Genesis 32:1-21 “Between Fear and Faith”

The struggle between faith and fear is a very real battle for Christians and even seasoned Christians. God however never intended us to set up camp in the middle of the two.

In   Genesis chapters 27&28 we had found Jacob fleeing from his brother Esau, who had threatened to kill him (Gen.27:41). 

In Chapter 28 on his way to his mother’s brother, Laban, Jacob met the LORD in a life changing way. Nobody encounters God and is not changed!  Jacob would later call the place of encounter “Bethel” (house of God), for he said, “Surely  the  LORD  is in this place… How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:16,17).  God had become real to him, and in Genesis 28:20 -22 we find true words of commitment. He is a changed man.

Chapters 29 – 31  are the record  of Jacob serving  under his deceptive uncle  Laban, and here  he thoroughly  learns  that you will reap what you have sown. Their relationship becomes unbearable, and by God’s command (31:3) he prepares to return to his father, Isaac and  the place of covenant promise. He leaves with a large family, servants and large flocks of animals.

In Genesis 32 we find him nearing the land of his father (where his brother Esau also   lived). Two  things  dominated his thinking:  

(i) He greatly feared his brother Esau’s response (see 32:7,11). 

(ii)  He desperately wanted to appease his brother, for he knew that he had dealt deceitfully with him (see 32:20). 

So then, in Jacob we find a man who is possessed by great fears. He lies awake night after night as he tries to figure out the way forward.   Have you been there?  At  such times our God tends to be small and our enemy  tends to be  big.

Thankfully  the God of the covenant is always  one step ahead of His fearful servants. As we now  come to the 32^nd chapter we note that the God who had met with him at Bethel, and who had previously made great promises  to him  (see Gen. 28:13-15; 31:13)  is one step ahead of him.  

Let’s see  now how  Jacob’s life is lived  between  fear  and  faith.

1. Jacob’s protection (32:1-2):  “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.” (Mahanaim means, ‘two camps’).

Here is a remarkable illustration of God’s wonderful, faith strengthening care for his chosen man ashe moves into the proverbial lion’s den. Jacob is fearful, but thankfully  the  God  of Jacob had  already anticipated  that  fear and had sent His angels (i.e. His ministering spirits cf. Hebr.1:14)  to meet him.  When Jacob saw the angels, he called this place  Mahanaim  (two camps)  -  i.e.  the angel’s camp  (The sense is given  in Ps.  34:7 - The angel of the Lord encamps  around those who fear Him and he delivers them)  and  his own camp.  Jacob, by divine grace was enabled to see something which Elisha’s fearful servant, Gehazi,   was enabled to see in 2 Kings 6:16-17. He was helped to see that the angels of God around them were more than the army of Syria.

So, being given the ability  to see these angels  on his way to a fearful destiny would have strengthened Jacob’s faith, and he would have  known that  that God was indeed with him in this journey back to the promised land.

2. Jacob’s plans (32:3-8): 3 And Jacob sent   messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape”.

Jacob just had a wonderful faith strengthening  encounter with God, and yet  he returns   to  his own scheming in terms of how he should deal with his brother. While Jacob prepares the gift (appeasement) for Esau,  even while he knows that the angels of the LORD encamp around him,  one  can sense his fearful anticipation of this event.  In the message to Esau he  submits to his brother  Esau as his ‘lord’ (32:4- Hebr. “adonai”). And you say,  “Wait a minute!  Was Jacob not appointed by God to  be the ‘lord’ of this land?”   And the answer is, he is the lord of the land, but remember  that Jacob did violate  a biblical principle!  He cheated his brother. He took shortcuts  in getting the birthright and the promise of the firstborn.  Yes, God did appoint  him  to be the lord of the land, but he was to  get there not by wangling and by scheming. He was to do this trusting in God’s work and in God’s timing every step of the way.  

And so, because he has gone about this the wrong way he is now making some very foolish decisions  which are motivated  by  fear! That is what sin does. The essence of sin is self-reliance –not God reliance. Sinful anxiety  makes  Jacob  forget   his    heavenly  protection and inheritance, so that he now begins to cower  before the   intimidating  presence  of  Esau.  When  Jacob  hears that  Esau  comes  to meet  him with 400 men, as  we read  in 32:7, “… Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed”.

And now the  vivid  and real dream of the ladder to heaven  and  the promises of God and Bethel were forgotten. The camp of angels around him was forgotten.

Do we never learn?   Our faith so easily gives way to fear. The thought of 400 men coming to meet him shakes Jacob.  His confidence  in God is quickly diminished. Sin and fear cause us to loose heavenly perspective very quickly. Paul has to remind fearful  and timid Timothy  that  God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self- discipline ( 2 Tim 1:7)  

So,  in rationalizing his fear,  Jacob divides  his  group into two camps (Mahanaim) – but  note (!) the  camp of angels don’t feature  here now! 

In  32:2  Jacob had  two camps,  his little one  and God’s great one.  But now in  32:7  he only sees  his little camp,  which now, on account of fear,   he divides  into two camps!

This always happens when we trust in our own resources.  When we become fearful we become inwardly divided and we  become actually become weaker. The fear of man lays a snare,   but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. (Prov. 29:25).   The fear of man becomes a great snare, for this fear becomes greater than the fear of the LORD.

Jacob recognizes his weakness relative to Esau, but he is not taking stock of his weakness before God!   The  fear of man makes him forget  the principle  of which the apostle Paul had also  had reminded the Corinthians, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…. When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor.  12:9,10)

And now, from  fear back to faith …

3. Jacob’s Prayer (32:9-12):  9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

This is Jacob’s prayer. Thank God for the gift of prayer  by which we may present  all our requests to God. It is the true believers  instinct. When the Christian is in trouble he prays. It is his native air. 

Here we see a biblical form of prayer  in which we find:

(i)    A reverent approach (32:9): O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me … An appeal to the covenant keeping God , in whom alone can be our trust and hope.

(ii) A humble approach (32:10): I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.

(iii) A  direct request (32:11):  Please deliver me.  The Psalms are full of such cries. No long words are needed. God is not deaf.

(iv)  An appeal to God’s promise/ covenant (32:12): Standing on the promises … Showing God His own handwriting.  

Note the vacillation between fear and faith.  In this prayer, Jacob is filled with faith, and the content of his prayer is truly wonderful and instructive. The confidence of such a prayer lies in the fact that God is true and faithful to all His promises. Such prayer does not fail, and we shall see that it does not fail here!

4. Jacob’s present:  32 :13-21   13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him  with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”  21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Again, let me remind you, that  two thoughts dominate  Jacob’s mind:

(i)               He wants to right  the wrong that he has done  to Esau. 

(ii)             He is not sure that Esau will accept this .

Notice how again he moves from prayer back to his  scheming. George Mueller of Bristol was once asked what the most important part about prayer was. He said, ”The 15 minutes after I have said, “Amen” . How easy it is to come from prayer (faith) back to fear.  15 minutes after  we have prayed we must leave our  Esau’s to God  and not  return to  our plans to bribe our way out of  a difficult  position. 

The  camp of angels  around him must have   begun to wonder whether  he would have  any need of their protection  after all, since he was doing so well  scheming his way through this trial, and so we ask, was this the man who had just uttered this wonderful prayer of faith? Was this the man who had stood on the covenant promises?  Was this the man who had reminded God that he was acting under divine orders?

Next time we will consider 32:22-32 (Jacob wrestling with God). In preparation  for this portion  I remind you that,  where there is no faith there is little sleep – but thank God  that  Jacob is ultimately  in the  hands of a great God, and in our next portion God  will  continue to   shape  Jacob into  a man after His own heart. 

Conclusion and application:

(i)       We were reminded that the presence  of the God of Jacob behind and before   is  also our   guarantee to persevering in  our  trials of life.

(ii)     We have seen  that   our life is so often  a curious mixture  of  faith and fear.

(iii)   We have seen  that reverent, humble, direct  prayer, based on  our confidence in  a covenant  keeping  God strengthens our faith, not by removing all danger and pressure, but by sustaining us through  our trials.

(iv)   We  have seen  that  our best efforts  in trusting God entirely come  short. Faith alternating with fear. This is also typical of our spiritual experience. How thankful we must be then that we are being kept by the grace of God. He is the God of our Exodus from this world into the next. In that process God is indeed the God who is behind us and the God who goes before us. 

Next  time  we shall  see how in that  process,   through it all,  God systematically  conquers us.

Genesis 32:22-24 - "Wrestling with God"

The next 4 sermons  in  our  exposition of  the book of Genesis will  focus on Genesis 32:22-32. Our focus will be  on the God who will not leave  His  chosen   children alone in their sin. He will wrestle them down  and   then He will restore them, and they will be conformed to His will.  

OUTLINE

1.     32:22-24   Wrestling with God

2.     32:25          The  Touch of God that Hurts  and Heals

3.     32: 26-28    Winning by Losing

4.     32:29-32    Reaching the Place of Blessing

1. WRESTLING WITH GOD (32:22-24) 

Jacob, after he has served his uncle Laban for 20 years in a self- imposed exile (motivated by fear for his brother, Esau) is now on his way back to the land that God had promised him and his descendants on oath.  God had sovereignly chosen Jacob to be the covenantal head of the chosen seed, from which the Messiah – Jesus, would eventually be descended according to the flesh (Gen.25:23).   Against the background of this high calling  we stand amazed  to discover that   Jacob is such a poor reflection of his high and holy calling. His sinful deviousness  is the reason why he spends  20 years  in a land  of no promise, and no  spiritual blessing, and  under  the yoke of  his uncle Laban,  who is more than a match for him when it  comes to being deceitful. 

In fact, it almost seems that the plan of God is undone at the hand of the sin of man. But the God of the Bible surprises us time and again – and just at the right time. Human sinfulness and evil appears to be capable of undoing God’s work in the world.  But God!  The supreme illustration of this fact is seen on the cross. Just when Satan and his demonic and human agents thought that they had disposed of Jesus, God raised Him up from the dead.  So too it is in the book of Revelation, Chapter 11.  Just when the beast that rises from the bottomless pit thinks that he has disposed of the two witnesses (Gospel churches and gospel messengers), they rise from the dead, after 3 ½  days. Evil comes close, but it never ultimately triumphs.

And so, here too we were fearing the worst for Jacob, but God commands His angels concerning him (Psalm 91:11,12)[1].  We learn from the Bible that God allows human sinfulness to take its course and its  time and its toll, BUT it cannot  ultimately undo the plan and purpose of God. God is sovereign, and not man. In the end   God’s will be done and not man’s.

And so we saw  in  32:1  that  the angels   that ministered to him as he left the promised land  (Gen. 28:10-22),  meet  him again as he prepares to come back to the promised land.   Right now Jacob, now on his way back  to where God wants him to be, wavers between faith and fear,  as he prepares to meet with Esau.   God has more work to do in Jacob, for at this stage Jacob fears Esau more than God. Jacob needs to be conquered by God.

How God conquers Jacob

Our story begins with the crossing of the river Jabbok (32:22).  Jabbok in Hebrew means “wrestler“[2]. At this river Jacob sends everyone and everything ahead (32:23), and we read that “Jacob was left alone…”.  This proved to be a VERY significant time in Jacob’s life, for it is here that we are told, “that a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day”. This is all very amazing. Jacob wrestles (Hebr. abhaq ) at the  river Jabbok - the “wrestling river”.

The significance of this encounter is that Jacob was left alone in this wrestling. There are times when we must wrestle alone.  There are times when nobody can be with us, because God has a work to complete in us.  He is committed to complete the good work that He has begun in us (Phil.1:6). Before Jacob could enter the land, he needed to be thoroughly humbled and be made more useful for God’s purposes. In this Jacob needed to be alone.

What was the work that God needed to do in Jacob? And now remember that for 20 years, away from home, away from Esau, Jacob had suppressed his sinful past. During these 20 years (Chapters 28-32) we read of no spiritual progress in Jacob’s life. The only prosperity we read of, is material prosperity. We read of no spiritual progress in this head of the covenant family -no progress in his spiritual walk with God. To begin with, he was in the wrong place.  I wonder whether you can relate to this.  Perhaps you have run away from a situation, and you find yourself not at peace with God, or  with  your fellowman or yourself.  Somewhere along the  line you had said to yourself,  “if only I  can escape  from this or that situation  or  this  place  of oppression  ( insert ....town/city/country)   I can start again elsewhere.“  By escaping from such a situation   we thought that we may forget our situation or our broken relationships, our sin and we think that by running away we have escaped that situation and the sin.  For a while we may think that we are succeeding. We may even prosper materially, but deep down there is a restlessness. We know that we are not in the right place.   Sin is not just a theory or a doctrine. It is a stubborn fact!  And suddenly, something unexpected happens.  The God who has called you into a covenant relationship loves you too much to leave you as you are. He will not give you any rest until you have dealt with the matter.  He stirs the memory, and the undealt with sin is resurrected. It stares us in the face once more.   It insists on being dealt with, decisively.  We must learn this lesson well. Sin that is not dealt with in Christ, is never buried. It remains there below the surface, in a place called the conscience. Even an unbeliever like king Herod, who had John the Baptist killed, was not able to forget that he had that righteous man executed. His conscience troubled him. At one time he even thought that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected (Matt. 14:2). Peter’s conscience  in denying Christ  was not dealt with until Christ had dealt  with him (John 21) . John’s  first letter in chapter 1 urges us to keep short accounts with sin.  Christian’s though they are forgiven, still have to deal with ongoing  sin in their lives.  Douglas Mc Millan reminds us  that  “there is only  one place  from which sin cannot be resurrected, and that is the grave to which  the Saviour took it , when he paid  its price upon the cross.” [3]  Have your sins and your guilt been buried with  Christ? The gospel says that when God forgives our sins in Christ, then He forgets them (Jer. 31:34 à Hebr.  8:12).  

Here on the border of the land to which Jacob was returning, his memory and his conscience were awakened, “…and Jacob was left alone.”   He found himself between God and his undealt sinful past. There is a sense of loneliness and isolation when you are locked in between with God and your sin. He was somewhere between God’s will and his own will, and he now had no friend to help him or to counsel him. He was now wrestling with God alone over his prideful sin and God was going to humble him.

Some of our most profound experiences in life are the times when we are all alone. We are alone in birth. We are alone in death. We are alone in all the great crisis experiences of our life.  Each one of us must one day stand alone, before the great judgement seat of Christ, where according to Romans 14:12, “each of us  will give an account of ourselves to God”.

When our sins catch up with  us  we can feel very alone. Depression and bi-polarism or schizophrenia may well  be the modern diagnosis. It’s a lonely experience, and you may even have this  sense of loneliness  now  as you sit in this congregation. The very symbolic place of wrestling (i.e. the river Jabbok) is a lonely place for Jacob, and there is no one  who can deal with this situation,but God. Thank God!  He is there in the lonely turmoil of our struggles. We are not alone after all. Let the wrestling begin!

Wrestling with God

For the Christian person this too is part of God’s grace in our lives.  Our lonely experiences in the dark night of the soul are known by God and God’s grace is sufficient for such dark times.  Douglas Mc Millan in his book ‘Wrestling with God’ speaks about the ‘isolation of grace’[4].  God is actually the cause of that isolation. Because He loves us too much to leave us as we are, He brings  us  to that place  because  of wrestling. He the God that will sanctify us through and through (1 Thess. 5:23). He disciplines those whom he loves (Hebr. 12:6).  He will bring  us  to the place where He can have our undivided attention! 

In a greater sense this isolating grace had been operative in Jacob  in a sovereign way even before birth (Rom. 9:18). Like Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5)  and Paul  (Gal. 1:15), and like every true believer  (Eph. 1:4) Jacob was set apart from birth for God’s purposes.  He was isolated by God’s grace, for God’s purposes, and God has a way of making this known time and again in a believer’s  life in terms of crisis  experiences. And so, on this night, Jacob found himself alone at the river Jabbok - and yet  he was not alone. He was alone with the God who had isolated him for a purpose. This is how the Scripture puts it in Genesis 32:24, “and Jacob was left alone.  And a man wrestled  with him until the breaking  of the day.”

From 32:30 (Peniel… for I have seen God face to face ) and also Hosea  12  we know that the man with whom he wrestled  was not just any man, but God Himself  in the form of a man. The prophet Hosea[5] uses this incident of Jacob’s life to describe the contemporary   deceitfulness of Israel against God in his day. There we read,

The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favour. He met God  at Bethel, and there God spoke with us…” (Hosea 12:2-4)

Hosea tells  us that   Jacob’s wrestling  with God  was in the form of prayer: “… he wept and  sought his favour…”.  This was soul agony. God was dealing with the depth of his sin, and Jacob was alternatively defending, and then repenting and letting go of his sin.

Please do not come to the conclusion that this was a wrestling match in which the outcome was 50/50, and where poor God was at times close to losing the wrestling match. No! This is figurative language, and this is what happened. The angel of the LORD came to Jacob. He dominates the scene; he dictates the pace; he directs this encounter   until the breaking of day. Jacob’s stubborn persistence needed to be broken, and God allowed him to wrestle himself to the point of exhaustion.  Horses, I understand need to be worked with to the point of exhaustion – and when they are broken in, they become useful for service.

Isn’t that true for us Christians as well?  Is not a part of the problem that we have dwelt too long in the country of Laban? Our lives there are not lived in conformity to God’s Word and will.  We have prospered in Laban’s land, with material goods, homes and families, but we have been soft on sin, our personal sin. We know in our hearts that we are not at home with God.  We need to be broken and healed by God.  Next week I would like to consider the touch of God which broke Jacob and at the same time healed him.

May our good, gracious, sovereign God bring us in these days to the wrestling river and cure us from our sinful, obstinate stubbornness- whatever that may be, and it may not be the same for everyone.  It has different dimensions and degrees for everyone! Thank God that He is committed to changing us for our good, even though in and off itself this may be a painful experience. Such pruning is designed to make us bear much fruit (John 15).  Thank God that the end product is spiritual freedom and liberty, and peace with God, as our hearts grow more and more attached to Jesus, and less to Laban’s world.

---

[1] Cf.  Matthew 4:6  - the devil actually quotes this Psalm  to Jesus

[2] H.C. Leupoldt: Exposition of Genesis (Vol2) , p.874

[3][3] J. Douglas McMillan , Wrestling with God , Evangelical  Press of Wales , p.51

[4]J. Douglas McMillan , Wrestling with God , Evangelical  Press of Wales , p.54

[5] Hosea  has been called the death bed prophet of Israel, because he was the last to prophesy before the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in about 722BC.

Genesis 28:1-9 “A Troubled Family in the Hands of a Sovereign God "

There comes a time in the life of every family when the young grow up, when they must leave their mother and father, get married and start their own homes. This is the account of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 

How we had wished that they would present us with a godly picture and model of marriage and parenthood.  We will be disappointed. Instead, we see a compromised and a divided home. We see a marriage that did not always work well.  Isaac distrusted God’s leading in the matter of his sons. It is a recipe for  trouble, when a  family head’s  faith in God’s is dysfunctional. As a result he distrusted his family.  Isaac favoured Esau whilst Rebekah favoured Jacob. The family dynamics are explained in  25:27,28 , “When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.  Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob”. 

Now we understand that according to custom the oldest son  inherited ‘the blessing’ – the covenantal promise. However, it was made clear   from the beginning, that Jacob the twin, (younger,  by virtue of the fact  that he was born a few minutes after Esau) was the one destined   to inherit the  covenantal promises by way of  a prophetic word  from  God,  “the older shall serve the younger” (25:23).  

Rebekah knew this but dealt deceitfully with her husband in order to obtain the outcome. Isaac refused to acknowledge this, because he, according to his natural instincts favoured Esau. God ultimately sovereignly overruled in the matter, but all this does not excuse the terrible behaviour of the family. This dysfunctionality would  bring trouble for many years to come.  Actions have consequences and sometimes we have to live with the consequences of our actions for the rest of our lives. Isaac and Rebekah   sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). 

And so, we ought not to be surprised as we read the story of the venture of their boys into married life. It is hair-raising!   Esau married two Hittite women. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah (26:34).  Esau was an unprincipled, rash and worldly man. He had no desire after the God of His grandfather Abraham. He doesn’t care about his birth-right.   And yet, he becomes  insanely jealous  of  his brothers  status and blessing. He corrects his mistakes with  another mistake.  In our text  we  shall see that  Esau, because he knows that his parents are displeased with his choice of Hittite wives, shall take  yet another wife, and again, she shall not be from the  line of the covenant, but from Ishmael’s  family.  More about that in closing...

As  for Jacob, we shall see  in the 29^th Chapter  that he lands up marrying two wives, Leah and Rachel. This is  another story of  deceit, controversy  and betrayal. This is not a story of sinning  to begin with, but of   being  sinned against. This  is  the nature of life in this world.  We ought to be constantly amazed that God works out His purposes amidst such  messy and sinful  relationships.

Genesis 28:1-9

And so, with the encouragement of his parents, Jacob begins his journey to Paddan–aram in  North Western Mesopotamia, to the  place  and home where his mother grew up.  Sadly, he will never see his mother again. When he returned from Mesopotamia twenty years later afterwards, his mother lay buried in the cave of Machpelah (49:31), whilst Isaac will still be alive (35:27).

Jacob will now  embark upon a long spiritual  journey in which he will learn to trust God. He has yet a long way to grow into a man after God's own heart.  I am fascinated by the story of Jacob the deceiver, who was later renamed Israel  (35:10 “He strives with God”. There are so many valuable lessons  from the life of Jacob for our  own edification,  and I intend to explore them with you.   We begin with the first nine verses.

OUTLINE:

29:1-2:  Isaac's parting words  to Jacob.            

29: 3-5:  Isaac repeats  the covenant blessing.

29: 6-9:  Esau’s   foolish response.   

1.     29:1-2  Isaac's parting  words  to Jacob.

Isaac, finally persuaded and now and listening to Rebekah (see her concern in 27:46),  strongly exhorts Jacob not to take a  wife from among the Canaanites. Esau’s marriage to Judith and Basemath, Hittite women (a part of the Canaanite race) had brought enough trouble into their family. 

In Genesis 15 we learned that the Canaanites were a cursed race.  We must understand that the Canaanite were the reference point for unspeakable evil in the Bible. So, when God instructs Moses to write the holiness code (Leviticus)  for His people, it is with reference to  the evil of these Canaanite people  that God speaks and says  repeatedly, “you shall not  walk in the customs  of the nation that I am driving out before you” (Lev. 20:23). The history of the Canaanites  is hair-raising stuff, but Esau disregarded  all this. However, when he overhears  the conversation of his father and mother with Jacob, concerning  their low view of Canaanite women, something begins to dawn on him. But more of that later …  

Isaac counsels Jacob to get a wife from Paddan-aram near Haran in NW Mesopotamia, his mother’s home. She was the daughter of Bethuel, and Jacob is told to marry one of her brother’s daughters. Again, we must emphasise that Jacob is not going to find a perfect wife there.  But Isaac and Rebekah know that  the fear of the LORD,  and  thus  a sense of common grace, associated with a culture  that fears  God,  would be found there.

What is more however is that these parents shall set Jacob on a journey that is ultimately going to be very good for his spiritual development. That is why I would like to trace this journey with you in terms of a series of sermons, which may sound a little like John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress.  It is going to be a journey with many ups and downs,  a journey of joys and fears and sorrows. But in all these things God works to make him into a godlier man. The Lord   often works the same way in our own lives to conform us to the image of Christ.

Many of Jacob's problems, and indeed our own problems can be traced to his and our own sin.  But there is a difference between the sin  of an Esau  and a Judas,   and  the sin of a Jacob and a Peter.  In the case  of an  OT Esau and  a NT Judas  their  sin  leads  them away  from God. In the case of an OT Jacob and  a NT Peter, both  are called by God  and both are  covenant  children of God, and therefore  the LORD turns their  sins into opportunities for growth and blessing. James, the brother of Jesus reminds us in this regards that trials of various kinds (i.e. induced by our own sinfulness and otherwise)  are not designed  to destroy us, but to further  our growth  in spiritual maturity (Jas. 1:2,3). That is what we shall see in Jacob's life. And God, like a wise and loving Father will not necessarily  keep us from making mistakes.  He shall not necessarily  keep us from our  wilful  want to sin.  But, He will lead us, refine us, mature us  and sanctify us through and in  it  all. 

2.     Isaac confirms the blessing to Jacob. (28:3-5)

Now, Isaac is also learning from his own mistakes.  And here Isaac confirms that covenant blessing, which God first had made with his father, Abraham, and which he had first given to Jacob, sadly in the context of deceit. However, by  confirming  this promise to Jacob,  Isaac affirms the legitimacy of that blessing, despite the fact that it was originally obtained through deceit. 

This covenant blessing will make all the difference in Jacob’s journey from now on.  Covenant means that God is holding on to Jacob, even when Jacob will at times  feel  abandoned and alone.  And in those times he has to remember God's word- God’s promise, for that is the only thing that he has to hold on to at times.  

Remember  and internalise the Word of God! Feed on it  and let it sustain you when there is nothing left.  We all  experience times such as these. The God of the covenant shall carry you, dear believer, when you have no hoarded resources left. I know. I have also been there.  This is the way  in which God grows us. This is the way in which we gain assurance of faith. In the proverbial lion’s  den we  learn  the nearness and the presence of God. 

The covenantal blessing

“May God Almighty (El Shaddai)  bless you. No-one less than the Almighty, the Everlasting God  was promised  here to be with Jacob.

…and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.”  This is in line with the Abrahamic promise, in which God told Abraham that he and his family would become a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Well, in this blessing to Abraham, Isaac and now Jacob, the promise of God continues. The phrase “company of peoples”  (Hebr. qahal)  is the root word for the Old Testament word for ‘church’ or ‘assembly’. This is the first time it is used in the Bible.  This is a great  promise, and the fulfilment  of it is found   in the  continual line of the covenant of grace, becoming the ekklesia  the church of the NT and  eventually the  assembly of God’s people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation  will be found before the throne in heaven (Rev. 5:9; 7:9). What an incredible promise is being given to Jacob.

May he give you the blessing of Abraham to you ... Isaac is confirming that Jacob has now become  the new  head of the covenant line. Jacob the deceiver! Imagine that. But that just shows you what  Paul shows us also in the NT. God’s grace is truly amazing.  If you are a struggling Christian, then  reflect on the life of Jacob. The race is not yet finished for you, my dear brother and sister,   and God  may yet make  more  out of you  than you think. Try not resist  God in this process.

...that you may possess the land of your sojournings which God gave to Abraham. This is Canaan,  the promised land of the Hebrew people, but it is more. It is the promise of a better country ( Hebr. 11:8-10

28:5  With these words  Isaac sent Jacob away. And  now this  interesting phrase ... "And he went to… the brother of  Rebekah,  Jacob’s and Esau’s  mother .”  Birth order is not followed here, and it shows us   the sovereignty of God in  reversing the natural order of things. God's electing love doesn't work according to man- made laws. God’s election is always sovereign and free, and  we see it time and again in the Bible (i.e.the way in which David is chosen as king over Israel) 

3.      Esau's continued folly. (28:6-9)

Esau  has overheard this conversation  between  his parents and  he  heard  Isaac repeating the blessing to Jacob. And so he attempts another route to please his parents. Whereas, Esau ought to have repented, and submitted to God, he now  attempts  to  correct  the matter of his marriages  to Canaanite women, now marrying Ishmaelite wife. Maybe that was better than a Hittite, but it wasn't the answer to correct his sinfulness. He needed to flee to  God for grace.

So, there we are. We put our hands before our mouths.  The apostle Paul in Romans 9-11,  reflecting on the electing grace of God (and in  particular with respect to  the story of Jacob and Esau) ends  his  reflection with these words, 

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.