Genesis 32 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Genesis 32:1-12

1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, ‘This is the camp of God!’ So he named that place Mahanaim.

3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He instructed them: ‘This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: “Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favour in your eyes.”’

6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, ‘We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.’

7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He thought, ‘If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.’

9 Then Jacob prayed, ‘O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, “Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,” 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, “I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.”’

A. Find Out:

1. What did Jacob see first of all? v.1,2
2. What message did he send to Esau? v.3-5
3. What news came back? v.6
4. How did Jacob feel about this? v.7
5. So what precaution did Jacob take? v.7,8
6. Of what did Jacob remind the Lord? v.9,12
7. So what did he ask the Lord? v.11

B. Think:

1. What do you think was the point of the Lord revealing the angelic army to Jacob (look up Hebrews 1:14 & 2 Kings 6:16 ,17)
2. Why do you think Jacob warned Esau he was coming?
3. Why do you think he was afraid of Esau?

C. Comment:

Some time after leaving Laban, Jacob has a revelation of angels, the indication that the Lord was there looking after him. He sends a message ahead warning Esau that he was coming, perhaps to prepare Esau for the thought of Jacob’s return, perhaps to give time to see what sort of reaction it would provoke. News comes back that Esau, with a large band of men, is coming. Jacob, perhaps rightly remembering their past history, fears the worst and so, as a precaution, splits up all his possessions so that at least half of them might be saved.

Then Jacob does something we have not seen him do before: he prays! Jacob’s prayer is worth noting. He first reminds the Lord of what He said previously. Our confidence is in what the Lord has said. Jacob also acknowledges with thankfulness that he had nothing when he had left his home, but God has made him what he now is. Perhaps it is as if he says, “Please look after me, don’t waste all you have done for me!”. He finally asks the Lord to save him. Great!

D. Application?

1. Do we pray boldly on the basis of what the Lord has already revealed through His word?
2. Do we pray in humility recognizing we are what we are because of what He has done and giving thanks for it?

Passage: Genesis 32:13-21

13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, ‘Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.’

17 He instructed the one in the lead: ‘When my brother Esau meets you and asks, “Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?” 18 then you are to say, “They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.”’

19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: ‘You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, “Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.”’ For he thought, ‘I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.’ 21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

A. Find Out:

1. What did Jacob start doing? v.13
2. How many herds did he separate out for Esau? v.14,15
3. How did he say they should be sent? v.16
4. What instruction did he give to each herdsman? v.17,18
5. What else did he want them to say? v.20a
6. What did he hope to achieve? v.20b

B. Think:

1. What aspects of Jacob’s character do we see here?
2. What impression was he trying to create?
3. How was he hoping Esau’s attitude would gradually change?

C. Comment:

Having just prayed, Jacob now appears to have wisdom that might bring about a change of heart in a potentially angry brother. Wisdom, so often comes from the Lord as we are praying. His strategy was really very simple: he would separate out five large herds of different animals and send them ahead to Esau as presents for him, with a big gap between each one.

His hope was that as each one arrived they would act as a soothing agent and, no doubt, also impress Esau in respect of the size of the coming retinue. If the presents are this big, how big and powerful must be all the possessions and household that followed? In such a way he was hoping to calm Esau and make him think twice about any hasty action against his brother. Quite brilliant! It would be a hard man who would be able to resist such a procession of gifts. As we have said, although there is no indication that it was so, it is true that very often wisdom and revelation come WHILE we are praying, and that was certainly true of Jacob in this situation.

D. Application?

1. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace makers”. Do we seek wisdom from God to know how to bring peace when there is a disturbed situation?
2. Consider your life today and note any potential problem situations or people and ask the Lord for His wisdom to know how to act.

Passage: Genesis 32:22-32

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’

But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’

27 The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’

‘Jacob,’ he answered.

28 Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’

29 Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’

But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’

31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 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 touched near the tendon.

A. Find Out:

1. How did Jacob spend the night? v.24
2. How did the man overcome Jacob? v.25
3. But what did Jacob do? v.26
4. What did the man do? v.28
5. What did Jacob ask which was refused? v.29
6. What did Jacob recognize? v.30

B. Think:

1. What is the point of wrestling?
2. What therefore was God trying to do?
3. For what was Jacob commended and what did he get out of the night’s activity?

C. Comment:

A strange encounter! God comes and wrestles through the night with Jacob. The point of wrestling is to get your opponent to give up, and so God is clearly out to get Jacob to submit to Him and stop striving in life. Because God cannot be beaten it is easy for Him to bring Jacob to a place of weakness and this He does simply by putting Jacob’s hip out of joint. It is at this point that Jacob’s greatness comes through. He clings onto God and refuses to let go until the Lord has blessed him. For that he is commended with a new name that becomes the most famous in the history of nations.

Before He gives him the new name, the Lord forces him to face his old name: Jacob, twister, schemer! It is as if the Lord says, “Face who you are and I’ll then change you”. The Lord then blesses him and Jacob leaves the encounter with a constant reminder of the Lord’s power, a new name and the blessing of God on his life, and we have seen from earlier studies how important a blessing was! This blessing, this promise of good, he has obtained from God by “prevailing”. It is clearly an example for us to follow in prayer and he is commended for it.

D. Application?

1. Can God deal with our selfish self-reliance?
2. Do we give up easily or do we prevail until we have received?