Of the scenes of his sojourn at Haran there is no occasion to speak particularly. Perhaps the deception in which his mother and himself were the responsible parties came up fresh and clear to him when he found that Laban had taken similar liberties with him, giving him Leah when Rachel was in the bond. A man never gets so sharp and keen a sense of the wrong of these little deceptions as when he becomes the victim and the sting goes deep into his own bosom. This is sometimes the Lord’s way to testify his disapprobation of this wrong and to impress his own view of it upon those who may have sinfully indulged in it.
Mahanaim.
The second great exigency of Jacob’s life has its record in Gen. 32. Twenty years have passed away in Haran; he has wives, children, and ample substance of cattle, sheep, camels. Indeed all his children except Benjamin are now about him. Not feeling at home longer with Laban; remembering the Lord’s promise to give Canaan to him and to his children; mindful moreover of the scenes of Bethel, and we may hope, somewhat fearful lest the household gods which were dangerously near the heart of Laban, might be a snare to his wives and children, he fully makes up his mind to return to Canaan.
At some point on this return journey, (as the narrative states rather abruptly), the angels of God met him. Jacob saw them and said, “This is God’s host”—a convoy—a kind of military guard, the demand for which presently appeared. He gave name to the place from the fact—“Mahanaim”—the double camps or hosts. They seem to have been an intimation to him that danger was near, and that God’s hosts were near also for his rescue.
On his way back to Canaan, and consequently approaching the residence of Esau in the land of Seir, Jacob is fully aware that his coming must be known to Esau, and therefore he sends messengers to him for the purpose of conciliating his good will. These messengers soon returned to Jacob, saying; “We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee and four hundred men with him.” In an instant Jacob comprehends the situation and sees his danger. Those four hundred men are led on by Esau with no peaceful purpose. The lapse of twenty years has not sufficed to quench the fire of his wrath and to revive fraternal affection. Still unforgiving he comes on “breathing out threatening and slaughter,” exhibiting identically the same character which he impressed on his posterity and which manifested itself in the vindictiveness of the Edomites at the fall of Jerusalem before the Chaldean power. Amos (1: 11, 12) and Obadiah (vs. 10–16) represent this vindictiveness against the posterity of his brother Jacob as the ground and reason of God’s overwhelming judgments on their nation and land. “Becausehe did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he nursed his wrath for ever.”——Such was the bearing of his nation toward the sons of Jacob in the day of Jerusalem’s fall; and with this same spirit he is coming, at the point of his history now before us, to cut off Jacob’s powerless family.——With admirable self-possession and wisdom, Jacob laid his plans promptly—first, to divide his train into two parts, placing one at some distance in advance of the other, so that if the front column were attacked, the rear might stand some chance of escape: and secondly, to send forward a valuable present to Esau;—“two hundred goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine; ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals” (Gen. 32: 13–15)—enough at least to arrest Esau’s attention and perhaps to soothe his spirit toward his brother. These he sent forward with fitting words of conciliation:—but by far the most vital measure of relief yet remained—prayer to the Great God of the covenant. Vs. 9–12 record the words of this prayer, apparently as offered to God in the first moments after the messengers returned and apprised him of his danger. The prudential arrangements above named followed, occupying the morning hours of the day. When night came on Jacob was left alone save that the Lord came down in form as a man—the angel of the covenant—and a scene of struggling, wrestling prayer ensued which ceased not till the dawn of the morning. As the narrative has it; “Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the break of day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he [the angel-man] said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he [Jacob] replied—I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said—Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for as a Prince hast thou power with God and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name; and he said—Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacobcalled the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.”
What we may call the costume, the purely external forms of this scene, are striking, peculiar, but thoroughly significant. In view of the circumstances, there can not be the least doubt that, mentally, spiritually,—this is a scene of prayer—nothing else, less or more. The prayer is a struggle of soul on the part of the suppliant. He is in trouble; he is shut up to God alone for help; and he feels that he can not be denied. The scene of the wrestling must imply that God debates this matter with the suppliant Jacob, apparently resisting, contending,—certainly delaying, and prolonging the conflict hour after hour of the live-long night till break of day. Seeing that he prevailed not to silence Jacob’s supplication, i. e. to break his hold as a wrestler, he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, crippling the wrestler seriously, yet leaving his arms with strength unimpaired to hold fast his antagonist. Then as if to test Jacob’s faith and endurance to the utmost, he said—“Let me go, for the day breaketh;” to which Jacob replied—“I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” Jacob as a wrestler with one thigh out of joint had become powerless to cast his opponent; but with his arms in their full strength he could hold on—and he did. The culminating point in the struggle is reached in these remarkable words; “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” I can not be denied. I have thy promise: it touches this very case—protection and succor till I return to my country; and I can not let go my hold. I must have help now, or perish!——The change of name is richly significant. Jacob, i. e. supplanter, suggested the deception by which he obtained from his blind father the blessing; but with it came the rage of his brother and this present peril to himself and to his great family. “Israel” means a prince with God—one who has prevailed in the struggle of prayer and obtained the blessing he sought. The change of name thus indicates the change in Jacob’s relations to God and to Esau which followed his victory in this prayer-struggle.
But what is the significance of this example? What was really the animus of this conflict? what the reason for it; what the point in debate, and what the great moral lessons which it teaches?
Our data for the answer to these questions must come from one or both of two sources:
(a.) The circumstances of the present case;
(b.) The principles of God’s spiritual administration of grace to his people in connection with prayer.