Genesis 33:8-11
2009.May.01 17:00
Take My Herds… Please…
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Esau asked Jacob, "What did you mean by these herds I met along the road?" "Master," Jacob answered, "I sent them so that you would be friendly to me." "But, brother, I already have plenty," Esau replied. "Keep them for yourself." "No!" Jacob said. "Please accept these gifts as a sign of your friendship for me. When you welcomed me and I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God. Please accept these gifts I brought to you. God has been good to me, and I have everything I need." Jacob kept insisting until Esau accepted the gifts.
(Genesis 33:8-11, CEV)
Perhaps, after I do my big character study on Lot, I’ll do a study on Esau as a type of Christ (Note the implied perhaps on the subordinate class as well). Try this on for size:
When I looked at you, Jesus, and saw the scars that evidenced your sacrifice for me, I looked into the face of Yahweh, and am reminded again of all the things he has done for me. I accept your mercy and the new life you’ve given me. Here, let me give you something in exchange. What? You mean it’s free? No, no, you must take this. And this! C’mon!
Or, one might take the illustration in a different direction and use it to discuss giving to those and need and to support the work of the Church. But, I want to discuss the first one, the need to feel we’re giving something to make us at least partially worthy of the grace we’ve received. In Ephesians, Paul writes:
He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]
While James points out that "Faith that doesn't lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!" (James 2:17, CEV) , it is just as essential to remember that works can never make us worthy of Yahweh’s grace. The question is not one of whether our works are enough, but whether we have faith enough and rejoice in our salvation enough that good works in return are inevitable, whether they come flowing forth.
Had Jacob decided not to bother with the offering the gift to Esau, it would have revealed insincerity in his gratefulness. If I do not perform righteous works, it would reveal to me that own faith is not real. Indeed, every failure on my own part to live up to Yahweh’s desires for me and standards are not marks of condemnation (now that I have received salvation through Christ), but rather reminders of my need for Yahweh’s grace, of the need for faith.
But there’s a point of going too far, of seeking salvation in my works rather than through grace/faith. It’s not clear what Jacob’s motivations are as he persists in offering his gift. Is he just so grateful? Is this just a normal diplomatic act? Or does he still not believe that Esau has really forgiven him?
If I am obsessing over my works, it begs the question of how strong is my faith.
Genesis 33:1-7
2009.Apr.24 17:00
Surprise!
Read Genesis 33:1-7 | Full Chapter
Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and with him were four hundred men. So Jacob divided his children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave girls. Jacob put the slave girls with their children first, then Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph last. Jacob himself went out in front of them and bowed down flat on the ground seven times as he was walking toward his brother.
(Genesis 33:1-3, NCV)
Before I start, I’d like to mention that I believe this is one of the first times I’ve quoted the New Century Version. It’s one of the easy-to-read versions. Since I don’t read it much, I can’t say if this next comment is generally applicable. But. “Slave girls”? WTF? Congratulations, you are at least old enough to have had multiple children, nevertheless, we question your adulthood. The phrasing in general seems demeaning to no purpose.
Anyway.
Okay, so we’ve spent the last chapter alternately dreading this moment and being reassured with the peace of God. Now Jacob looks up to see his brother Esau. I’m imagining the scene in Tombstone when Wyatt and company are walking towards the O K Corral. Esau being in the role of the heroes. Jacob, newly renamed Israel, is the the man at the end of the line, scared perhaps but sure he has to go through with whatever’s about to happen.
Yes, FromGenesis melodrama. Thanks, I’ll be here all week.
Anyway, Jacob makes yet another division, this time of his wives and children. In doing so, he clearly demonstrates the order in which he values the members of his family. Rachel and Joseph are still his favorites, all the scheming of the past years having accomplished exactly jack sh–. And, okay, it’s worth breaking out of the narrative a moment to make a few extra comments on this point, or at least some possible interpretations:
Our schemes and plans often have surprisingly little effect. Certainly compared to what just walking in faith and obedience can bring.
It may be no accident that Israel extends his favor based not on “works” (in this case quantity and order of male offspring) but on his prior choice.
Despite all this, Jacob is quite helpless to protect any of these women or children. He must, to once again mention faith, rely solely on the grace and favor of his God.
Jacob, in a rare moment of (more or less) impressing me, finally gets his a– in front of somebody. If Esau is to avenge the loss of his birthright, Jacob will be confronted before his wives, concubines and kids.
But Esau ran to meet Jacob and put his arms around him and hugged him. Then Esau kissed him, and they both cried.
(Genesis 33:4, NCV)
Wait! What? Um, where are the blood and guts here? Esau is just happy to meet his brother? The guy who kept cheating him?
Well, he is.
What were the years like for Esau? As we’ll find out shortly, he’s had a great deal of material success as well. But just because he’s doing okay does not imply he would have forgiven Jacob. Why he does so is probably impossible to say, except that I am confident Yahweh had a role.
It’s useful to remember that while Yahweh is accomplishing his works in my life, he’s not resting in the lives of others. To abuse the tunneling through a mountain analogy, my three feet in isn’t quite so futile when there’s millions others digging from other directions (What exactly is our apparent purpose is making an inverse funnel cake of this proverbial mountain?). Which is not to imply that I shouldn’t be moving forward in my own life as much as possible. Just that Yahweh’s work is not exclusive to me, but rather his work in me is also a part of his work in all believers, indeed in all humanity.
When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, "Who are these people with you?" Jacob answered, "These are the children God has given me. God has been good to me, your servant." Then the two slave girls and their children came up to Esau and bowed down flat on the earth before him. Leah and her children also came up to Esau and also bowed down flat on the earth. Last of all, Joseph and Rachel came up to Esau, and they, too, bowed down flat before him.
(Genesis 33:5-7, NCV)
I don’t have much comment to make here. All the family approach Esau and bow to him, introduced by Jacob. There’s a family-wide display of humility and that’s a good thing. Although, one can clearly imagine where some of the issues between Joseph and his older brothers originated.
Genesis 32:24-32
2009.Apr.17 17:00
And You Shall Be Israel
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Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."
(Genesis 32:24-28, NASB)
This is not Jacob’s first strange night, but it is in some ways the most important. This is when Yahweh (whether directly or via some messenger), changes Jacob’s name. His new name, Israel, is that which will borne by his descendants and their compatriots throughout history. It seems reasonable that the name could have been given to Jacob by the later Israelites as an explanation for their contemporary name and the story of Yahweh’s giving that name as yet another connection added to cement their theocratic community. But I’m willing to take the story at face value; I’m not sure that it matters much.
Anyway, Jacob spends the night wrestling with some sort of divine representative. All told, this is probably a welcome relief from worrying about the morrow’s encounter with his estranged brother, Esau. So, anyway, they wrestle until daybreak, at which point the “being” dislocates Jacob’s thigh with a touch. ‘Ha, ha, Jacob, you have fought well, but…now we’re done here.’
Jacob, however, pushes for a blessing before letting go. I like that. It also shows a perceptiveness on his part about with whom he’s wrestling. The other asks Jacob’s name which then leads into the renaming.
Anyway, Yahweh’s comment (again, possibly indirect) is that Jacob’s new name is a result of him having striven with both men (such as Laban) and with God (that is, Yahweh, I assume), and having “prevailed”. I can’t even begin to understand what all that word must mean, but it is powerful. Whatever meaning, it need not be construed as a question against Yahweh’s omnipotence (although that’s a bit of a goofy word of limited use). The major point I want to make is that Yahweh values Jacob.
Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.
(Genesis 32:29-32, NASB)
Jacob now requests the name of his, er, guest, who does not reveal his name, but rather now gives Jacob the blessing (what that blessing consists of not being noted). Jacob, now Israel, surmises that this is Yahweh, or some such representative, and thus names the place “Peniel”, a word which apparently has something to do with wrestling with God and not being smited on the spot. And thus, blessed, renamed and gimpy, Jacob sets off to meet his brother.
Genesis 32:13-23
2009.Apr.10 17:00
Diplomacy, a la Bribe
Read Genesis 32:13-23 | Full Chapter
So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 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."
(Genesis 32:13-16, ESV)
Jacob is up to something. When is he not? As I said last entry, he’s matured up over the years. Instead of cunning with intent to deceive, he’s now using his cleverness for the sake of diplomacy. How much of a difference that actually implies is debatable.
Before we find out what his plan is, the narrator gives us a chance to marvel in Jacob’s wealth. Well, the narrator gives the “ancient” Hebrew readers a chance. Interpretting this accurately is not going to be easy for the average 21st century suburbanite. Since this is a present, it’s likely this list comprises only a small percentage of Jacob’s livestock. Of course, I have zero expertise here, but all signs point to major earthly success.
But what is that at the cost of being hated by his brother?
So, let’s delve more into “the plan”.
(Incidentally, it might be worth looking into the particular divisions of animals, both by species and by sex. But I’m not going to.)
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?' 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.'" 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, 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."
(Genesis 32:17-20, ESV)
So, that’s his plan. Send Esau enough presents with enough time between them that, if he is raging, he might cool off and even come to accept Jacob before the two actually meet. Not a bad idea. It’s certainly worth letting go of a portion of Jacob’s wealth to prevent a violent confrontation, and possibly even to allow some reunification with his bother. Jacob cannot yet be expecting that possibility. Considering Esau’s justifiable rage, Jacob will do well to get through this alive. That he returns to Palestine knowing this reveals the growth in his faith in Yahweh.
It’s worth considering the justness of Esau’s rage in comparison to the justness of Yahweh’s rage against me. Only, Yahweh has no rage against me, although it would certainly be just, considering the number of times I’ve gone my own way, tried to assert my own claims to godhood, even after explicitly rejecting those claims in favor of Yahweh’s, even after acknowledging that I cannot possibly save even myself, but choose to have faith that Yahweh in his mercy will do so and indeed already has done so. Anyway, Melchizedek tends to get the most attention as a type of Christ in Genesis, but I think Esau is also in some ways.
So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.
(Genesis 32:21-23, ESV)
His offering prepared, Jacob sends everyone else across the Jabbok river. I don’t know why. It’s going to set up the next event, though, in which Jacob is alone, and has a wrestling match. The motto of Genesis? “Who needs a straight-forward story line?”.
I guess that’s life, though.
Genesis 32:9-12
2009.Apr.03 17:00
Return
Read Genesis 32:09-12 | Full Chapter
Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord Who said to me, Return to your country and to your people and I will do you good, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and loving-kindness and all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant, for with [only] my staff I passed over this Jordan [long ago], and now I have become two companies.
(Genesis 32:09-10, AMP)
Jacob’s growing up, I think. He’s acknowledging Yahweh’s goodness and role in his success. More importantly, Jacob acknowledges that this favor is undeserved. He also recognizes that God has a will for Jacob’s life. And that perhaps is the biggest difference from the Jacob that fled his brother’s wrath twenty-plus years prior. His financial gains are rather nice, but that he can actually spend some time focused on acknowledging Yahweh shows spiritual growth. Not to imply that growth is near complete.
Deliver me, I pray You, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite [us all], the mothers with the children.
(Genesis 32:11, AMP)
Indeed, Jacob’s prayer is starting to sound similar to many of the Psalms, with the combination of reverencing God, but also acknowledging the difficulties of a current situation, seeking Yahweh’s delivering hand in them.
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
Like the Psalmist, Jacob understands that he is full of fear and that he alone is not sufficient against the forces (real or imagined) arrayed against him. Jacob is dependent upon Yahweh to survive this day. Yes, he will use his wisdom and/or cunning, and yes, Esau’s willingness to forgive should not be downplayed. But Jacob’s source now is Yahweh and Yahweh alone. Or, at least, it ought to be.
And You said, I will surely do you good and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
(Genesis 32:12, AMP)
And, now, Jacob refers to the “sand of the sea” descendants promise which plays a continuing role in the Genesis narrative. As had Abraham and Isaac (if I remember correctly), Jacob has received this particular promise from Yahweh, which with Jacob’s children is going to start branching out. Yahweh made this promise during the “Jacob’s Ladder” incident, now some twenty or so years prior. That Jacob references it now, during a time where he’s dealing with fear, shows a level of faith and maturity that was not then evident.
Jacob’s coming of age story is approaching it’s conclusion as he finds his way back home to Palestine.
