The Jabbok gorge at first gray light: a shallow stony ford with water running fast over rocks between steep dark slopes, the near bank trampled and empty.

The Book of

Genesis 32

Jacob is coming home, and Esau is coming to meet him with four hundred men. Then, alone by a river at night, someone takes hold of Jacob.

32 verses≈ 6 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–11BeginningsCreation, fall, flood, Babel
12–24AbrahamThe call and the promise
25–36Isaac and JacobThe promise passed onChapter 32
37–50JosephGod meant it for good

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

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Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

Reflect

In great fear and distress

Twenty years after he ran from Esau, Jacob hears that his brother is coming “he and four hundred men with him.” His first move is a plan: two camps, so that “the other camp can escape.” Planning isn’t wrong, but watch what he does next. What are you afraid of right now? Write it down plainly, and then write what you would say to God about it.

At night a man kneels alone on a dark hillside, seen from behind, his staff on the ground beside him, looking down on two separate camps of tents under the moon.

Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

0:36

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant

Genesis 32:10

Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”

He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”

So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Mahanaim and the Jabbok

Coming home from Haran, Jacob camps at Mahanaim in Gilead, east of the Jordan; the site is uncertain, somewhere north of the Jabbok. Esau lives far to the south “in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,” and comes north to meet him. In the night Jacob sends everyone across “the ford of the Jabbok,” a stream that runs west through a deep gorge into the Jordan, and at daybreak he passes Penuel.

Pray

Pray like Jacob

Jacob’s prayer is honest and simple. He names who God is, the “God of my father Abraham.” He admits, “I am unworthy.” He asks plainly, “Please deliver me.” And he holds God to His word: “But You have said.” Pray that way now about whatever you fear. Tell God the truth, ask for what you need, and lean your whole weight on what He has promised.

Jacob Wrestles with God

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

I will not let you go unless you bless me

Genesis 32:26

The man

“What is your name?” the man asked.

Jacob

“Jacob,” he replied.

The man

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

Jacob

And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.”

The man

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?”

Then he blessed Jacob there.

Genesis 32:30

The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

Question

Quick question

At daybreak the man asks Jacob his name, and then gives him a new one.

What new name was Jacob given at the Jabbok?

You’ve experienced

Genesis 32

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A verse to carry with you

I will not let you go unless you bless me.

Genesis 32:26

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