Reflections on Genesis 32

Genesis 32 (Contemporary English Version)
1. As Jacob was on his way back home, some of God's angels came and met him.
   
2. When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp." So he named the place Mahanaim.
   
3. Jacob sent messengers on ahead to Esau, who lived in the land of Seir, also known as Edom.
   
4. Jacob told them to say to Esau, "Master, I am your servant! I have lived with Laban all this time,
   
5. and now I own cattle, donkeys, and sheep, as well as many slaves. Master, I am sending these messengers in the hope that you will be kind to me."
   
6. When the messengers returned, they told Jacob, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is heading this way with four hundred men."
   
7. Jacob was so frightened that he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two groups.
   
8. He thought, "If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other can escape."
   
9. Then Jacob prayed: You, LORD, are the God who was worshiped by my grandfather Abraham and by my father Isaac. You told me to return home to my family, and you promised to be with me and make me successful.
   
10. I don't deserve all the good things you have done for me, your servant. When I first crossed the Jordan, I had only my walking stick, but now I have two large groups of people and animals.
    
11. Please rescue me from my brother. I am afraid he will come and attack not only me, but my wives and children as well.
    
12. But you have promised that I would be a success and that someday it will be as hard to count my descendants as it is to count the stars in the sky.
    
13. After Jacob had spent the night there, he chose some animals as gifts for Esau:
    
14. two hundred female goats and twenty males, two hundred female sheep and twenty males, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten males.
    
15. (SEE 32:14)
    
16. Jacob put servants in charge of each herd and told them, "Go ahead of me and keep a space between each herd."
    
17. Then he said to the servant in charge of the first herd, "When Esau meets you, he will ask whose servant you are. He will want to know where you are going and who owns those animals in front of you.
    
18. So tell him, 'They belong to your servant Jacob, who is coming this way. He is sending them as a gift to his master Esau.' "
    
19. Jacob also told the men in charge of the second and third herds and those who followed to say the same thing when they met Esau.
    
20. And Jacob told them to be sure to say that he was right behind them. Jacob hoped the gifts would make Esau friendly, so Esau would be glad to see him when they met.
    
21. Jacob's men took the gifts on ahead of him, but he spent the night in camp.
    
22. Jacob got up in the middle of the night and took his wives, his eleven children, and everything he owned across to the other side of the Jabbok River for safety.
    
23. (SEE 32:22)
    
24. Afterwards, Jacob went back and spent the rest of the night alone. A man came and fought with Jacob until just before daybreak.
    
25. When the man saw that he could not win, he struck Jacob on the hip and threw it out of joint.
    
26. They kept on wrestling until the man said, "Let go of me! It's almost daylight." "You can't go until you bless me," Jacob replied.
    
27. Then the man asked, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.
    
28. The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won. That's why your name will be Israel."
    
29. Jacob said, "Now tell me your name." "Don't you know who I am?" he asked. And he blessed Jacob.
    
30. Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive." So he named the place Peniel.
    
31. The sun was coming up as Jacob was leaving Peniel. He was limping because he had been struck on the hip,
    
32. and the muscle on his hip joint had been injured. That's why even today the people of Israel don't eat the hip muscle of any animal.
    
    

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    Jacob had just had an encounter with his father-in-law over his leaving and then made a treaty with him that the two of them would never pass beyond a certain point to go to the other to do harm. Now Jacob was traveling back to his homeland. As he traveled, he was met by God's angel. It is significant that Jacob had a visit from God on the occasion when he left his homeland and also when he returned. I recognize that every time my life took a new direction was also a high point for me spiritually. These were times when God met me up close and personal and led me through a transition He had planned for my life. I see this as Jacob's experience as it was for Abraham and Isaac and many others throughout scripture. The events that lead to the most significant redirections of our lives are also the most significant spiritual highs of our lives. These high points, though, are often preceded by some of the most significant low points in our lives.
    
    This was the sequence for Jacob. He had a low point in his life in which he recognized the threat present for him with Laban and his sons. He tried to escape this threat and it followed him and caught up with him. God protected him, though, and he came through this threat with a treaty from Laban that he would do no harm. Next Jacob was faced by the threat of his brother Esau as he returned to his homeland. But as he faced this threat God was very present with him, preparing him to face the threat with his brother and to face the new chapter of his life he was entering into which would lead toward the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham and Isaac before him and also to Jacob.
    
    Jacob had a spiritual high point the night before he was to meet his brother Esau. God met him through an angel and wrestled with him all night. Jacob's earlier encounter with God as he left his homeland to go to Laban's house corrected his deceitfulness. This encounter corrected his willfulness. Jacob wrestled with the angel all night unwilling to give up and give in until finally, near daybreak, the angel dislocated his hip socket and he realized he could not prevail. He then submitted to the angel, and to God, and sought a blessing. As a reminder of this encounter, Jacob, who was now renamed Israel, walked with a limp the rest of his life.