Genesis 32:3-32
Jacob's Blessing

Jacob has made his break with Laban. He has left that world and its values behind. He has set his face resolutely toward the Promised Land, toward the place of God's presence. And he has received testimony that he has chosen the better part. On his way east toward the land of promise, he is met by angels of God. He has chosen the heavenly in contrast to the earthly, the eternal in contrast to that which is passing away.

What else could he do? The Lord has kept his promise and has preserved him so perfectly in the conflict with Laban. But now, as his eyes and feet turn again to the promised land, he realizes that a greater conflict awaits him. How great, he does not yet understand.

  1. Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau (32:4-21)
    1. The Ominous News (3-8)
      1. Jacob now continues his journey east toward the Promised Land
      2. His brother, Esau, dwells to the south in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
      3. Esau does not dwell directly between him and his goal, but still he ignores his brother's presence in the area at his peril
        1. This is Esau, whom he tricked into selling his birthright
        2. This is Esau, whom he cheated out of the blessing by duping their blind father Isaac.
        3. This is Esau who conceived a murderous rage against his brother such that Jacob had to flee.
        4. He has been gone 20 years, but still he fears his brother's rage.
      4. So Jacob sends out messengers
        1. They go to scope out Esau and see what his mood is
        2. And they go to announce Jacob's wealth and his desire for Esau's favor.
        3. Perhaps if Esau knows that Jacob is willing to exchange wealth for forgiveness, Esau will be more inclined to forgive.
      5. The messengers return with this message: Esau is coming to meet you and he has 400 men with him.
      6. So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed (v. 7)
        1. He assumes Esau is coming to attack.
        2. And he divides his people into two companies, reasoning that if one is attacked the other may escape.
      7. Why is he afraid?
        1. Hasn't he learned anything from his experience with Laban?
        2. He was afraid of Laban that Laban would come and take all that belonged to him.
        3. And God appeared to Laban and warned him, see that you don't harm Jacob.
        4. Does Jacob lack the confidence that God will do this again?
      8. Ah, but there's a difference this time, isn't there?
        1. Last time, Jacob was in the right … or at least he thought he was.
        2. It was God who had given him the flocks and made him wealthy. God said so himself.
        3. Jacob had stolen nothing from Laban (he thought).
        4. In fact, Rachel had stolen Laban's gods, thus bringing sin into Jacob's household.
        5. But Jacob knew nothing of that.
        6. And in his ignorance, he paraded his righteousness before Laban, making a self-righteous speech about how God had vindicated him because he had served Laban well and done what was right.
        7. He judged Laban, using himself as a measuring stick
          1. I'm better than you, Laban! he cried.
          2. You have cheated and deceived me and would take everything I own if you could.
          3. It felt good to make that speech at the time.
          4. But now, he must reflect: doesn't Esau have the right to make a similar speech against him?
          5. Oh how precarious matters are when they rest on our own righteousness, our own being better than the next guy.
      9. This time, Jacob is guilty
        1. Why is Jacob wealthy? Because God had blessed him.
        2. And how did Jacob receive that blessing? He STOLE it from his brother Esau.
        3. Jacob has no self-righteousness to parade before Esau.
        4. He is guilty and he knows it.
      10. You can see how fearful the situation is for Jacob
        1. Before, he thought God favored him because he was righteous.
        2. Now he believes God will not favor him because he is guilty.
        3. Jacob must learn what it is to be justified by faith alone, apart from his own works.
        4. Jacob must learn what it is to be justified by faith alone, IN SPITE OF his sin.
        5. He must know the grace of God who chose him before he had done anything right or wrong and loved him even when he showed himself to be a man of sin.
        6. Only then will he be secure in God's love for him
      11. It is just the same with you and me, oh believer
        1. These things are written for your sakes upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
        2. How often we boast that God has blessed us, yet secretly we believe that we have earned that blessing
          1. Our wealth or positions at work are the natural reward for our hard work
          2. Our relative security in life is based on our common sense or strength or cleverness
          3. Truly we say we give God the glory for such things, yet what kind of glory do we give?
          4. Too often it is Jacob's kind of glory where he tells Laban, "God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands" and has rewarded me.
        3. Oh how glorious we feel when we can say such a thing.
        4. But how precarious is our position when we cannot.
          1. When we find ourselves having sinned, and our sin is not hidden from us like idols in the midst of our camp, we find ourselves defenseless before God and men.
          2. Why should God bless us now? We have sinned.
          3. Why should not men - even brothers - be allowed to exact revenge when we "deserve" it?
          4. Oh, children of God, this is not a safe position for SINNERS to be in.
        5. This is Jacob's position here.
        6. This is our position when we turn from relying ENTIRELY on the grace of God and begin to say he has rewarded us for our work.
    2. Jacob's Prayer (9-12)
      1. Here, desperate because of his sin, Jacob begins to rely on the grace of God
        1. Forget relying on the God who will see the labor of his hands and reward him.
        2. Here comes his brother Esau who will testify that the labor of Jacob's hands and the words of his mouth are EVIL
      2. "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac"
        1. He reminds God of his covenant faithfulness.
        2. As God was faithful to those sinners, now Jacob pleads with him to continue that faithfulness
      3. He reminds God of his promises
        1. You are "the Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you.'"
        2. So Jacob, because of his faith in that promise, is returning to his country
        3. Now he is asking God to keep his promise.
      4. He confesses his own unworthiness
        1. "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown your servant."
        2. Here is true faith at last
        3. Not the faith of the elders of the Jews who pleaded with Jesus to heal the centurion's servant. "He is worthy to have this done," they said, "For he loves our nation and built us a synagogue."
        4. But the faith of the centurion himself who said, "I am not worthy Lord even to have you under my roof. But speak the word and my servant shall be healed."
        5. Not the faith of the Pharisee who lifts his eyes to heaven and says, "I thank you, Lord, that I am not like that tax collector. For I fast twice a week and give you a tenth of all I have."
        6. But the faith of the tax collector who could not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "Lord have mercy on me a sinner."
        7. This is the only way to come to God
        8. Not as those who bargain with him and remind him of our good deeds.
        9. But as those who have no hold on him except his own faithfulness and our own desperate need.
      5. And he confesses that in spite of that, God has made him great. (10)
        1. "For I crossed over the Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies.
        2. No more talk of God seeing the labor of his hands and rewarding him.
        3. This is grace, pure grace.
        4. And Jacob's prayer is, since you've given me so much grace … give me more.
        5. Ought not this to be our prayer as well?
      6. He prays for deliverance from Esau
        1. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.
        2. Again he fears, as with Laban.
        3. But this time he commends that fear to God.
        4. He doesn't take matters into his own hands and assume that he must somehow save himself.
        5. He acts, certainly, by dividing his people into two companies.
        6. But he does not depend upon that action.
        7. His own ability cannot make him unafraid, for he might fail.
        8. But God does not fail.
      7. And he reminds God of his promises AGAIN (12)
        1. "For You said, 'I will surely treat you well and make your descendants as the sand of the sea.'"
        2. You can't do that if there's no Jacob and no descendants, God.
        3. God LOVES this. He LOVES to be reminded of his promises.
        4. We might think, like hyper-Calvinists, that there's no point. After all, God WILL keep his promises.
        5. Doesn't matter. God loves to be reminded. This is what faith is: to take those promises and make them the matter of our prayers. Thy kingdom come. They will be done. Etc.
        6. Jacob's prayer shows that he agrees with those promises and clings to them. His own strength and ability become nothing in his sight as he rests solely in what God has promised.
        7. So it must be with you, child of God.
          1. Take his promises, fulfilled in Christ, and TWIST HIS ARM with them.
          2. Oh God, you promised to grant perseverance to your saints. KEEP THAT PROMISE.
          3. Oh God, you promised that you would be with me always in Christ. Keep that promise.
          4. Oh God, you promised that no temptation would overpower me but that you would provide a way of escape. Keep that promise.
          5. I beg you. I am weak, but you are strong. I have nothing, you have everything. And you have promised to give me that strength and those riches of Christ. Keep that promise.
    3. Jacob Sends Others Ahead (13-21)
      1. Having made this prayer of faith, Jacob then plans out his actions.
        1. He puts together a present for Esau: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 female sheep, 20 male sheep, 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, 10 foals.
        2. More females in each case so that they can bear young and make this present even richer. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
        3. And he sent each set of animals off separately with servants.
        4. The servants were instructed to say if Esau asked, "They are your servant Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold he also is behind us"
      2. In this way, Jacob hoped to appease Esau.
      3. He has admitted his works can't buy anything from God, but he still hopes to buy Esau's favor and thus turn away his wrath.
      4. So he sends his wealth in front of him as a shield.
      5. God has a further lesson to teach Jacob about that.
  2. Jacob Meets God (22-32)
    1. Jacob Is Left Alone (22-24a)
      1. The immediate effect of this is that Jacob is left alone.
      2. His wives and children have gone ahead.
      3. His possessions have gone ahead.
      4. And there he stands, just himself.
      5. It is in this position that he meets his true adversary whose favor is more important than Esau's, and more impossible to earn.
    2. Jacob Wrestles with God (24b-29)
      1. The adversary, the Man, comes and wrestles with him.
        1. They fight back and forth.
        2. Jacob needs to get past, to follow after his wives and children and possessions, but this Man will not let him.
        3. Jacob needs to go forward, to head toward the Promised Land, but this Man forbids him.
        4. They struggle until the dawn is about to come.
      2. Jacob cannot win.
      3. But the Man does not prevail either!
      4. Then the man reaches out and touches Jacob's hip socket and partially cripples him.
        1. The Man has incredible strength.
        2. Apparently he could have won the struggle at any moment, but chose not to.
        3. Jacob's strength, on the other hand, is weakened.
      5. The Man says, "Let Me go for day breaks"
        1. And as the dawn begins to come, it begins to dawn on Jacob just who his adversary is.
        2. It is God himself, the God of his father Abraham and the God of his father Isaac
        3. If the dawn comes and Jacob sees this Man's face fully in the light of day, he will surely die.
      6. Yet knowing this, he struggles with the struggle of faith
        1. Here is the one who can bless him
        2. Here is the one who can keep him safe in his encounter with Esau.
        3. Here is the one who can truly give him that blessing which he obtained deceitfully from his father Isaac, the blessing that he stole from Esau.
        4. Here is the one who can give him heaven as an inheritance and eternal life as a possession.
        5. "I will not let you go unless you bless me," he cries!
      7. So the Man replies, "What is your name?"
        1. And Jacob replies "Jacob."
        2. Why? Doesn't this Man already know?
        3. Of course! He asks Jacob's name to make a point.
        4. Remember what "Jacob" means
          1. Jacob means "supplanter"
          2. Jacob means "heel grasper," for Jacob came out of the womb grasping Esau's heel.
          3. Jacob means someone who takes what belongs to someone else. It means deceiver and thief.
        5. When he says his name is "Jacob," he is making a confession before this Man, before God.
        6. He confesses: I'm a sinner. I'm a thief. I am a man of wicked character. I have no right to any blessing.
      8. And with that confession, God blesses him. Out of pure grace. Because of nothing good in him.
      9. He gives him a new name, "Israel."
        1. Literally, it means "God strives."
        2. And God says it means "You have struggled with God and men and have prevailed."
        3. Suddenly he's no longer named Jacob, the man who struggled with his brother Esau.
        4. Now his name reflects a GOOD struggle, a holy struggle in which he struggles for blessing from God and prevails.
        5. HOW?!?!?
        6. Because he is so strong? Hardly.
        7. Hosea 12:4 describes the event this way, "He struggled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought favor from him."
        8. Is this the "prevailing" of strength? To weep and seek favor?
        9. No, this is the struggle and the prevailing of faith.
        10. Finally, Jacob has disowned his own strength and struggles with God by reminding God of his promises and begging him for his mercy.
      10. Children of God, let us also struggle with God in this way.
      11. Then he asks the Man his name
        1. Why? Doesn't he know who he is?
        2. Of course. It is the God of Abraham and Isaac.
        3. But to know a name is to have power.
          1. If he can know the name of God, he can call upon God for blessing at any time.
          2. What glory that would be! To call God by name so that God HAS to hear him, so that anything he asks in that name might be done.
      12. And the Man says, "Why is it that you ask about My name?"
      13. And he blesses him, but does not tell him His name.
      14. Oh, Christian! What was denied to Jacob is given to you!
        1. You have that name, Jesus!
        2. Is this not the name that is above every name.
        3. Is this not the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved?
        4. Is this not why Jesus himself said that if we ask for anything in his name it shall be done?
        5. This is what Jacob yearned for and did not receive.
        6. This name is given to you, oh child of God, that you may call upon the Lord and he will hear you and answer you.
        7. Only heed his question to Jacob, "Why do you ask about my name?"
          1. Do you want a name, Jacob, only so you can conjure me when you wish?
          2. Do you want a name so that I can give you whatever you want that you may spend it on your sinful pleasures?
          3. This is not the sort of name God has given to us.
          4. Rather in Jesus he has given us the name of the one in whom he has kept all his promises and to whom he has given all his blessings.
          5. To have this name, and by faith to come to God in it, is to have EVERYTHING God can possibly give - every promise fulfilled, every blessing bestowed.
          6. Will this name give you long life or prosperity or good reputation or even next month's rent? These things are irrelevant.
          7. This name will give you all that God can give. Forever.
          8. Let us rejoice therefore and call upon God using this name, seeking all that he has for us in this name. For in Jesus we have his own Son, everything he has to give.
    3. Jacob Interprets the Event (30-32)
      1. Jacob names the place Peniel "Face of God" - "For I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.
        1. Here is the blessing, Jacob says!
        2. I have been in God's presence and he has not dealt with me according to my sins.
        3. If Jacob rejoiced at this, how much more we?
        4. For we have our Peniel, our Face of God, in Christ.
        5. And it is so much clearer than what Jacob saw that dim morning before the dawn.
        6. In Christ we have the blazing light of God's glory shining in all its strength.
        7. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
      2. So he limps off to meet Esau.
        1. He will limp all his life, a physical reminder that his strength is in God and not in himself.
        2. And his descendants will not eat that part of the hip muscle in animals they slaughter; thus they will be reminded too that their strength is not in themselves.
        3. Neither, then, is our strength in ourselves. It is in the one with whom Jacob wrestled.
          1. For that Man, as we have seen, is none other than Jesus Christ.
          2. His strength will be perfected in our weakness.
          3. Though we should limp - physically or emotionally or financially or in any other way - yet we will glory in that weakness and count it a badge of honor. For thus will we be reminded that our Savior is strong and can do all things.

[Genesis Sermons] [Sermons and Studies] [Main Menu]