Genesis 32-36
January 5, 1996
Introduction
The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings.
That's what the name "genesis" is all about.
It's the beginning of creation.
It's the beginning of man, civilization, and sin.
It's the beginning of redemption and faith.
We've been looking at the life of a man named Jacob, who was a trickster and conniver (his name means "heal-catcher")
He's just spent the last twenty years with his match, his uncle Laban, who switched wives on him, and made life very difficult.
He's just made a shakey kind of deal with Laban, kind of a "may God watch my back and protect me as I walk away from you" deal.
Genesis 32
:1 Jacob went on his way,
Keep in mind Jacob's situation.
Behind him he has a father-in-law who wants to kill him.
In front of him, he has his own twin brother, who promised to kill him as soon as daddy died.
Jacob doesn't necessarily know this, but Isaac still isn't dead, and won't die for another 23 years yet! (Isaac was 137 years old when Jacob left 20 years ago, and won't die until age 180).
:1 the angels
Here, in one of his toughest situations yet, God sends angels to help Jacob in some way.
Ps 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. (AV)
(Heb 1:14 KJV) Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
We aren't told much more about the angels, though a person from their "camp" will be having a wrestling match that night with Jacob.
:2 This is God's host
host - machaneh - encampment, camp; camp of armed host, army camp
:2 Mahanaim.
Mahanaim = "double camp," referring to the angel's and Jacob's companies.
:3-8 Summarize
As Jacob starts to panic, he comes up with a plan.
First he sends messengers to Esau to find out how he's doing, and when they return, they report that he's coming to meet Jacob with 400 men with him!
Next, he prays!
Read verses 9-12
:10 two bands
Two main wives and their companies.
:13-23 Summarize
In Jacob's next part of his plan, he starts sending groups of animals with servants out onto the road, as "presents" for Esau.
The idea is that if Esau gets enough presents from Jacob, by the time he actually meets Jacob, he'll be in a good mood.
Then he sends the women and children on ahead of him, so he can spend the evening alone, or, it seems, at the angels' camp.
:24 Jacob's wrestling ...
Keep in mind, this is a 97 year old man.
:25 he touched the hollow of his thigh;
It looks as if this mystery man (whom I believe to be Jesus) cheats at the end of the night when He sees that Jacob won't give in.
He touches Jacob on the thigh, and cripples him.
What's happening?
The whole point is that Jacob MUST become a man who has been conquered and ruled over by God.
Jacob must learn to yield his will to God's.
:26 I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
We can't really make out the tone of voice that Jacob is using in the text, but the prophet Hosea fills in some blanks:
(Hosea 12:4 KJV) Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him:
This is not the picture of a strong man, twisting God's arm.
It's the picture of a broken man, pleading with God for help.
Lesson:
Prevailing Prayer
This picture of Jacob wrestling with the angel has long been a favorite picture to preachers of the idea of "prevailing prayer".
Illustration:
T
HE beginning of it all was a quiet hour among his father’s books, when young Hudson Taylor sought something to interest him. His mother was away from home and the boy was missing her. The house seemed empty, so he took the story he found to a favorite corner in the old warehouse, thinking he would read it as long as it did not get prosy.Many miles away, the mother was specially burdened that Saturday afternoon about her only son. Leaving her friends she went alone to plead with God for his salvation. Hour after hour passed while that mother was still upon her knees, until her heart was flooded with a joyful assurance that her prayers were heard and answered...
after reading the book ... which was about salvation ...
The one, the only answer took possession of his soul: "There was nothing in the world for me to do save to fall upon my knees and accepting this Savior and His salvation to praise Him for ever more."
Old doubts and fears were gone. The reality of the wonderful experience we call conversion filled him with peace and joy. New life came with that simple acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, for to "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." And great was the change that new life brought.
Longing to share his newfound joy with his mother, he was the first to welcome her on her return.
"I know, my boy, I know," she said with her arms about him. "I have been rejoicing for a fortnight in the glad news you have to tell."
Another surprise awaited him not long after, when, picking up a notebook he thought was his own, he found an entry in his sister’s writing to the effect that she would give herself daily to prayer until God should answer in the conversion of her only brother. The young girl had recorded this decision just a month previously.
The idea is that of "wrestling with God" until you get an answer.
One writer said that you should never "wrestle with God" because you only end up crippled.
We look at the idea of being crippled as something horrible.
But it's really a blessing if God is able to use what cripples us to bring us closer to Him, more yielded to Him.
We need to wrestle with God until we're changed, even if it hurts us.
Then there's less of us, and more of God.
:28 Israel
"Prince with God" or "God prevails"
It's not uncommon for a person who has an encounter with God to receive a new name, to receive a new nature.
That's what it means to be "born again", to be given a new start, a birth of a new spirit inside of you.
:30 Peniel
means "the face of God."
I believe it was Jesus that wrestled with Jacob.
:32 the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank,
Though the practice is not forbidden in Scripture, Jews have traditionally avoided eating the sciatic nerve (sinew) of the hind quarter of animals.
Genesis 33
:1-9 Summarize
Jacob's plan goes according as planned.
By the time he meets Esau, Esau is hugging and kissing his brother.
:10 as though I had seen the face of God,
An interesting line, considering that Jacob had just wrestled all night with the Lord.
:11-17 Summarize
After much urging, Esau accepts Jacob's present of the flocks, and offers to guide Jacob into the land.
Jacob refuses the offer and goes on at his own pace, while his brother goes back home.
:18-20 Jacob settles down.
:18 Shechem
Jacob settles down outside Shechem, right in the center of the land of Israel, about 30 miles north of Jerusalem, up in the hill country.
:20 he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.
or, "God, the God of Israel"
Jacob's transformation is on it's way.
God is now HIS God.
This is the first time that He's not just the "God of my father ..."
Genesis 34
:2 he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
He raped her.
Dinah is about 14 or 15 years old at the time.
:3 his soul clave unto Dinah
He still was attracted to her.
This is not typical of rapes.
The typical pattern is for the man to hate the woman afterwards, as Amon hated Tamar (2Sam.13).
:5 Jacob held his peace
He kept silent.
Even though he was aware of what happened, he didn't do anything with it.
This can be good in that he didn't do anything stupid.
Perhaps that was what Jacob was thinking.
But it's bad because he leaves open a void for someone else to fill.
:13 the sons of Jacob answered ... deceitfully,
Now where in the world would they come up with an idea of doing something deceitfully?
They have grown up in a family that has continually lived under deceitful circumstances.
:16 our daughters
We only know of Dinah right now. We don't know if she had any sisters.
But her older brothers (10 of them) might actually have begun to have children.
:19 he was more honourable than all the house of his father.
Considering he's just raped the girl, this isn't saying much.
:23 their substance and every beast of theirs be ours?
These guys think they can end up just absorbing Jacob and all his wealth into their little town.
:24 every male was circumcised,
This means that even the guys who were happily married got circumcised as well!
All I can say, is that Hamor and Shechem sure must have pulled some weight to have gotten all the men to agree to this!
:25 on the third day, when they were sore,
I'm not too sure we want to make too much of this "third day".
It's simply the day when all the men of the city were in the greatest pain from their recent "elective surgery".
:25 Simeon and Levi
Two of the brothers go through and murder all the incapacitated men.
This would come back upon them when the day comes for Jacob to prophesy over the twelve sons:
(Gen 49:5-7 KJV) Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. {6} O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. {7} Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
:27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city,
Whether they knew what Simeon and Levi were up to ahead of time, we don't know.
But they decide to take advantage of the situation, and take everything for themselves.
:31 they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?
At the end, the burning issue of justice had still been unanswered by Jacob.
And that left the sons feeling justified in their wicked crime they committed.
Lesson:
Leaders need lead.
Maybe this applies most to us dads.
We see the same thing happening with Amon and Tamar, how David didn't do anything either.
The problem is that without any guidance, the rest of the family begins to falter.
Pr 29:18 Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he. (AV)
Pr 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. (NIVUS)
When the people are not being led by their leader, the door is open for all kinds of disaster.
Genesis 35
:1 God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel,
Keep in mind, Jacob isn't just going to Bethel to flee any consequences of the Shechem problem.
God has told him to go.
Bethel is the place where Jacob had seen the vision of a ladder reaching up to heaven, with the angels going up and down on it (Gen.28), where God had promised to give the promises of Abraham to Jacob.
Bethel is twenty miles south of Shechem, still up in the hill country.
Lesson:
When you're in trouble, come back to God!
Come back to the "house of God"
Don't let your pride get in your way.
Run home, where you belong.
:4 all the strange gods which were in their hand,
It's possible that these foreign idols had been brought into the family when the sons had raided the city of Shechem.
But keep in mind that Rachel had stolen her father's "teraphim", small images of female type goddesses.
The earrings may have been used as amulets or cultic tokens.
:5 the terror of God was upon the cities
God was gracious enough to Jacob and his family to put a kind of terror on all the surrounding cities, so everybody left them alone, instead of pursing them as Jacob had feared.
:7 Elbethel:
"God of Bethel" or "God of the House of God"
:8 Deborah Rebekah's nurse died,
We have no other mention of this woman before this.
Keep in mind that Rebekah was Jacob's mother.
At this point in the journey, this woman dies.
Was Rebekah with Jacob at this time?
We don't know.
We have no further references to Rebekah after the time that she told Jacob how to cheat his brother out of the blessing.
:8 Allon-bachuth
Allon-bachuth means "oak of weeping."
:9 God appeared unto Jacob again,
And again confirms that the agreement with Abraham has been passed on to Jacob.
:10 thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel
I want to be careful not to make too much out of this.
But it seems to me that perhaps God was trying to remind Jacob that he had been a changed man.
Perhaps God was reminding Jacob that he had been given a new nature, and he needed to stop leaning on the old nature.
Lesson:
Remember the new nature.
It seems that sometimes we forget just who we are now.
And we let the old nature get away with murder.
Paul wrote:
(Col 3:5-17 NASB) Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. {6} For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, {7} and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. {8} But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. {9} Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, {10} and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him {11} --a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. {12} And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; {13} bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. {14} And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. {15} And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. {16} Let
the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. {17} And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
:16 Ephrath:
Another name for Bethlehem
:16 Rachel travailed,
Rachel had been pregnant, and was ready to deliver.
:18 as her soul was in departing,
This was a common thing during childbirth.
This was a woman's great fear, of dying at childbirth.
:18 she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
Benoni - "son of my sorrow"
Benjamin - "son of my right hand"
Jacob wisely renames his son after Rachel dies.
Wouldn't it be tragic to go through life, remembering that you caused your mother's death?
:22 Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine:
This too came against Reuben when Jacob prophesied over his sons:
(Gen 49:3-4 KJV) Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: {4} Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
:23-26 Summarize
The twelve sons of Jacob are listed, according to their mothers.
:28 an hundred and fourscore years.
180 years.
:29 Isaac gave up the ghost,
Isaac finally dies, and is buried by his two sons.
Genesis 36
:1-14 The descendants of Esau
:15-43 The "Dukes" of Esau
There are a few names to circle, just to be aware of.
:10 Eliphaz
Some see this as the guy who came to comfort Job
(Job 2:11 KJV) Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
:11 Teman
A name often used synonomously with the Edomites.
:12 Amalek
The Amalekites were always enemies of the Israelites.
:33 Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
It has been suggested that this could have been Job.