Jacob Part 17: Jacob Builds an Ark

Jacob Builds an Ark

We are at a crossroads moment in the story of Yaaqov. 

We just walked with him through a 20-year exile in Mesopotamia, halfway to Babylon, in the house of Lavan. 

Do you remember the first story of him leaving the land was having that dream and vision of Heaven and Earth united with the messengers, the angels going up and down the stairway? 

And then house of Lavan, conflict, deceptions within deceptions. It all culminates in this covenant that brings peace among the brother, the brotherhood. 

So as we turn to chapter 32 of the story, we begin act three.

And this is gonna pick up the unresolved thread of Yaaqov and Esau.

The first act was about born a deceiver, deceives his brother. Where did he learn that? From his dad. Back to Yaaqov again. Yaaqov, Esau deceiving his father, his brother, and all of that built up to the climax. Do you remember how Esau felt 20 years ago at least? He was having to console himself from the anger, and he was gonna murder him. And that's the last thing we heard about Esau. And then the long exile. So this is the moment where he's gotta face his past.

You remember what Rivqah, his mom, said is, "You know, if you go for maybe just a few days, he'll forget about all this." So we're gonna find out how true that was or was not.

here's the map of this third act of the Yaaqov story. And once again, it actually, very naturally it falls into a three-part shape, and it is by design.

There's going to be an opening triad of stories about how Yaaqov prepares to meet with Esau, God picks a fight with him in the middle of the night, and then he meets Esau. So it's a one, two, three. 

We're then going to walk into a section that is going to focus on Yaaqov's sons. So Yaaqov will play a role in that story, but mostly it's the story about the deceit and treachery of his sons. So just like the story opened with the story of Yaaqov and his brother born, but then the deceit of his father.

Now here, as he comes back, we come back to the Yaaqov and Esau story, you get part one of Esau and Yaaqov. Then we pause, and now it's not the father of Yaaqov as the deceiver. It's the sons of Yaaqov. So it's, we're now four generations in to this family in Genesis. And everyone keeps intensifying the sins of their ancestors. 

So that whole story is actually pretty disturbing. And so we'll spend some time there. 

Then we'll come, then the story just shifts back to the two brothers again for the conclusion. 

In this third and final act, all the threads from all the acts start coming together. 

We are focused in on the first section Yaaqov prepares to meet Esau. God picks a fight. Then he actually meets Esau.

The most important thing to notice here is that the moment Yaaqov crosses into the land, he has another encounter with Elohim and with angels. Just like he did when he left the land, he does when he comes back into the land. 

he names the place, Two Camps.

There's a human camp, and then he wakes, he realizes, but there's also a divine camp. There's a heavenly camp. That his camp has two camps to it, God's camp and his human camp.

Then he sends his flocks ahead as an offering to Esau.

And there's a key wordplay that we're gonna see all over these chapters, and it's between this word "offering," which is "minkhah," and the word "camp," which is "makhaneh." It's the same letters, just with two letters swapped. Makhaneh and minkhah.

Camp = Hebrew/ מחנה  makhaneh

Offering = Hebrew/ מנחה  minkhah

In the middle of these stories about meeting Esau is the wrestling match. And that's where Yaaqov says he meets Elohim face to face.

And then the next morning he wakes up and meets Esau. And what he says is, "Looking at your face is like looking at God's face."

So there's this interplay here about Yaaqov's journey with God and Yaaqov's journey with other people. And all of his conflicts with other people, he all of a sudden realizes is a conflict with himself and a conflict with God. And so as things come to resolution with Esau, we find that his, he comes to peace with God too, after getting hit really hard in the crotch. 

So just remember that. The word "camp" and the word "offering" are spelled with the same letters flipped. And that'll be an important, like, pun throughout the story. 

Genesis 31:55–32:8 LEB

55 And Laban arose early in the morning and kissed his grandsons and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his homeland. 1 And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him. 2 And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is the camp of God!” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the territory of Edom. 4 And he instructed them, saying, “Thus you must say to my lord, to Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, I have dwelled as an alien with Laban, and I have remained there until now. 5 And I have acquired cattle, male donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.’ ” 6 And the messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 Then Jacob was very frightened and distressed. So he divided the people, flocks, cattle, and camels that were with him into two companies. 8 And he thought, “If Esau comes to one company and destroys it, the remaining company will be able to escape.”

"And Lavan, he went and returned to his place, and Yaaqov, he went on his way.

And messengers of Elohim encountered him.

And Yaaqov said when he saw them, 'Whoa, this is a camp of Elohim.' So he called the name of that place, Two Camps."

When's the last time Yaaqov met some angels?

The ladder.

At the ladder. And where was that? Bethel

It was as he was leaving. As he leaves, he passes by the angels. 

As he comes back into the land, he passes by the messenger

So recall that in Eden, the image of the Cheruvim. 

And so as the humans go outside the land, they pass by the keruvim in exile.

So you just have this subtle nod that when Yaaqov goes into exile, he passes by a Heaven-and-Earth portal. And when he comes back into the land, it's at a different spot, but he passes by another Heaven-and-Earth portal. And it's the narrator's way of depicting this as a return to Eden.

And, but also striking the melody of Genesis 1 through 9. So this is as if it's his potential redemption story, the return from exile. I wonder how this is gonna go.

"So Yaaqov, having seen some divine messengers, got an idea." Ah, messengers. Yeah, alright. "So he sends some human messengers before his face to his brother Esau, in the land of Seir," which is also the same Hebrew letters as the word "hairy, in the field of Edom," which remember, means red.

"And he commanded those messengers saying, 'This is what you shall say to my lord, Esau.'" Hmm, he's getting formal here.

"'This is what your servant,'" your slave, "'Yaaqov says, "Listen, I was a migrant with Lavan, and I've stayed there until now.

I have oxen, I have donkeys, I have flocks, I have male and female servants, and I have sent to tell my Lord so that I could find favor in your eyes maybe."' And the messengers returned to Yaaqov saying, 'We came to your brother Esau, and he's coming to meet you with 400 men.'"

 "And Yaaqov was afraid very much, and he was distressed.

And so he divided up the people who were with him into flocks and herds and camels, into two camps.

And he said, 'Well, if Esau comes to one camp and he strikes it, well, at least there'll be one remnant left over.'" That's the first part of the story.

do you remember what the narrator did when he described Esau all the way back when, the last time we heard about Esau? This is reaching way back there.

Where Esau was speaking to his heart about the pain and the grief, and he had to comfort himself. 

And this is exactly the language of what God did to God's own self when he declared that he was going to bring the flood to deal with the outcry of evil.

So Esau was the one crying out 'cause of the evil done to him. And now he's painted as if he's God, deliberating about sending the flood. And it was a really odd set of details. And that was the last time we saw Esau.

Now, here we are back at the scene again, and what we see is Yaaqov sends messengers.

And he sends, basically what he says is, "Hey, I'm rich. I have a lot of stuff now, and you might be interested in that.

Just wanted you to know I'm back in town." You know? And so here he comes with 400. And so Yaaqov is afraid.

And he divides all his stuff into two camps.

So we've got the two camps as the frame of this little introduction to the story. The two camps represent God's camp and Jacob's camp. It's like he has this realization, God's with me.

But then we have this two camps. 

What is the similarity? What is the difference of these two camps? And what are we supposed to take from this?

the two camps at the beginning of this passage is about, this is a holy place where there's God and humans, two camps. So that's like a good thing, like a holy thing. But then at the end, when he divides it into two camps, it's almost like a hedging of bets that God's gonna protect him. It's like a total contrast to this is a mighty, holy place under, God's here.

these two camps had become contrasting portraits of Jacob's faith, as it were, or wavering faith.

So one moment he's like, better is one day in your courts, like, our camp is the same camp. You know, you are with me. And then the moment, you know, that there's danger, he's like, he's got a plan. He's got a plan. And, you know, inspired by the two camps, he was like, I know how to, you know? I can at least save half my stuff.

And notice that whatever part that is gonna be saved, he calls it a remnant, a "sha'ar," which the exact same word used to describe Noah in the flood.

So just think through how the analogies are working. The last time we saw Esau, he was like God planning to send the flood. And now we have our unrighteous Noah figure.

And he, it's his belief that if there's gonna be a remnant, it's gonna be as a result of his cunning, his plan.

The first time he talks about two camps, it's in response to his recognition of Elohim. And then the second time he creates two camps, it's from him recognizing his brother.

Who he is described as being afraid of. 

he fears man instead of God.

the fear of the Lord leads the true wisdom, in which case he would just get on his knees and pray Which actually he is about to do, but it's gonna be typical Yaaqov-style prayer.

In the first part, the messengers of Elohim are this image of the connection of Yaaqov and God.

In the next part, the messengers are the connection between Yaaqov and Esau. So it sets Yaaqov's interaction with God and Yaaqov's interaction with Esau as if they're the, somehow they mutually illuminate each other. 

What's he gonna say when he meets Esau? "Seeing you is like seeing Elohim." And when he wrestles. In the wrestling match, what we're gonna learn is that his wrestlings with Elohim are his wrestlings with other people. 

This whole story has been about a guy whose wrestlings with God are wrestlings with images of God. 

Genesis 32:9–12 LEB

9 Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your family, and I will deal well with you.’ 10 I am not worthy of all the loyal love and all the faithfulness that you have shown your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, mother and children alike. 12 Now you yourself said, ‘I will surely deal well with you and make your offspring as the sand of the sea that cannot be counted for abundance.’ ”

"Yaaqov," verse 9, "said, 'Oh, Elohim of my father Avraham.

Oh, Elohim of my father Yitskhaq. Yahweh who said to me, "Return to your land and to your birth family, and I will do good to you." I am too small,'" it's the same word of from the birth oracle. I'm the small one. "I am too small for all the loyal love and faithfulness that you've done to your servant.

I crossed this Jordan with my staff, and now I've become two camps.

Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, I'm afraid of him, so that he won't come and strike the mothers with their children. You said, 'I will surely do good to you and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be counted because of its greatness.'" What do you think?

What do you think?

I think he's a little desperate and a little scared.

I mean, who doesn't, who hasn't been here?

We all know this prayer.

We've all uttered our own versions of this prayer.

So with this prayer, over time, I've come to be more sympathetic.

Like, I would hope God would be kind to me,

you know, when I'm in these moments. But it's a very realistic depiction, isn't it? Of somebody, in this case, who's in the situation he's in 'cause of his own making. But nonetheless, he cries out and trusts that God will be more generous than he ought to be. And that's the kind of God that God is in the Bible. 

This is the first time he actually asks God.

they interact with each other in the dream. They interact with each other at the camp, but it's not this kind of interaction, like a actual prayer. I mean, this reads like a psalm. This could be like Psalm 152 or something. It really does. And so, yeah, this is the first time that we see a sense of real dependence. It's desperation

Genesis 32:13–21 CSB

13 He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. 16 He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.” 17 And he told the first one, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you?’ 18 then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.’ ” 19 He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. 20 You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.” 21 So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

He spent the night there. So think, he sent the messengers, he got the report, he divides his camp, hedging his bets, help me, help me, help me prayer.

And then it's nighttime.

"So he spent the night, and he took from everything that came into his hand, and he puts together a minkhah." It's the word "camp," but with the letters swapped. "Puts together a minkhah to Esau, his brother.

200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 lambs, 20 rams, 30 nursing camels and their colts, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys." 10. He puts together a 10-part list of animals.

"He gave into the hand of his servants each herd by itself. And he said to the servants, 'Everybody go on in front of me. You all go first. And make sure you put a space of rest between the herds.'" Do you remember the Hebrew word "rest"? It's Noah's name.

So here's Yaaqov gathering the animals. He's gathering together the animals, because this is his remnant, right? So he's gotta, but he's doing this all under his own steam. So he is getting the animals together. 

Make sure that there's a Noah-like space between all the animals.

"Then he commanded the first," so he, get all the animals and the people, and then he's gonna group them into groups. And how many groups? Three groups.

The first group, "When my brother Esau encounters you, and asks saying, 'Who, what is all this? Who do these belong to? Where are y'all going?

To whom do all these before your face belong?' This is what you say. 'This is all the property of your servant Yaaqov. And it is an offering to you, my lord Esau. And Yaaqov, he's behind us.'"

What's his fear?

That Esau will come and strike some. So he's architecting this plan to, like, space everything out. And he's architecting this three-part minkhah, this three-part offering. 

All the animals structured into threes, we're gonna see. And where does he place himself? At the back.  and it's repeated twice. "He commanded also the second, and also the third, and also all those following the herds, saying, 'According to this word, speak to Esau. When you find him, you will say, "Look, Yaaqov is in the back."'"

Now why did he do all this? Well, he was speaking to himself, and he said, "Okay, this is how I'm gonna cover over." This is the word "kipper." It's the same word that's translated "atone" in the book of Leviticus. 

This is how I will atone. But the object of the verb is his face. This is how I'm going to cover over or appease the anger of my brother. "'I'm gonna atone his face with this offering that goes before my face. And afterward I will see his face, and maybe he'll lift up my face.' And the offering passed before his face. And he himself spent the night in the camp."

So he gathers all the animals together, puts a little bit of Noah in between each. And how many groups?

Three.

There's three. The first, the second, and, the number three has appeared, it's a motif usually of a moment of testing. As when three days or on the third day. But these words, the first, the second, and the third, they only appear one other time in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 6:16 LEB

16 You must make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above. And as for the door of the ark, you must put it in its side. You must make it with a lower, second, and a third deck.

In the story of the flood, when God tells Noah to gather all the animals and build an ark, and there's this interesting line where he says, "Make the ark with firsts, and seconds, and thirds." It actually doesn't say floors, or decks, or anything. It's an odd phrase. Make it with firsts, seconds, and thirds. And the only other time in Genesis where those, that sequence, the first, the second, the third, is used is right here.

So if that's a meaningful hyperlink, and I think it is, we're watching Yaaqov build his own ark. He's building his own-

Remnant.

His own little Eden refuge. 

He's cruising with the animals. Why else would he put a space of Noah in between all the

He's being the heel-grabber. So he's trying to preserve life, but by his own ingenuity.

“The Greater One Will Serve the Smaller One”

The birth oracle intimated that the “greater” would serve the “younger” (Gen. 25:23). But the story that follows shows the exact opposite coming to pass.

The younger Yaaqov (at the instigation of his mother) schemes a way to get his own blessing instead of waiting for God to grant it in due time. And he pays dearly for these deceptions. Esau’s anger exiles Yaaqov to Lavan’s house, where he is deceived in return and becomes a “servant” to Lavan (contrary to the birth oracle). He leaves Lavan’s house when he “sees his face” has changed (see Gen. 31:2, 5) and then he flees (just as he fled from Esau).

When Yaaqov returns, he schemes his way back into Esau’s favor only to bow to him and declare that he is Esau’s servant (see Gen. 32:19). He says that seeing Esau’s face is like seeing the face of God, which is more merciful to him in his humiliation and helplessness than he anticipated.

Genesis 25:23NASB

The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the greater shall serve the younger.”

Genesis 29:18-20NASB

18 Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” ... 20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

Genesis 32:4NASB

He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my master Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now;”’”

Ironically, both of these “greater ones” (Esau and Lavan) end up having the “younger” Yaaqov as their servant, and he sees both of their faces, one unfavorable and the other gracious, as though seeing the face of God.

In a strange paradox, it is precisely by becoming a suffering servant to the nations (Esau the father of Edom, Lavan the Aramean) that Yaaqov finally becomes a vehicle of God’s peace and blessing to both of them.

And this idea, the suffering of Yaaqov the servant of God that brings blessing to others, this is what the following strange story is all about.

God Wrestles With Jacob

Bibliography

https://bibleproject.com/classroom/jacob

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Abraham Kuruvilla, Genesis: A Theological Commentary for Preachers (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2014), 374.

John D. Currid, A Study Commentary on Genesis: Genesis 25:19–50:26, EP Study Commentary (Darlington, England; Carlisle, PA: Evangelical Press, 2003), 97–98.

Abraham Kuruvilla, Genesis: A Theological Commentary for Preachers (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2014), 374.

Scott Noegel's “Sex, Sticks, and Tricksters in Genesis 30:31-43: A New Look at an Old Crux” in Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, vol. 25 (1997), p. 7-17.