Jacob prays for deliverance B. C. 1739. CHAP. XXXII. A. M. 2265. 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels into two. bands; 8 And, said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. 9 m And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the ¶ mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast m Psalm 1. 15.- Chapter xxviii. 13. -P Heb. I am less than all, &c. 1 Chap. xxxv. 3.Chap. xxxi. 3, 13. xxiv, 27. Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence, Still to preserve thy conscious innocence, Nor e'er turn pale with guilt. Chap. FRANCIS. In other words, He that has a good conscience has a brazen wall for his defence; for a guilty conscience needs no accuser; sooner or later it will tell the truth, and not only make the man turn pale who has it, but also cause him to tremble even while his guilt is known only to himself and God. It does not appear that Esau in this meeting had any hostile intention, but was really coming with a part of his servants or tribe to do his brother honour. If he had had any contrary intention, God had removed. it; and the angelic host which Jacob met with before might have inspired him with sufficient confidence in God's protection. But we find that when he needed faith most, he appears to have derived but little benefit from its influence, partly from the sense he had of the injury he had done to his brother, and partly from not attending sufficiently to the assurance which God had given him of his gracious protection. Verse 7. He divided the people, &c.] His prudence and cunning were now turned into a right channel, for he took the most effectual method to appease his brother, had he been irritated, and save at least a part of his family. This dividing and arranging of his flocks, family, and domestics, has something in it highly characteristic. To such a man as Jacob such expedients would naturally present themselves. Verse 9. O God of my father Abraham, &c.] This prayer is remarkable for its simplicity and energy; and it is a model too for prayer, of which it contains the essential constituents: 1. Deep self-abasement. 2. Magnification of God's mercy. 3. Deprecation of the evil to which he was exposed. 4. Pleading the promises that God had made to him. And, 5. Taking encouragement from what God had already wrought. Verse 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies] The marginal reading is more consistent with the original: Den hapi on nop katonti miccol hachasadim umiccol hæmeth, I am less than from the hand of Esau. B. C. 1739. showed unto thy servant; for with A. M. 2265. my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 8 11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother " with the children. 12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. 13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand w a present for Esau his brother; 14 Two hundred she-goats, and twenty hegoats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, all the compassions, and than all the faithfulness, which thou hast showed unto thy servant. Probably St. Paul had his eye on this passage when he wrote, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints. A man who sees himself in the light of God will ever feel that he has no good but what he has received, and that he deThe archangels of serves nothing of all that he has. God cannot use a different language, and even the spirits of just men consummated in their plenitude of bliss, cannot make a higher boast. For with my staff] i. e., myself alone, without any attendants, as the Chaldee has properly rendered it. Verse 11. And the mather with the children.] He must have had an awful opinion of his brother when he used this expression, which implies the utmost cruelty, proceeding in the work of slaughter to total extermination. See Hos, x. 14. Verse 12. Make thy seed as the sand] Having come to the promise by which the covenant was ratified both to Abraham and Isaac, he ceased, his faith having gained strong confirmation in a promise which he knew could not fail, and which he found was made over to him, as it had been to his father and grandfather. Verse 13. And took of that which came to his hand] 17 7 habba beyado, which came under his hand, i. e.,.what, in the course of God's providence, came under his power. Verse 14. Two hundred she-goats, &c.] This was a princely present, and such as was sufficient to have compensated Esau for any kind of temporal loss he might have sustained in being deprived of his birthright and blessing. The thirty milch camels were particularly valuable, for milch camels among the Arabs constitute a principal part of their riches, the creature being every way so serviceable that the providence of God appears peculiarly kind and wise in providing such a beast for those countries where no other animal could be of equal service. "The she-camel gives milk continually, not ceasing till great with young; the milk of which," as Pliny has remarked, "when mixed with three parts of water, affords the most pleasant and Tacob prepares and sends forward A. M. 2265. GENESIS. 15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten foals. 16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau and, behold, also he is behind us. : B. C. 1739. a present for his brother Esau. vant Jacob is behind us. For he A. M. 2265. said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face: peradventure he will accept of me. 21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. 22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women-servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone, and there b wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto against him, he touched the hollow of his Esau, when ye find him. thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was 20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy ser- out of joint, as he wrestled with him. d * Proverbs xxi. 14-y Heb. my face; Job xlii. 8, 9.- z Deut. Hos. xii. 3,4; Eph. vi. 12. Heb. ascending of the morning. iii. 16.—a Heb. caused to pass. d See Matt. xxvi. 44; 2 Cor. xii. 7. wholesome beverage." Cameli lac habent, donec iterum gravescant, suavissimumque hoc existimatur, ad unam mensuram tribus aquæ additis.-Hist. Nat., lib. xi., chap. 41. Verse 15. Ten bulls] The Syriac and Vulgate have twenty; but ten is a sufficient proportion to the forty kine. By all this we see that Jacob was led to make restitution for the injury he had done to his brother. Restitution for injuries done to man is essentially requisite if in our power. He who can and will not make restitution for the wrongs he has done, can have no claim even on the mercy of God. Verse 22. Passed over the ford Jabbok.] This brook or rivulet rises in the mountains of Galaad, and falls into the Jordan at the south extremity of the lake of Gennesaret. every sensation of substance, and yet no substantiality be in the case. If angels, in appearing to`men, borrow human bodies, as is thought, how can it be supposed that with such gross substances they can disappear in a moment? Certainly they do not take these bodies into the invisible world with them, and the established laws of matter and motion require a gradual disappearing, however swiftly it may be effected. But this is not allowed to be the case, and yet they are reported to vanish instantaneously. Then they must render themselves invisible by a cloud, and this must be of a very dense nature in order to hide a human body. But this very expedient would make their departure still more evident, as the cloud must be more dense and apparent than the body in order to hide it. This does not reVerse 24. And there wrestled a man with him] This move the difficulty. But if they assume a quantity of was doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ, who, among the air or vapour so condensed as to become visible, and patriarchs, assumed that human form, which in the ful- modified into the appearance of a human body, they ness of time he really took of a woman, and in which can in a moment dilate and rarefy it, and so disappear; he dwelt thirty-three years among men. He is here for when the vehicle is rarefied beyond the power of styled an angel, because he was μɛyahns Bovλns Ay-natural vision, as their own substance is invisible they yɛlos, (see the Septuagint, Isa. ix. 7,) the Messenger of the great counsel or design to redeem fallen man from death, and bring him to eternal glory; see chap. xvi. 7. But it may be asked, Had he here a real human body, or only its form? The latter, doubtless. How then could he wrestle with Jacob? It need not be supposed that this angel must have assumed a human body, or something analagous to it, in order to render himself tangible by Jacob; for as the soul operates on the body by the order of God, so could an angel operate on the body of Jacob during a whole night, and produce in his imagination, by the effect of his power, every requisite idea of corporeity, and in his nerves can instantly vanish. From Hos. xii. 4, we may learn that the wrestling of Jacob, mentioned in this place, was not merely a corporeal exercise, but also a spiritual one; He wept and made supplication unto him. See the notes there. Verse 25. The hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint] What this implies is difficult to find out; it is not likely that it was a complete luxation of the thigh bone. It may mean no more than he received a stroke on the groin, not a touch; for the Hebrew word ya naga often signifies to smite with violence, which stroke, even if comparatively slight, would effectually disable him for a time, and cause him to halt for many hours, if not for several days. I might add that in this place Jacob wrestles with an angel, A. M. 2265. B. C. 1739. my B. C. 1739. 26 And he said, Let me go, | fore is it that thou dost ask after A. M. 2265. for the day breaketh: And he name? And he blessed him there. said, I will not let thee go, except thou 30 And Jacob called the name of the place bless me. m Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, 27 And he said unto him, What is thy and my life is preserved. name? And he said, Jacob. -the groin, a blow might be of fatal consequence; but as the angel gave it only as a proof of his power, and to show that he could not prevail because he would not, hence the blow was only disabling, without being dangerous; and he was probably cured by the time the sun rose.. Verse 26. Let me go, for the day breaketh] Probably meaning, that as it was now morning, Jacob must rejoin his wives and children, and proceed on their journey. Though phantoms are supposed to disappear when the sun rises, that could be no reason in this case. Most of the angelic appearances mentioned in the Old and New Testaments took place in open day, which "put their reality out of question. Verse 28. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel] Yisrael, from sar, a prince, or sarah, he ruled as a prince, and el, God; or rather from ' ish, a man, (the aleph being dropped,) and raah, he saw, 4x el, God; and this corresponds with the name which Jacob imposed on the place, calling it peniel, the faces of God, or of Elohim, which faces being manifested to him caused 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, Punto this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. m That is, the face of God." Ch. xvi. 13; Exod. xxiv. 11; xxxiii. 20; Deut. v. 25; Judg. vi. 22; xiii. 22; Isaiah vi. 5. • Mal. iv. 2.-P1 Sam. v. 5. God calling the things that were not as though they had already taken place, because the prevalency of this people, the Israelites, by means of the Messiah, who should proceed from them, was already determined in the Divine counsel. He has never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain. He who wrestles must prevail. Verse 29. Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.] It is very likely that Jacob wished to know the name of this angel, that he might invoke him in his necessities; but this might have led him into idolatry, for the doctrine of the incarnation could be but little understood at this time; hence, he refuses to give himself any name, yet shows himself to be the true God, and so Jacob understood him; (see verse 28;) but he wished to have heard from his own lips that name by which he desired to be invoked and worshipped. .he was ראיתי אלהים פנים אל פנים,30 him to say, verse raithi Elohim panim el panim, i. e., "I have seen the Elohim faces to faces, (i. e., fully and completely, without any mediam,) vorm vatlinnatsel napshi, and my soul is redeemed." We may learn from this that the redemption of the soul will be the blessed consequence of wrestling by prayer and supplication with God: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." From this time Jacob became a new man; but it was not till after a severe struggle that he got his heart, and his character changed. After this he was no more Jacob the supplanter, but Israelthe man who prevails with God, and sees him face to face. his name, ر Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?] Canst thou be ignorant who I am? And he blessed him there-gave him the new heart and the new nature which God alone can give to fallen man, and by the change he wrought in him, sufficiently showed who After this clause the Aldine edition of the Septuagint, and several MSS., add ó eσri vavμaotov, or Kaι TOUTO EOTL Davaorov, which is wonderful; but this addition seems to have been taken from Judges xiii. 18. Verse 31: The sun rose upon him] Did the Prophet Malachi refer to this, chap. iv. 2: Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings? Possibly with the rising of the sun, which may here be understood as emblematical of the Sun of righteousness-the Lord Jesus, the pain and weakness of his thigh passed away, and he felt both in soul and body that he was healed of his plagues. Verse 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew] What this sinew was neither Jew nor Christian can tell; and it can add nothing either to science, or to a true understanding of the text, to multiply conjectures.. I have already supposed that the part which the angel touched or struck was the groin; and if this be right, the sinew, nerve, or muscle that shrank, must be sought for in that place. And hast prevailed.] More literally, Thou hast had power with God, and with man thou shalt also prevail. o's Dy im Elohim, with the strong God; D'IN Dy im anashim, with weak, feeble man. There is a beautiful opposition here between the two words: Seeing thou hast been powerful with the Almighty, surely thou shalt prevail over perishing mortals; as thou hast pre- THE serious reader must meet with much instrucvailed with God, thou shalt also prevail with mention in this chapter. Esau comes to meet Jacob GENESIS. with four hundred men 1. After his reconciliation with Laban, Jacob pro- | part with it lightly; they remember the vinegar and Iceeds on his way to Canaan; and as God, who was the gall, and they watch and pray that they enter not continually watching for his welfare, saw the trials to into temptation. which he would shortly be exposed, therefore he provided for him the instructive vision of angels, that he might see that those who were for him were more than those who could be against him. A proper consideration of God's omniscience is of the utmost advantage to every genuine Christian. He knows whereof we are made, he remembers that we are but dust,' he sees our trials and difficulties, and his eye affects his heart. Hence he is ever devising means that his banished be not expelled from him. 2. Jacob's recollection of his unkindness and injustice to his brother, when he hears that he is coming to meet him, fills his soul with fear, and obliges him to betake himself to God by prayer and supplication. How important is the office of conscience! And how necessary are times of trial and difficulty when its voice is loudest, and the heart is best prepared to receive its reproofs! In how many cases has conscience slumbered till it pleased God to send some trial by which it has been powerfully awakened, and the salvation of the sinner was the result! Before I was afflicted I went astray. 3. Though salvation be the free gift of God, yet he gives it not to any who do not earnestly seek it. The deeper the conviction of guilt and helplessness is, the more earnest the application to God for mercy is likely to be. They whose salvation costs them strong erying and tears, are not likely (humanly speaking) to 4. In the strife and agony requisite to enter in at the strait gate, it is highly necessary that we should know that the grace and salvation of God are not purchased by our tears, &c.; for those things which are only proofs and arguments that we have sinned, can never remove the iniquity of our transgressions. A sensible and pious man observes on this subject, "That prayer and wrestling with God should be made as though no other means were to be practised, and then the best means be adopted as though no prayer or wrestling had been used." God marks even this strife, though highly pleasing in his sight, with such proofs of its own utter insufficiency, that we may carry about with us the memorial of our own weakness, worthlessness, and slowness of heart to believe. God smote the thigh of Jacob, 1. That he might know he had not prevailed by his own strength, but by the power and mercy of his God. 2. That he might have the most sensible evidence of the reality of the Divine interposition in his behalf. 3. That he might see God's displeasure against his unbelief. And 4. That men in general might be taught that those who will be the disciples of Christ must deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and mortify their members which are upon the earth. Those who have not cut off a right hand or foot, or plucked out a right eye, for the kingdom of heaven's sake, are never likely to see God. The religion that [costs us nothing, is to us worth nothing. CHAPTER XXXIII. Re Esau, with four hundred men, meets Jacob, 1. He places his children under their respective mothers, passeš over before them, and bows himself to his brother, 2, 3. Esau receives him with great affection, 4. ceives the homage of the handmaids, Leah, Rachel, and their children, 5–7. Jacob offers him the present of cattle, which he at first refuses, but after much entreaty accepts, 8-11. Invites Jacob to accompany him to Mount Seir, 12. Jacob excuses himself because of his flocks and his children, but promises to follow him, 13, 14. - Esau offers to leave him some of his attendants, which Jacob declines, 15. Esau returns to Seir, 16, and Jacob journeys to Succoth, 17, and to Shalem, in the land of Canaan, 18. Buys a parcel of ground from the children of Hamor, 19, and erects an altar which he calls El-elohe-Israel, 20. ༣ B. C. 1739. A. M. 2265. AND Jacob lifted up his eyes, Rachel, and unto the two hand- A. M. 2265. and looked, and, behold, a Esau maids. C. 1739. came, and with him four hundred men. And 2 And he put the handmaids and their chilhe divided the children unto Leah, and unto dren foremost, and Leah and her children after, a Genesis, chap. xxxii. 6. NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIII. Verse 1. Behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men.] It has been generally supposed that Esau came with an intention to destroy his brother, and for that purpose brought with him four hundred armed men. But, 1. There is no kind of evidence of this pretended hostility. 2. There is no proof that the four hundred men that Esau brought with him were at all armed. 3. But there is every proof that he acted towards his brother Jacob with all openness and candour, and with such a forgetfulness of past injuries as none but a great mind could have been capable of, Why then should the character of this man be perpetually vilified? Here is the secret. With some people, on the most ungrounded assumption, Esau is a reprobate, and the type and figure of all reprobates, and therefore he must be every thing that is bad. This serves a system; but, whether true or false in itself, it has neither countenance nor support from the character or conduct of Esau. Verse 2. He put the handmaids and their children foremost] There is something so artificial in this arrangement of Jacob's family, that it must have had some peculiar design. Was Jacob still apprehensive Esau receives Jacob kindly. B. C. 1739. CHAP. XXXIII. B. C. 1739. They part in friendship. A. M. 2265. and Rachel and Joseph hinder- my present at my hand; for there- A. M. 2265. fore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. most. 3 And he passed over before them, and bbowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near, and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8 And he said, What meanest thou by hall this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive Chap. xviii. 2; xlii. 6; xliii. 26. a Chap. xlv. 14, 15.- e Heb. to thee.cxxvii. 3; Isa, viii. 18. Heb. What is h Chap. xxxii. 16. Chap. xxxii. 5. that is thine. J Chap. xliii. 3; 2 Sam. 32; Matt. xviii. 10. Chap. xxxii. 28. Chap. xlviii. 9; Psa. all this band to thee? Heb. be that to thee iii. 13; xiv. 24, 28, of danger, and put those foremost whom he least esteemed, that if the foremost met with any evil, those who were behind might escape on their swift beasts? chap. xxxii. 7, 8.. Or did he intend to keep his choicest treasure to the last, and exhibit his beautiful Rachel and favourite Joseph after Esau had seen all the rest, in order to make the deeper impression on his mind? m 11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have n enough. And he urged him; and he took it. 12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant; and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me and he said, What needeth it? t let me find grace in the sight of my lord. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to " Succoth, and Judges i. 15; 1 Sam. xxv. 27; xxx. 26; 2 Kings v. 15. Heb. all things; Phil. iv 18.- 02 Kings v. 23.—P Heb. according to the foot of the work, &c., and according to the foot of the children.- 4 Ch. xxxii. 3. Heb. set or place. Heb. Wherefore is this? Chap. xxxiv. 11; xlvii. 25; Ruth ii. 13. " Josh. xiii. 27; Judg. viii. 5; Psa. Ix. 6. over the left, with other ceremonies according to the rank of the parties. Verse 10. Receive my present at my hand] Jacob could not be certain that he had found favour with Esau, unless the present had been received; for in accepting it Esau necessarily became his friend, according to the custom of those times, and in that country. In the eastern countries, if your present be received by your superior, you may rely on his friendship; if it be not received, you have every thing to fear. It is on this ground that Jacob was so urgent with Esau to receive his present, because he knew that after this he must Verse 4. Esau ran to meet him] How sincere and genuine is this conduct of Esau, and at the same time how magnanimous! He had buried all his resentment, and forgotten all his injuries; and receives his brother with the strongest demonstrations, not only of forgive-treat him as a friend. ness, but of fraternal affection. And kissed him] vaiyishshakehu. In the Masoretic Bibles each letter of this word is noted with a point over it to make it emphatic. And by this kind of notation the rabbins wished to draw the attention of the reader to the change that had taken place in Esau, and the sincerity with which he received his brother Jacob. A Hindoo when he meets a friend after absence throws his arms round him, and his head across his shoulders, twice over the right shoulder and once Verse 14. Until I come unto my lord unto Seir.] It is very likely that Jacob was perfectly sincere in his expressed purpose of visiting Esau at Seir, but it is as likely that circumstances afterwards occurred that rendered it either improper or impracticable; and we find that Esau afterwards removed to Canaan, and he and Jacob dwelt there together for several years. See chap. xxxvi. 6. Verse 17. Journeyed to Succoth] So called from no succoth, the booths or tents which Jacob erected |