Genesis 32:1-21 Appeasing Esau
Jacob has just finished dealing with Laban and succeeded by God’s help alone. Now he faces another hurdle to returning home; his brother Esau.
God told Jacob it was time to go home. When Jacob was on his way to Laban God made a personal promise to him. “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (chapter 28 verse 15). God kept watch over Jacob and brought him straight to the land of his ancestors. He also blessed him while working for and with Laban. And we just read where He kept him safe from Laban as he is leaving that land. My favorite exchange from that encounter clearly shows where Laban’s heart was.
“If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.
Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, ‘The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have born? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me” (chapter 31 verses 42-44 emphasis added, mine).
GOD stopped Laban from acting on what was in his heart. If it were not for the dream sent to Laban the night before this meeting he would have done exactly as Jacob said; taken EVERYTHING away from him and sent him home “empty-handed.”
But back when Jacob was making his response to God’s promise to keep him safe, Jacob asked God to bring him back to his father’s house “in peace.” This was part of the conditions Jacob set out for his personal commitment to God. “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God” (chapter 28 verses 20-21).
Jacob just finished with the first half of the “peace project” and is gearing up for the second half. Jacob has to make peace with his brother whom he wronged. When he left Esau was planning to kill him. He is hoping that time has healed this wound. But he is also making arrangements to appease him with gifts.
Jacob’s “purchased birthright” and “stolen blessing” afforded him the right to call himself Esau’s master but he took the place of the lower servant when approaching him. Jacob claimed NO rights in his presentation and request for forgiveness. Jacob gave these instructions to each of the servants driving the herds that were his gifts to Esau: “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us’” (verses 17-18, emphasis added, mine).
Jacob did this in fear and faith. He feared Esau but he also had faith in God’s promise to him. “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude’” (verses 11-16). He put his fate in God’s hands but also did whatever he could to help in this situation, including dividing his camp into two groups. He had no idea what was in Esau’s heart as they were making their way towards one another. He only knew the Esau he left and the promises of the God who had been with him on this journey. He did NOT assume a place of arrogance even after how God had handled Laban just a few days ago. He stayed humble; the attitude of a servant.
I wonder if that humility was the difference that God saw in the brothers. We see it several times in Jacob’s life. It often had a self-serving component to it though. Our first indication of this is his lifestyle of staying close to home. He was the shepherd of his father’s flocks. He tended to the needs of the family around the camp. His second act of service we see was certainly self-serving. This was when he served his brother a meal in exchange for the birthright. The third act of service is when he obeyed his mother’s command in deceiving his father. We don’t know if Rebekah was in the tent making sure that Jacob “followed the script” during his time with Isaac but we know she came up with the plan, including dressing up Jacob in Esau’s clothes. He could have refused his mother but he humbled himself to her command. The next time we see his spirit of service is in his service to Laban for his wives. He serves faithfully for seven years for one wife, is tricked, then serves another seven for his original wife. He could have raised a stink and brought this to the attention of the leaders of the area but he didn’t. He stayed in the role of the servant. His next act of service is in tending Laban’s flocks for another six years. This time of service was tinged with self-service as evidenced by his “breeding program” but Laban’s flocks were never left unattended. Jacob even bore any of Laban’s losses as his own. We see the final example of his attitude with Laban when he doesn’t respond to Laban’s claim to all Jacob has. I certainly would have been tempted to respond SHARPLY to Laban’s claim that EVERYTHING Jacob had was his! “Excuse me! What did you say?! Yours! I don’t think so! YOU are the one who set the terms of the bargain you made with me where I PAID YOU through service for EVERYTHING I have. You didn’t GIVE me anything and NONE of this was a LOAN. I PAID FOR IT ALL. IT BELONGS TO ME! You have NO claim to anything here!” And Jacob could have rightly made that claim, but he didn’t. He let God do it for him.
Maybe that is a lesson I need to learn too. I don’t hold many things tightly and easily give to others things I have that I’m not using but I still have the attitude I just described in my statement for Jacob. “I paid for it. It belongs to me.” In reality, it ALL belongs to God. He gave me the opportunities and the abilities to have what I do. He gave me the talents to use them too. Without His help I would have nothing!
Thank You Father for showing me that fact. I know I skipped right over Jacob’s latest act of service, that of his attitude towards Esau, but what You just showed me grabbed my attention so completely that I felt we needed to talk right NOW. THANK YOU for ALL YOU have provided in my life. From the bookshelf with the nick-knacks on it, to the sound roof over my head, to the safety of my home. Each and Every aspect of my life YOU have ordered. YOU provided opportunities for me to train. You brought people into my life “for a reason, a season, and a lifetime.” YOU gave me a sound mind to understand the tasks before me. YOU gave me the talents I employ in my daily life, including music and writing. YOU provided the avenues of finance for my daily needs, and beyond. YOU provided me with family; biological, legal and spiritual. ALL are precious to me. And ALL these things I have listed BELONG TO YOU. I am merely using what You have allowed me to hold. Please let me care for YOU gifts with love and an open hand. Nothing can be stolen from one who holds everything with an open hand. What rests in an open hand is simply tools to be used and shared with others as they have need. It is a place of resting not restraining. Thank You Father for that insight. Please help me live it out in my life.
