[Linux4christians] Genesis 32:1-32 (Sunday)

[pastordavid at bibleseven.com]

  *BibleSeven Bible Study and Devotion*

  *Genesis Thirty-Two - Thirty-Six*

  *Commentary -- Interaction -- Faith in Action*


  /Chapters One and Two presented the Creation narrative with different
  emphasis./

  /Chapter Three described Adam and Eve's horribly wrong choice and the
  devastating consequences./

  /Chapter Four described early life after Eden./

  /Chapters Five and Six describes the terrible failure of humankind to
  seek after God and His decision to destroy life on the earth and
  restart with a Noadic remnant./

  /Chapters Seven and Eight conclude the Ark story./

  /Chapters Nine and Ten contain God's early instructions to the
  survivors of the Flood, the sin of Ham, and the future genealogies of
  the descendants of Noah's sons./

  /Chapters Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen describe the dispersal of the
  nations, Abram's travels, the kidnapping of Sarai, and the parting of
  Abram and Lot./

  /Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen; Abram given victory in battle rescuing
  Lot, and the covenant is presented by God./

  /Chapters Sixteen and Seventeen; Ishmael is born, covenant with
  Abraham further clarified, male circumcision required./

  /Chapters Eighteen and Nineteen; the promise of a son for Abraham and
  Sarah renewed, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot's escape./

  /Chapters Twenty to Twenty-Three; Abraham and Abimelech , The Birth of
  Isaac , The Sacrifice of Isaac , The Death of Sarah /

  /Chapters Twenty-Four to Twenty-Five; The Wife for Isaac, The Death of
  Abraham, The Sons of Ishmael, Jacob and Esau/

  /Chapters Twenty-Six to Twenty-Eight; Isaac and Abimelech, Jacob
  Cheats Esau out of the Blessing, /

  /Jacob's Dream at Bethel/

  /Chapters Twenty-Nine to Thirty-One; The Marriages of Jacob , The
  Family of Jacob , The Flocks of Jacob , Jacob's Flight from Laban/



  Genesis 32:1-32 (Sunday)


Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

32:1 So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. 32:2 When 
Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, "This is the camp of God!" So he named 
that place Mahanaim.


32:3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of 
Seir, the region of Edom. 32:4 He commanded them, "This is what you must 
say to my lord Esau: 'This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been 
staying with Laban until now. 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male 
and female servants. I have sent this message to inform my lord, so that 
I may find favor in your sight.'"


32:6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, "We went to your brother 
Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him." 32:7 
Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with 
him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels. 32:8 "If 
Esau attacks one camp," he thought, "then the other camp will be able to 
escape."


32:9 Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father 
Isaac, O Lord, you said to me, 'Return to your land and to your 
relatives and I will make you prosper.' 32:10 I am not worthy of all the 
faithful love you have shown your servant. With only my walking stick I 
crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 32:11 Rescue me, I 
pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and 
attack me, as well as the mothers with their children. 32:12 But you 
said, 'I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants 
like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.'"


32:13 Jacob stayed there that night. Then he sent as a gift to his 
brother Esau 32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two 
hundred ewes and twenty rams, 32:15 thirty female camels with their 
young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male 
donkeys. 32:16 He entrusted them to his servants, who divided them into 
herds. He told his servants, "Pass over before me, and keep some 
distance between one herd and the next." 32:17 He instructed the servant 
leading the first herd, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To 
whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?' 
32:18 then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They have 
been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.'"

32:19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, 
as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, "You must say 
the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 32:20 You must also say, 'In 
fact your servant Jacob is behind us.'" Jacob thought, "I will first 
appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. 
Perhaps he will accept me." 32:21 So the gifts were sent on ahead of him 
while he spent that night in the camp.

32:22 During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives, his two female 
servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 32:23 
He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his 
possessions.


32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until 
daybreak. 32:25 When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he 
struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob's hip was dislocated 
while he wrestled with him.

32:26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." "I will 
not let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me." 32:27 The man 
asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "Jacob." 32:28 "No longer 
will your name be Jacob," the man told him, "but Israel, because you 
have fought with God and with men and have prevailed."


32:29 Then Jacob asked, "Please tell me your name." "Why do you ask my 
name?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 32:30 So Jacob 
named the place Peniel, explaining, "Certainly I have seen God face to 
face and have survived."


32:31 The sun rose over him as he crossed over Penuel, but he was 
limping because of his hip. 32:32 That is why to this day the Israelites 
do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because 
he struck the socket of Jacob's hip near the attached sinew.


      *Prayer:* Lord, like Jacob I am often prone to live from the flesh
      rather than through You, may I learn to become more reliant upon You.


    Commentary


Jacob, traveling home, is greeted by angels sent by God. He names that 
place "Mahanaim" as he thinks that they live there.


Jacob's servants, send to greet Esau and to communicate Jacob's 
intention to bring peace offerings, report that Esau is traveling with 
400 men.


Jacob pleads with God to protect him, reciting the promises to Issac, 
and humbling himself as unworthy.


Jacob sends ahead the offerings and hides his two wives, their female 
servants, and his eleven sons. His daughter, Dinah, is not mentioned.


While Jacob rests he has a confrontation with what he believes to be a 
man, they wrestle and as peers Jacob prevails, but the angel "touches" 
Jacob's him -- partially crippling him -- making him aware of the 
weakness of his flesh in spiritual matters. Jacob still clings to the 
"man", refusing to let go.


The angel-man asks Jacob his name and then changes his name to Israel, 
meaning that now that he finally understands that his flesh alone is 
insufficient he will be successful because of God's provision and 
protection.


Jacob, still of the magical-thinking mindset, wants to know the same of 
the spiritual being because ancient pagan tradition taught that knowing 
the name of a spiritual being empowered one to use that name as a 
weapon. Jacob, thinking the "man" was like his father, also demands a 
blessing.  The angel, on God's behalf, recites the prior promise and 
prophesy of God that Israel would prosper because of faithfulness and 
God's blessing.



    Interaction


      *Consider this:* Jacob anticipates a battle with Esau and is
      hopeful that a large offering will temper Esau's rage. He is very
      aware that in his flesh he, and his people, are no match for Esau.
      While Jacob could be strong, for example when wrestling with the
      angel-man, there would always be others like Esau who were
      stronger in a mere flesh-to-flesh contest.


      *Discuss this:* As Jacob wrestled with the angel-man his flesh is
      strong but he has no spiritual power and thus the angel was able
      to easily overcome his flesh. Jacob's flesh had often led him into
      trouble, if he was to be God's leader he would need to surrender,
      and the angel was sent to confront him with that truth. Isn't the
      declaration of Jacob that he had "prevailed" in the flesh but
      needed God to succeed in the "big picture" a foreshadowing of the
      New Testament teaching of our surrender of everything in this
      world to Christ for our salvation?


      *Reflect on this:* Jacob's new name, Israel, tells everyone that
      he is now God's man and no longer his own.


      *Share this:* What was the moment, or what have been the moments,
      where you recognized that while in the world your flesh was strong
      -- you needed God for anything to have real purpose and meaning
      and not mere striving with man?


    Faith in Action


      *Prayer:* Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you still strive
      with man for meaning and purpose and power instead of walking with
      God.


      *Action:* I will prayerfully consider where in my life I am
      "wrestling in the flesh" with God, trying to be strong in the
      flesh, rather than acknowledging my need for Him. I will surrender
      to Him and through my faithfulness to Him be made truly strong in
      His power.


      *Be Specific*
      __________________________________________________________


  /Genesis 33:1-20 (Monday)/



-- 

Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!  Pastor David
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
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