22 Jul 2025 – jeffersonvann

Genesis 32

Genesis 32:1 Jacob started traveling on his way, and the agents of God met him.

Genesis 32:2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp!” So, he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Genesis 32:3 And Jacob sent agents ahead of him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,

Genesis 32:4 instructing them, “This is what you will say to my lord Esau: Thus says your slave Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as a guest and stayed until now.

Genesis 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male slaves, and female slaves. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.'”

Genesis 32:6 And the agents returned to Jacob, and this is what they said, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are also four hundred men with him.”

Genesis 32:7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and upset. He split the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,

Genesis 32:8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

Genesis 32:9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahveh who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, that I may do you good,’

Genesis 32:10 I am least worthy of all the deeds of covenant faithfulness and all the firmness that you have shown to your slave, because with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

Genesis 32:11 Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, because I fear him, apart from that he may come and attack me, as well as the mothers with the children.

Genesis 32:12 But you promised, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'”

Genesis 32:13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a gift for his brother Esau,

Genesis 32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

Genesis 32:15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

Genesis 32:16 These he entrusted to his slaves, every drove separately, and said to his slaves, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between one drove and the next drove.”

Genesis 32:17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose property are these ahead of you?’

Genesis 32:18 then you will say, ‘They belong to your slave Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And notice, he is behind us.'”

Genesis 32:19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You will say the same thing to Esau when you meet up with him,

Genesis 32:20 and you will say, “Notice, your slave Jacob is behind us.'” Because he thought, “I may appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”

Genesis 32:21 So the gift passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Genesis 32:22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the pass of the Jabbok.

Genesis 32:23 He took them and sent them on across the stream, and everything else that he had.

Genesis 32:24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the dawn ascended.

Genesis 32:25 The man saw that he was not able to dissuade Jacob, he hit his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

Genesis 32:26 Then he said, “Let me go, because the dawn has ascended.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Genesis 32:27 And he asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

Genesis 32:28 Then he said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have persisted in your struggle with God and with men and have proved yourself able.”

Genesis 32:29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he asked, “Why is it that you ask for my name?” And there he blessed him.

Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “Because I have seen God face to face, but my throat has survived.”

Genesis 32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, and he limped on his hip.

Genesis 32:32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the thigh muscle.

Genesis 32 quotes:

“There was a time in Jacob’s life when, having stepped out in faith, he found that his faith was put to the test. God had called Jacob to go home—to face his brother, claim his inheritance and play his part in the great purposes of God. As we have seen, Jacob obeyed God and headed home. In chapter five we saw how, on arriving in Canaan, he had first taken steps which would lead to the reconciliation with his brother. What we find in Genesis 32:22-32 is that God tested Jacob in this step of faith, before the reconciliation itself took place.”

Griffiths, Paul. God and the Troubles of Life. Terra Nova Publications, 2000. p. 77.

“Jacob began and ended his plea by reminding God of His promise: “You said!” (Genesis 32:9, 12).”

Roper, David. Jacob, the Fools God Chooses. Discovery House, 2002. p. 78.

“The popular explanation of the name of Israel: “you have striven with God” (Genesis 32:28) also affirms the purpose of the story to express the vocation and experience, not just of Jacob, but of the people of God — its combat, and struggles and striving to know God. The entire history of the people of God is presented, almost prophetically, as a wrestling with God. There is something in the agonizing search of every soul to know God which unavoidably takes on the shape of Jacob’s struggle with this unknown person. The story is clearly illustrative of what every believer must experience in his relationship with God.”

McCaffrey, James. Thirsting for God in Scripture. Living Flame Press, 1984. p. 47.