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Texts -- Genesis 32:5-32 (NET)

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32:5 I have oxen , donkeys , sheep , and male and female servants . I have sent this message to inform my lord , so that I may find favor in your sight .’” 32:6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said , “We went to your brother Esau . He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.” 32:7 Jacob was very afraid and upset . So he divided the people who were with him into two camps , as well as the flocks , herds , and camels . 32:8 “If Esau attacks one camp ,” he thought , “then the other camp will be able to escape .” 32:9 Then Jacob prayed , “O God of my father Abraham , God of my father Isaac , O Lord , you said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper .’ 32:10 I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant . With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan , but now I have become two camps . 32:11 Rescue me, I pray , from the hand of my brother Esau , for I am afraid he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children . 32:12 But you said , ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore , too numerous to count .’” 32:13 Jacob stayed there that night . Then he sent as a gift to his brother Esau 32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats , two hundred ewes and twenty rams , 32:15 thirty female camels with their young , forty cows and ten bulls , and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys . 32:16 He entrusted them to his servants , who divided them into herds . He told his servants , “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next .” 32:17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks , ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going ? Whose herds are you driving?’ 32:18 then you must say , ‘They belong to your servant Jacob . They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau . In fact Jacob himself is behind us.’” 32:19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds , saying , “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 32:20 You must also say , ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” Jacob thought , “I will first appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. Perhaps he will accept me.” 32:21 So the gifts were sent on ahead of him while he spent that night in the camp . 32:22 During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives , his two female servants , and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok . 32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his possessions . 32:24 So Jacob was left alone . Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak . 32:25 When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 32:26 Then the man said , “Let me go , for the dawn is breaking .” “I will not let you go ,” Jacob replied , “unless you bless me.” 32:27 The man asked him, “What is your name ?” He answered , “Jacob .” 32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob ,” the man told him, “but Israel , because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed .” 32:29 Then Jacob asked , “Please tell me your name .” “Why do you ask my name ?” the man replied . Then he blessed Jacob there . 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel , explaining, “Certainly I have seen God face to face and have survived .” 32:31 The sun rose over him as he crossed over Penuel , but he was limping because of his hip . 32:32 That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip , because he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip near the attached sinew .

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  • [Gen 32:24] Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown
  • [Gen 32:26] I Would Not Be Denied
  • [Gen 32:26] Lord, I Cannot Let Thee Go
  • [Gen 32:26] My God, I Know, I Feel Thee Mine
  • [Gen 32:26] Shepherd Divine, Our Wants Relieve

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The events recorded in Genesis stretch historically from Creation to Joseph's death, a period of at least 2500 years. The first part of the book (ch. 1-11) is not as easy to date precisely as the second part (ch. 12-50). The ...
  • Genesis provides the historical basis for the rest of the Bible and the Pentateuch, particularly the Abrahamic Covenant. Chapters 1-11 give historical background essential to understanding that covenant, and chapters 12-50 re...
  • The structure of Genesis is very clear. The phrase "the generations of"(toledotin Hebrew, from yaladmeaning "to bear, to generate") occurs ten times (really eleven times since 36:9 repeats 36:1), and in each case it introduce...
  • The Lord destroyed the corrupt, violent human race and deluged its world, but He used righteous Noah to preserve life and establish a new world after the Flood."Noah's experience presents decisively the author's assertion tha...
  • "The Babel account (11:1-9) is not the end of early Genesis. If it were, the story would conclude on the sad note of human failure. But as with earlier events in Genesis 1-11, God's grace once again supersedes human sin, insu...
  • One of the significant changes in the emphasis that occurs at this point in Genesis is from cursing in the primeval record to blessing in the patriarchal narratives. The Abrahamic Covenant is most important in this respect. H...
  • A major theme of the Pentateuch is the partial fulfillment of the promises to the patriarchs. The promises in Genesis 12:1-3 and 7 are the fountainhead from which the rest of the Pentateuch flows.397Walter Kaiser labeled the ...
  • "These verses are of fundamental importance for the theology of Genesis, for they serve to bind together the primeval history and the later patriarchal history and look beyond it to the subsequent history of the nation."414"W...
  • 12:1 This section begins with a wawdisjunctive in the Hebrew text translated "Now"in the NASB. It introduces an independent circumstantial clause (cf. 1:2). Probably the revelation in view happened in Ur. The NIV captures thi...
  • The second crisis Abram faced arose because of a famine in Canaan. Abram chose to sojourn in the Nile Valley until it was past. In this incident Abram tried to pass Sarai off as his sister because he feared for his life. By d...
  • Abraham's purchase of a burial site in the Promised Land demonstrated his intention to remain in Canaan rather than going back to his native homeland. Since he was a sojourner in Canaan his friends probably expected him to bu...
  • A new toledotbegins with 25:19. Its theme is "the acquisition of the blessing and its development and protection by the Lord."625Moses set up the whole Jacob narrative in a chiastic structure that emphasizes the fulfillment o...
  • The long account of Jacob's relationship with Laban (chs. 29-31) is the centerpiece of the Jacob story (chs. 25-35). It is a story within a story, and it too has a chiastic structure. At its center is the account of the birth...
  • Chapters 32 and 33 can be viewed as one episode in the life of Jacob. They describe his return to the Promised Land including his meeting with Esau. There are thematic parallels between these chapters and chapter 31.In spite ...
  • This site was probably just a few miles east of the Jordan Valley (v. 22). The Jabbok joins the Jordan River about midway between the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) and the Salt (Dead) Sea.733It was when Jacob was alone, having ...
  • Jacob was ready to sacrifice part of his family expecting Esau to attack him, and he approached his brother as though Esau was his lord. In contrast, Esau welcomed Jacob magnanimously, reluctantly received his gift, and offer...
  • About 10 years had passed since Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, and he had not yet returned to Bethel to fulfill his vow there (28:20-22). His negligence evidently was due in part to the continuing presence of the idols ...
  • God then appeared again to Jacob at Bethel (the fifth revelation) after he had fulfilled his vow to God and built an altar there (vv. 9-12). This revelation came 30 years after the first one at Bethel. In this case God appear...
  • Chapters 43-45 are a unit describing what happened when Joseph's brothers returned to Egypt. Like chapter 42, which it echoes, it consists of seven scenes arranged palistrophically with the central scene being the arrest of J...
  • Aalders, Gerhard Charles. Genesis. The Bible Student's Commentary series. 2 vols. Translated by William Heynen. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas...
  • 4:19-23 Moses did not return immediately to Egypt when he arrived back in Midian following his encounter with God at Horeb (v. 19). God spoke to him again in Midian and sent him back to Egypt assuring His servant that everyon...
  • Archaeologists have not determined the location of Taberah (v. 3). It must have been an insignificant spot geographically since Moses did not include it in the list of Israel's encampments in chapter 33 (cf. 33:16-17). It was...
  • 5:13-15 "Despite Joshua's long military experience he had never led an attack on a fortified city that was prepared for a long siege. In fact, of all the walled cities in Palestine, Jericho was probably the most invincible. T...
  • Succoth and Penuel (a variant of Peniel, cf. Gen. 32:30) were towns that stood on the east side of the Jordan beside the Jabbok River. The residents of these villages lived closer to the Midianites than most of the Israelites...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan. Land of the Bible. Phildelphia: Westminster Press, 1962.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell. The...
  • Naomi had experienced both blessing and loss since she had left Bethlehem. When she returned home she chose to emphasize her hardships. She had forgotten God's faithfulness and His promises to bless all Israel (Gen. 12:1-3, 7...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • During its history the Northern Kingdom had three capitals: first Shechem (v. 25), then Tirzah (14:17; 15:33), and finally Samaria (16:23-24). Perhaps the king strengthened Penuel in west-central Gilead as a Transjordanian pr...
  • Elijah's zeal for God's covenant, altars, and prophets was admirable, but he became too discouraged because he underestimated the extent of commitment to Yahweh that existed in Israel.208He was not alone in his stand for Yahw...
  • Concerning the time the events recorded took place there have been many views ranging from the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (beginning about 2100 B.C.) to the sixth century B.C.Internal evidence suggests that J...
  • 24:1-2 David affirmed Yahweh's sovereignty over all things. He is over all because He created all. Verse 2 looks back to the creation of the world. The "rivers"(NASB) or "waters"(NIV) is a synonym for "seas."It probably descr...
  • 105:7-11 God remembered His people (v. 7, cf. v. 42) so His people should remember Him (v. 5). God had been faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15:18-21; 22:15-18; 28:13-15). He made this covenant with Abraham...
  • 6:1 Why did Isaiah date this passage since he did not date most of his others?70Probably he did so because King Uzziah had been the best king of Judah since Solomon. Nevertheless during the last part of his reign he suffered ...
  • The focus of the prophecy shifts from Assyria to Israel.10:20 In some future day, the remnant (cf. 6:13; 7:3) who escaped annihilation by the Assyrians would no longer trust in man for deliverance, as Ahaz and Judah did befor...
  • 38:1 The phrase "In those days"identifies the reign of Hezekiah, the Judean king mentioned in the preceding chapters. Since the Lord added 15 years to Hezekiah's life (v. 5), and since Hezekiah died about 686 B.C.,373the time...
  • Isaiah now applied this knowledge of God to the discouraging prospect that the Judahites faced, namely, Babylonian captivity (cf. 39:6). He encouraged them by pointing to the sufficiency of their God. Since the creator knows ...
  • It seemed to Isaiah's audience that the promises in chapter 60 could hardly come to pass since the Babylonian exile was still ahead of them. The Lord assured them that He would surely fulfill these promises."Much of this chap...
  • A promise of future restoration immediately follows this gloomy revelation of judgment. It provided encouragement to Hosea's audience by assuring a glorious and secure future for Israel.1:10 Despite the judgment promised, Yah...
  • The Lord proceeded to teach His people the need to repent by reminding them of the experience of their forefather Jacob.12:3 The Lord described the ancestor of these kingdoms further. Jacob grasped his brother's heel while he...
  • Jesus now returned to develop a theme that He had introduced previously, namely the Father's testimony to the Son (vv. 19-20). Jesus proceeded to cite five witnesses to His identity, all of which came from the Father, since t...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

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