Genesis 32:11

11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.

Genesis 32:11 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 32:11

Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from
the hand of Esau
For though his brother, it was his brother Esau, that had formerly vowed revenge upon him, and had determined to kill him, ( Genesis 27:41 ) , and he knew not but that he was still of the same mind; and now having an opportunity, and in his power to do it, being accompanied with four hundred men, he feared he would attempt it; and therefore entreats the Lord, who was greater than he, to deliver him from falling into his hands, and being destroyed by him: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, [and] the mother with
the children;
for whom Jacob seems to be more concerned than for himself; the phrase denotes the utter destruction of his family, and the cruelty and inhumanity that would be exercised therein; which shows what an opinion he had of his brother, and of his savage disposition.

Genesis 32:11 In-Context

9 Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’

10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.

11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.

12 But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

13 Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: