Genesis 32.22-23-By Faith Jacob Sends Family Across Jabbok
Thursday August 24, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 32:22-23-By Faith Jacob Sends Family Across Jabbok
Lesson # 193
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 32:1.
This evening we will continue with our studies of Genesis 32 by noting Genesis 32:22-23.
Thus far, by way of review of this chapter, we have noted the following:
In Genesis 32:1-2, we saw Jacob encountering the angels of God as he was returning to the land of Canaan and naming the place, “Mahanaim,” which means, “two camps.”
Jacob’s encounter with the elect angels of God was designed to reassure him once again of the divine presence and protection and to motivate him to walk by faith and not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Then, we noted Genesis 32:3-6, where Jacob by faith initiates contact with Esau his brother by sending a delegation to him in order to communicate to Esau his desire to reconcile with him but Jacob receives information from the messengers that Esau is coming with four hundred men to meet him.
As we noted the delegation did not make contact with Esau and therefore, did not convey Jacob’s message to Esau but rather they simply turned around after seeing Esau coming with four hundred men and assumed that Esau had hostile intentions.
In Genesis 32:7-8, we saw Jacob’s response to this information, which was to divide his family into two companies in order to save lives in case that Esau’s intentions were hostile.
Then, we noted Genesis 32:9-12 where Jacob prays for protection from Esau and claims the covenant promises of God (32:9-12) in order to meet his fear of Esau.
Last evening we studied Genesis 32:13-21 where we saw that by faith Jacob sent gifts to Esau as restitution for stealing the blessing of the birthright twenty years before.
This gift was intended to signify to Esau that Jacob’s intentions towards Esau were not hostile but rather conciliatory.
This evening we will note Genesis 32:22-23 where by faith Jacob sends his family across the Jabbok river and into the land of Canaan.
Genesis 32:1, “Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him.”
Genesis 32:2, “Jacob said when he saw them, ‘This is God's camp.’ So he named that place Mahanaim.”
Genesis 32:3, “Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.”
Genesis 32:4-5, “He also commanded them saying, ‘Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’”
Genesis 32:6, “The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, ‘We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.’”
Genesis 32:7-8, “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; for he said, ‘If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.’”
Genesis 32:9-10, “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 relatives, and I will prosper you, I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.’”
Genesis 32:11, “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.”
Genesis 32:12, “For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”
Genesis 32:13-15, “So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him 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 colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.”
Genesis 32:16, “He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, ‘Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.’”
Genesis 32:17, “He commanded the one in front, saying, ‘When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’”
Genesis 32:18, “then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’”
Genesis 32:19-20, “Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, ‘After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ For he said, ‘I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.’”
Genesis 32:21, “So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.”
Genesis 32:22, “Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.”
Genesis 32:23, “He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.”
In the Hebrew style, the narrator first gives a summary statement that presents the final result, which is recorded in Genesis 32:22 stating that Jacob crossed the Jabbok, which is then followed by the details, which continue up to Genesis 32:32 where the final crossing takes place.
Now, Genesis 32:22 records that Jacob sent his household across the Jabbok at night, which is significant.
The darkness symbolizes the turmoil that Jacob was experiencing in his soul as he was trying to reconcile Esau’s advance with four hundred men and God’s promises to be with him and protect him and to return him to the land of Canaan.
Jacob’s “two wives” were Rachel and Leah and the “two maids” were his secondary wives or concubines, Zilpah (Leah’s maid) and Bilhah (Rachel’s maid).
“His eleven children” were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah (See Genesis 29:31-35), Issachar, Zebulun (See Genesis 30:14-21), Gad, Asher (See Genesis 30:9-13), Dan, Naphtali (See Genesis 30:1-8), and Joseph (See Genesis 30:22-24).
“Dinah” is not mentioned “not” because she is the only girl in the family but rather because she plays no role in the founding of the nation of Israel, which is the concern of the narrator Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
This is a critical time in the founding of the nation of Israel because the nation will never become a reality if they do not survive this encounter with Esau.
Furthermore, if the nation does not become a reality, then the Savior will not be able to come into the world since the Savior was to descend in His human nature from Jacob and his family.
“Ford” is the noun ma`avar (rb*u&m^), which refers to a shallow smooth flowing section of the Jabbok river, which would allow Jacob’s household to walk across to the other side.
Before the construction of bridges, flat stepping stones or timber would be laid across the shallowest and narrowest part of the river to enable one to cross it.
“Jabbok” is the proper noun yabboq (qB{y^) (yab-boke), which is a sixty-mile-long tributary east of the Jordan River and is one of the major streams of the Trans-jordan, originating in the mountains near Ammon, flowing north and then northwest and emptying into the Jordan River about 20 miles north of the Dead Sea.
Bruce K. Waltke, “The river flows through deeply cut canyons for about 50 miles westward from its source, moving from 1900 feet above sea level to 115 feet below sea level” (Genesis, A Commentary, page 445, Zondervan).
Today, the “Jabbok” is called the “Wadi Zerqa,” which means, “the blue river.”
The “Jabbok” formed a natural boundary and constituted the limit of the territory the nation of Israel dispossessed under Moses (Numbers 21:24; Deuteronomy 2:37; 3:16; Joshua 12:2; Judges 11:13, 22).
So after sending the animals and the servants across the river, which constituted the gift for Esau as restitution for his deceitful conduct in the past towards Esau, Jacob then sends his family across last.
The fact that Jacob initiates contact with Esau and even risks sending his beloved wives and children ahead of him to meet Esau indicates quite clearly that Jacob is operating in faith and trusting the Lord to protect him and his family.
If Jacob was afraid of Esau he would never have risked initiating contact with Esau or risk sending his beloved family ahead of him in the path of Esau.
To cross at night with a vast entourage as Jacob did, was a difficult and dangerous operation, which could only be undertaken by moonlight and only under urgent circumstances, which this was.
By moving from the northern to the southern side of the Jabbok River, Jacob is placing himself and his family all the more quickly in the path of Esau, who was advancing from Seir in the south.
If he lived in fear of Esau, he would never undertaken such an operation and risk his family’s safety or his own.
If you recall, Jacob told Laban that he left Paddan Aram in secret out of fear of Laban.
If Jacob was afraid of Esau, he would have slipped into the country secretly just as he left Laban in secret out of fear of Laban.
Therefore, it is clear that Jacob is operating in faith, resting in the promise of God to protect him and his family and if he wasn’t operating in faith, he would never have risked initiating contact publicly with Esau or risk sending his beloved wives and children ahead of him.
Faith produces courage whereas unbelief produces cowardice and so we see that Jacob’s faith has produced courage in his soul.
Faith honors the Lord whereas unbelief dishonors the Lord because it calls into question His integrity and ability to deliver on His promises.
Faith is obedience to God’s commands and is the positive response to God’s commands and acting upon those directions.
Jacob is demonstrating his faith by his obedience to the Lord’s command to return to the land of Canaan.
Unbelief on the other hand is disobedient and is the negative response to God’s commands and as a result the failure to act upon God’s commands.
Unbelief not only occupies itself with difficulties but also magnifies and exaggerates them so that spiritual defeat (Rm. 7) rules out experiencing victory (Rm. 8).
Fear is a result of unbelief and unbelief is failure to trust that God will protect and provide for us.
So we see quite clearly that Jacob is resting in the promise that the Lord would protect him and is therefore, operating in faith rather than unbelief and is not occupied with the difficulties of confronting Esau or magnifying them or exaggerating them.
Biblical faith is trusting in the promises of God regardless of the circumstances or consequences and resting in them and is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
The principle of faith operates quite simply: (1) God speaks and we hear His Word. (2) We trust His Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or what the consequences may be.
The circumstances may be impossible, and the consequences frightening and unknown but we obey God’s Word just the same and believe Him to do what is right and what is best.
Jacob obeyed the Lord’s command to return to Canaan even though there was uncertainty as to Esau’s attitude towards him.
Hearing the Word of Christ produces faith in God (Rm. 10:17) and so we see that God’s Word motivated Jacob to walk by faith.
Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
The Christian soldier’s faith or total and absolute confidence in God’s faithfulness to His promises acts as a shield protecting his soul from the attacks of Satan and his kingdom of darkness, which come in the form of thought projections that are designed to produce doubt in God’s Word.
Ephesians 6:16, “In addition to everything, I solemnly charge all of you to take up for yourselves your shield, which is your faith because that will enable all of you to extinguish all the flaming arrows originating from the evil one.”
Jacob’s soul was protected from the attacks by the kingdom of darkness because of his faith in God and His promises.
The believer employs the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, by exercising faith in the Word of God, which is expressed by obedience and results in victory in spiritual combat.
Ephesians 6:17, “Also, I solemnly charge all of you to take hold of your helmet, which is your salvation as well as your sword that originates from the Spirit, which is, as an eternal spiritual truth, God’s Word.”
1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.”
Jacob will experience victory not only in spiritual combat with Satan and the kingdom of darkness but also victory with Esau in that they will be reconciled.
Faith in the Word of God appropriates the omnipotence of God.
Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.’”
Jacob is not looking at Esau but looking to God and is thus operating in faith and concentrating on the Lord’s promise to protect him and is therefore appropriating the omnipotence of God to deal with this mountain in his life in the form of Esau.
God will reward our faith since it pleases Him and so God will reward Jacob for his faith in Him.
Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Principle: Unbelief is the failure to take into account and acknowledge the character and nature of God, His presence and His Word.
Unbelief operates in the sphere of the old Adamic sin nature and contradicts faith and leaves God out.
By initiating contact with Esau and sending his family across the Jabbok, Jacob is taking into account God and acknowledging His character and nature, His presence and His Word in the form of His promise of protection.
Fear is not sin but becomes sin when we do not turn to God in prayer to overcome that fear and do not claim the promise of divine protection.
Jacob met his fear and anxiety with prayer and claiming the promises that God had made to him in the past of the divine presence, protection and prosperity.
Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
Psalm 56:3-4, “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?”
Psalm 31:2, “Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me.”
Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”
Psalm 143:9, “Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I take refuge in You.”