a present trust and a practical help and aid. The sympathy of angels is one of the Christian’s privileges. Are there any special ways in which we may recognize and use this sympathy? As we go on our way, can we in any special manner hope to meet the angels?

1. An apostle speaks of entertaining angels unawares. He says that the duty of hospitality may be exercised in this remembrance--thereby some have entertained angels. It is so still. The angelic office is discharged sometimes in human form. Let us count common life a ministry: let us, in common life, be on the look-out for angels!

2. And more especially, in the exercise of a vigilant self-control, lest we harm or tempt. Our Saviour Himself has warned us of the presence of the angels as a reason for not offending--that is, for not thwarting and not tempting--His little ones. Beware, careless parent! beware, sinful brother! beware, false friend! That child, that boy, that youth, has his angel, and the home of that angel is the heaven of God l (Dean Vaughan.)

God’s host always near

We who live in this matter-of-fact and mechanical age are apt to think that it was a wrapt and wondrous life which the patriarch led in that old time, when he could meet God’s host among the hills, and could see convoys of bright angels like the burning clouds of sunset hovering round him in the solitudes of the mountains. But God’s host is always nearer than we are apt to suppose in the dark hours of trial and conflict. The angels have not yet forsaken the earth, nor have they ceased to protect the homes and journeys of good men. Heaven and earth are nearer each other now than they were when Jacob saw God’s host in the broad day and Abraham entertained the Divine messengers under the shadow of the oak at noon. The spiritual world is all around us, and its living inhabitants are our fellow-servants and companions in all our work for God and for our own salvation. The inhabitants of heaven find more friends and acquaintances on earth now than they did in former times. It is not from any want of interest in the affairs of men that they do not now meet us in the daily walks of life or speak to us in the dreams of the night. If we do not see angels come and take us by the hand and lead us out of danger, as they led Lot out of Sodom, it is not because they have ceased to come, or because they fail to guard us when we need protection. We must not think that God was more interested in the world in ancient times, when He spoke by miracles and prophets and apostles, than He is now when He speaks by His written word and by His holy providence. The heart of the Infinite Father never yearned toward His earthly children with a deeper or more tender compassion than now. There never was a time when God was doing more to govern, to instruct, and to save the world than He is doing now. To those who look for Him the tokens of His presence are manifest everywhere; the voice of His providence is in every wind; every path of life is covered with the overshadowings of His glory. To the devout mind this world, which has been consecrated by the sacrificial blood of the cross, is only the outer court of the everlasting temple in which God sits enthroned, with the worshipping hosts of the blessed around Him. We need only a pure heart to see God as much in the world now as He was when He talked with men face to face. He speaks in all the discoveries of science, in all the inventions of heart, in all the progress of the centuries, in everything which enriches life and enlarges the resources of men. All the great conflicts and agitations of society prove that God is on the field. We need only add the faith of the patriarchs to the science of the philosophers, and we shall find Bethels in the city and in the solitude, Mahanaims in every day’s march in the journey of life (D. March, D. D.)

Angelic ministration

I did not see, early in the morning, the flight of all those birds that filled all the bushes and all the orchard trees, but they were there, though I did not see their coming, and heard their songs afterwards. It does not matter whether you have ministered to you yet those perceptions by which you perceive angelic existence. The fact that we want to bear in mind is, that we are environed by them, that we move in their midst. How, where, what the philosophy is, whether it be spiritual philosophy, no man can tell, and they least that think they know most about it. The fact which we prize and lay hold of is this, that angelic ministration is a part, not of the heavenly state, but of the universal condition of men, and that as soon as we become Christ’s we come not to the home of the living God, but to the “innumerable company of angels.” (H. W.Beecher.)

Angels on the path of life

Though no vision is vouchsafed to our mortal eyes, yet angels of God are with us oftener than we know, and to the pure heart every home is a Bethel, and every path of life a Penuel and a Mahanaim. In the outer world and the inner world, we see and meet continually these messengers of God. Wrestle with them in faith and prayer they are angels with hands full of immortal gifts; to those who neglect or use them ill they are angels with drawn sword and scathing flame.

I. The earliest angel is the angel of youth. Do not think that you can retain him long. Use, as wise stewards, this blessed portion of your lives. Remember that as your faces are setting into the look which they shall wear in later years, so is it with your lives.

II. Next is the angel of innocent pleasure. Trifle not with this angel. Remember that in heathen mythology the Lord of Pleasure is also the God of Death. Guilty pleasure there is; guilty happiness there is not on earth.

III. There are the angels of time and opportunity. They are with us now, and we may unclench from their conquered hands garlands of immortal flowers. Hallow each new day in your morning prayer, for prayer, too, is an angel--an angel who can turn “pollution into purity, sinners into penitents, and penitents into saints.”

IV. There is one angel with whom we must wrestle whether we will or no, and whose power of curse or blessing we cannot alter--the angel of death. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

Verses 3-9

Genesis 32:3-9

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother.

The alarm

I. We will consider, in the first place, THE PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES WHICH JACOB ADOPTED. In the first instance, as soon as he heard of the evil which apparently awaited him, he immediately divided” the people that were with him into two bands,” in the hope that if one company was suddenly surprised and smitten, the other might in the interim escape.

II. But in the second place, let us notice WHAT WAS JACOB’S CHIEF RESOURCE IN THIS PRESSING EXIGENCY. It was the throne of grace. Prayer is, in fact, the peculiar privilege and the natural habit of a truly pious mind. Prayer also is a very powerful proof of the state of the heart. If we see men, who profess and call themselves Christians, struggling and contending in their own strength, with second causes, as the source of their sorrows, in the hope of overcoming them, and not affectionately, earnestly, spontaneously spreading their case before the Lord, we have reason to doubt the sincerity of their religious profession.

III. But, with these prefatory remarks, let us now examine THE NATURE OF JACOB’S PRAYER. It is a very beautiful example of real prayer. It is simple, full, and energetic. We will glance briefly at its leading topics.

1. There is, first, a simple and vindicatory statement of the circumstances in which Jacob was placed. He had not brought himself thoughtlessly or wilfully into this difficulty. “Thou saidest unto me, return unto thy country and thy kindred.” “I am here, in obedience to Thy command.” There is a very wide distinction between those trials and sufferings into which a man is brought by wilfulness and sin, and those which come upon him independently of his own control, and in respect to which, his mind must necessarily be free from guilt.

2. But, secondly, though in this instance Jacob was free to appeal to the knowledge of God for his acquittal from any wilful trangression in those steps which had led him into danger, yet he did not hesitate, in other respects, to take at once the only ground upon which a human creature can consistently stand before God; and, consequently, we find the justification of his conduct in his present circumstances, immediately followed by an humble acknowledgment of his utter unworthiness before God. “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, that Thou hast showed unto Thy servant.” How different is this from the proud feeling of independence with which men generally regard their property in this life I The language of a prosperous man among his fellows, as well as in his heart, is too frequently, “My power, and the might of my hand, have gotten me this wealth.”

3. But, thirdly, in the midst of humiliating confession, Jacob did not forget His mercies. He thankfully records them. He extols the mercy and the faithfulness of God. “With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and lo, I am become two bands.” If we would secure the continuance of our blessings, we should be free to remember them. But once more we notice, that Jacob continues his prayer by an affectionate enunciation of God’s promises. “I fear lest Esau come and smite me, and the mother with the children; 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.” We are always safe when we can grasp the promises of God, and convert them into prayers. “Thou hast said, a new heart will I give thee, and a new spirit will I put within thee. O Lord, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”

4. Lastly, Jacob evidently showed that he placed an unfeigned and implicit confidence in the covenant, the promises, and the mercies of God. All the language of his prayer, tends to call up before him an animating view of the character of Him whom he addressed. This is precisely the spirit in which the Christian is now encouraged to approach the Lord. He has purer light, and greater knowledge. (E. Craig.)

Jacob’s preparation for meeting his angry brother

I. HE TOOK THOSE MEASURES DICTATED BY HUMAN PRUDENCE.

1. He sends messengers of peace.

2. He divides his company into two bands.

3. He sends a present.

II. HE TOOK THOSE MEASURES DICTATED BY RELIGION. Prayer.

1. He appeals to God as the Covenant God and Father (Genesis 32:9).

2. He pleads God’s gracious promise to himself. “The Lord which saidst unto me, “Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.”

3. He confesses his own unworthiness, and God’s goodness and faithfulness (Genesis 32:10).

4. He presents his special petition expressing his present want (Genesis 32:11). He prays to be delivered from his brother’s anger, the possible consequences of which were fearful to contemplate.

5. He cleaves to God’s word of promise (Genesis 32:12). God had promised to do him good, and to make his seed as the sand of the sea for multitude. And Jacob pleads as if he said, how could this promise be fulfilled if himself and his family were slain? This prayer shows the kind husband, the tender father, the man of faith and piety. (T. H. Leale.)

Jacob’s return from Padan-aram

I. In regard to THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH JACOB WAS PLACED, we may observe that he was surrounded by a numerous family, to whom he was strongly attached, and some of whom were of a very tender age; and that he saw the whole of them, with himself, liable, in the course of a few transitory hours, to be cut off by the sword of an enraged brother.

II. THE CONDUCT WHICH JACOB ADOPTED UPON THIS OCCASION IS FULL OF INTEREST AND INSTRUCTION. It was equally removed from presumption and despair; and presents one of the most edifying examples of sanctified affliction.

1. He did everything in his power to avert his brother’s wrath, and conciliate his favour.

2. He made an arrangement in regard to his family, which was calculated at least to save some of them.

3. He had recourse to earnest prayer.

1. Of the established connection between sin and punishment.

2. The history of Jacob suggests the immense importance of genuine piety.

3. The example of Jacob, on the occasion described in the text, teaches the important lesson, that to obtain from God the blessing we desire, it is our duty to use the requisite means, and at the same time to place an absolute reliance upon His mercy. (T. Jackson.)

Lessons

1. Providence ordereth returns of messages sometimes to be cross to the expectation of His saints.

2. Messages of peace are delivered to wicked men from saints sometimes without answerable return.

3. Faithful messengers will perform their charge whatever the issue be Proverbs 25:13).

4. Wicked men though intreated, may show themselves in their power and terror to the saints (verse 6).

5. Creature-terrors are apt to stir up fears vehemently in the hearts of God’s dearest ones.

6. Fears in saints are not so violent, but that they rationally provide for their safety under them.

7. It is good prudence to save part from ruin when the whole is in danger.

8. Military order in setting troops in place, is not unbeseeming saints (verse Genesis 14:15).

9. God’s armies do not quiet saints sometimes, when sense worketh on outward danger.

10. Smitings of some by enemies are reasonable warnings for others to escape (verse 8). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Lessons

1. Faith in prayer to God is the saints’ immediate help against fear in the hour of temptation.

2. The saints’ providence for themselves is but in order to their refuge in God.

3. God in gracious relations to poor souls is the proper object of prayer.

4. Saints may be bold to fly to God for help in the execution of His commands.

5. God in the promise of grace to His people is the special object of their faith and prayer.

6. Special faith evidencing and applying promises is very necessary to effectual prayer in temptation (Genesis 32:9). (G. Hughes, B. D.)

Jacob at Mahanaim

I. JACOB’S PLAN.

1. How it originated.

2. In what it consisted. In the division of his flocks and herds, &c., into two companies. It must have been a huge company at the first, for him to think, after the message he sent (Genesis 32:4-5), that his brother would imagine the half was all he had. He thought that one half, hearing the attack upon the other, might in the confusion escape while Esau was driving off his plunder.

3. The plan was well contrived. A little of the old Jacob is here planning and scheming.

4. How he wronged his brother by his unjust suspicions.

5. How he wronged God, by not in the first place seeking His guidance and help. His old method of taking the plan into his own hands. Still relying too much on human sagacity.

II. JACOB’S PRAYER.

1. Having made his plans, according to his own wisdom, then he asked God to bless him; and in the end found that his plans were all needless. Prayer at the first would have saved him much perplexity and fear.

2. When he did pray he displayed great humility of soul and dependence upon God.

III. JACOB’S CONDUCT. All being ready, his company divided, the present prepared, Jacob sent the present forward in divisions, each drove with servants, and each servant with a message; one part of the message being that Jacob was himself about to follow the gift. The spirit of the gift conciliatory. Conciliation his avowed purpose (Genesis 32:20). The present was designed to break down every feeling of revenge and anger supposed still to exist in the mind of Esau. Jacob himself would remain that night, which at one time he feared would be his last, with his company. Growing more confident as the night advanced, he arose and sent over his wives and children. Thus committed to the care of God all that he had. Learn:

1. That the fruit of past sins is sure to spring up in our way. Jacob cannot forget the evil he had done; nor return, after this long absence from home, without confronting its results.

2. That, prayer is the best means of meeting great difficulties. Our best plans ineffective without that blessing which prayer secures. Prayer puts the heart into the best condition for enduring trial. (J. C. Gray.)

Verse 9