THE WORD OF ELOHIM

GENESIS

Chapter 32

Paragraph 2:

“We came to your brother Esav; he himself is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.”

Paragraph 3:

“O Elohim of my father Abraham and Elohim of my father Yischaq, O Yehovah, who said to me, ‘Return to your native land and I will deal bountifully with you!’  I am unworthy of all the kindness that You have so steadfastly shown Your servant; with my staff alone, I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.  Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav; else, I fear, he may come and strike me down, mothers and children alike.  

A man does not travel with 400 men, with the intent of blessing a brother; but of doing him great harm and Jacob had a very good reason to be so afraid…

Ya’akov crossed the river with only a staff, because when he fled from his brother 20 years ago; his brother pursued him with a band of marauders, and robbed him of all that he possessed.  

Please refer to the notes pertaining to Genesis 29 and Obadiah in verse 10.

The gifts for his brother Esav are very valuable and numerous; and yet it was not enough…

Elohim knew the intent of Esav and wrestled with Ya’akov, with good reason:

Paragraph 5:

Ya’akov was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.  When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Ya’akov’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him.

Ya’akov was a large man and endowed with strength, but so was Esav.  When Esav set out to pursue Ya’akov, it was to do him harm.  By crippling Ya’akov, his life was spared by Elohim.  When Esav witnessed the humility of the servants, the vast multitude of gifts, and his broken bother; his heart was softened and he was able to meet Ya’akov with kindness.

“Your name shall no longer be Ya’akov, but Yisrael, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”

Throughout history, Elohim has used persons and events to use as a sign, a portent, and symbol of that which has been or will be…

Just as Ya’akov had struggled with divine and human beings; so have the children of Yisrael (Israel), throughout the centuries.  And like Ya’akov, they will prevail, and a remnant will survive, to dwell with Elohim, when he returns.  – Just as it has been prophesied in His Word.