Jacob Meets Esau
Jacob meets Esau is a lesson of the importance of listening and obey the LORD. It tells about the importance of families. And this is when we find out how Jacob got his name change by the LORD God. Genesis 32:1- 33: 18
Jacob continued on to his land. When they got closer to his home country of Edom he told his messengers to go to his brother. They were to tell Esau that he had been living with their uncle Laban all this time. Jacob sent a message that he had all kinds of livestock and servants and he has come to find grace in Esau sight. When the messengers returned to Jacob from speaking to his brother Esau they reported that Esau was coming. Esau wanted to meet with Jacob and was bringing four hundred men with him. Oh my goodness Jacob was so afraid and distressed.
Jacob divided his group of wives, servants and flocks into two parts and sent them on by different routes. They way Jacob figured it was if Esau killed one of his groups then the other would escape. Jacob was afraid and prayed to the LORD for help to deliver him from the hand of his brother, Esau.Jacob spent the night and took 200 girl goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 camels with their babies and 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 donkeys and 10 foals. All this was for Esau. He sent these animals with a servant as a present for Esau.
That night when it was dark and Jacob was alone, he felt a hand on him. Jacob was afraid and wrestled with the other man just like people wrestled for their very life. When the dawn began to break, the stranger touched Jacob’s hip and put it out of joint. Jacob could not fight any more. This is the day break when the LORD changed Jacob’s name from Jacob to Israel. Because as a prince he had wrestled with the LORD, and men and had prevailed the LORD God blessed Israel. To this very day the children of Israel do not eat the sinew or the shrank which is the muscle, vein, nerve, tendon which is upon the hollow of the thigh.
Esau ran to meet Jacob, now called Israel, and embraced him, and kissed him: and they wept together. Esau meets Israel’s wives, and children and handmaidens. The brothers had been reunited and they both left being finding grace with each other and Esau returned home to Seir. Jacob journeyed to Succoth which in a city of Shechem in the land of Canaan and built houses and stalls for his animals.
What Can This Story Teach Us?
This is an important lesson for all of us to learn. Jacob and Esau were brothers who parted ways because of a huge disagreement. They spent many years apart and that is always sad. Family is very important. When the LORD God said it was time for Jacob to return home Jacob listened. We have to learn the same lesson to listen to the LORD.
Sometimes it is hard to do what the LORD tells us we have to do. We like to be in control. If Jacob would not have listened his life would have been very different.
It is also important to remember just before Jacob and Esau met Jacob wrestled with the LORD. And afterward his name was changed from Jacob to Israel. This is important because all of his sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.
It is still about trusting and obeying the LORD. We are blessed because we were given Jesus Christ to be our example in our lives to know the right and wrongs. We just have to trust and obey just like Jacob had to trust and obey.
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Jacob Meets Esau:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Oct 2014.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1767,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2014, October) “Jacob Meets Esau:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1767,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2014) “Jacob Meets Esau:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (October), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1767, (accessed).
