Bible Study Online Article
Soon after Laban had left and headed back home after reconciling and creating a friendship covenant with Jacob. We now find that Jacob had started his journey once again to go back home to Canaan. As he started out on his way, God sends his heavenly messenger's out to meet with the promise bearer. After Jacob had seen them he responded by saying: "This is the camp of God!" He would name this place Mahanaim, which means - (two armies - two host or two camps) The naming of this place by Jacob, gives us some great insight into what he saw when it came to the angels. With the name 'Mahanaim' meaning what it does, we can assume that the volume or number of angels that Jacob had seen was perhaps large or great. We are not told what these angelic hosts had told the promise bearer. They could have perhaps been sent by God as a divine welcoming committee, being that Jacob was now heading back to the land that God had promised him through his grandfather Abraham. Jacob has somehow found out that Esau has settled within the land of Seir, the country of Edom. We are not told how he found out; it could have been by his mother Rebekah or by the heavenly messengers that the Lord had just sent out to meet him. Nevertheless, Jacob would prepare himself, just in case he ran into his twin brother Esau. Remember that Esau had vowed to kill Jacob, being that he and his father Isaac had been tricked by Jacob and his mother Rebekah when it came to his blessing and birthright. The promise bearer would send out messengers to meet with his brother Esau: "This is what you are to say to my master Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says, I've been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'" Note: Here we find that Jacob had called his brother his master and that he was his brother's servant. Jacob knew how much these issues of being master and serving meant to Esau. After all, this is what Esau's birthright (before he gave it away) had entailed. So Jacob lowered and humbled himself in order to keep the peace between him and his brother. The messengers went out and delivered the message to Esau just like Jacob had instructed them to do. The messengers would return back to Jacob after meeting with Esau. "We went to your brother Esau and now he his coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him," they told Jacob. This is not what Jacob wanted to hear, for he would remember the disdain that Esau had towards him. The promise bearer would begin to panic and starts to prepare for the worse. So he divides his group into two groups along with the flocks, herds and camels. "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape," Jacob would say to himself. Next, Jacob would turn to the Lord and pray for protection: "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted." After Jacob had prayed his prayer, he would spend the night there and prepare a gift for his brother Esau. He would select two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. Jacob would then separate each group into their own individual group and place them into the care of his servants. "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds. When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'" Jacob told the one in the lead. He would then instruct all other servants that followed to do and say the same thing, just like the one in the lead had done before them. "I will pacify (appease) him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me," Jacob had thought to himself.
Start at: Jacob - The Path of Uncertainty 56) Rachel the Thief 57) Jacob's Mistake 58) Laban's Pursuit 60) <-CURRENT PAGE-> 62) Jacob & Esau - The Reconciliation 63) Dinah the Daughter of Israel  CrossDaily.com Web Search where you can VOTE FOR THIS SITE & other great ones. Christian search engine, directory & voting index. You'll find Bible, chat, churches, jobs, music, reviews, software, theology, & more. See the best sites!
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