Genesis 32:1-19

1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau: Thy slave Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now;

5 and I have oxen and asses, flocks, and menslaves, and womenslaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he comes to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cows and the camels, into two bands

8 and said, If Esau comes to the one company and smites it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said unto me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.

10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy slave; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands.

11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he come and smite me and the mother with the children.

12 And thou hast said, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

13 And he lodged there that same night and took of that which came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother:

14 two hundred she goats and twenty he goats, two hundred sheep and twenty rams,

15 thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.

16 And he delivered them into the hand of his slaves, every drove by themselves and said unto his slaves, Pass before me and put a space between drove and drove.

17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau, my brother, meets thee and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou? And where goest thou? And for whom are these before thee?

18 Then thou shalt say, They are thy slave Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau; and, behold, also he is behind us.

19 And so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed those droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him.

Genesis 32:1-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 32

This chapter informs us of Jacob's proceeding on in his journey, and of his being met and guarded by an host of angels, Ge 32:1,2; of his sending messengers to his brother Esau, acquainting him with his increase, and desiring his favour and good will, Ge 32:3-5, who return and report to him, that Esau was coming to him with four hundred men, which put him into a panic, and after devising ways and means for the security of himself; and those with him, at least a part, if not the whole, Ge 32:6-8; then follows a prayer of his to God, pressing his unworthiness of mercies, and his sense of them, imploring deliverance from his brother, and putting the Lord in mind of his promises, Ge 32:9-12; after which we have an account of the wise methods he took for the safety of himself and family, by sending a present to his brother, dividing those who had the charge of it into separate companies, and directing them to move at a proper distance from each other, he, his wives and children, following after, Ge 32:13-23; when they were over the brook Jabbok, he stopped, and being alone, the Son of God in an human form appeared to him, and wrestled with him, with whom Jacob prevailed, and got the blessing, and hence had the name of Israel, Ge 32:24-28; and though he could not get his name, he perceived it was a divine Person he had wrestled with, and therefore called the name of the place Penuel, Ge 32:29-31; the hollow of his thigh being touched by him with whom he wrestled, which put it out of joint, he halted as he went over Penuel, in commemoration of which the children of Israel eat not of that part of the thigh, Ge 32:31,32.