Jacob Prepars to meet Esau (Gen. 32:1-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-31-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  Preparing to meet Esau

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 32:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now as Jacob went on his way; the angels of God met him.  2 Jacob said when he saw them, "This is God’s camp." So he named that place Mahanaim.  3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.  4 He also commanded them saying, "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, "I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; 5 I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight."’"”

 

            Jacob had just left Laban who was one of the people that he feared, and now he is going to meet his brother Esau, who is another person that he was afraid of because of how he had left him some twenty years ago.  Common sense could tell you that if Esau would have wanted to do harm to Jacob he would have done it a long time ago and not wait and do it when Jacob would return because he did not know for sure that Jacob would return to his birth place or not.  That was common sense, but if Jacob would have taken hold of the promises of God and believed them with all of his heart then he would have not seen the need of being afraid of either Laban or Esau, for Jacob was the one whom God had chosen to have the covenant with Abraham to be given to him and therefore there was no reason for him to fear.  Jacob shows his fear in these verses by calling his brother Esau “lord” and by trying to impress his brother with all of the wealth that God had bestowed on him.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that it was a good plan for Jacob to send some of his servants to meet with Esau and to tell him that he was coming, but the fear that Jacob still had for Esau was not good.

 

            The word Mahanaim means two camps in the Hebrew.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is a difference between respecting a person and fearing a person and I know that there are times when I have a problem with that.  I had to deal with this when working at Ford and also when working in Aruba.  I believe that it is Scriptural to have respect for the one you work for, however I do not think it is a good idea to try to impress him by doing things that are not Scriptural.

 

 

The Word of God has been both convicting and challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.