THE KING’S BUSINESS
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pillar-pledge that they would not fly at one another’s faces, while the Lord kept His eye on them. III. J acob at M ahanaim . L “Jacob went on his way” (32:1), not “lifted his feet,” as 29:1, for now he was burdened with the past at Haran behind him, and the future with Esau before him. Oh that he had walked the past with God and, so, the present with confidence. 2. The Protecting Host. “The angels of God met him;” the God of Bethel, and the angels of Bethel (28:12). These who cheered him at the outset, now welcome at the home-coming, and unseen had pro tected and ministefed to him all along between. God would and did subdue this ungracious man by kindness. But, breth ren, how about ourselves ? Read Titus 3 :3-7. “Jacob saw them,” they were, and are always present, but his eyes were then opened to see them (2 Kings 6:17), and he said, “this is God’s host (Heb. “camp”) and he called the place "Mahanaim,” “The Two Camps,” for “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about” (Ps. 34:7). 3. “Jacob was greatly afraid.” This man (me? you?), could he never learn to trust? And that surrounded by a body guard of angels! What could Esau do against a force like that? The Captain of the Lord’s host, Who trusted Himself alone single-handed, to the Father’s keeping, lent His “twelve legions” (Matt. 26:53) to Jacob, yet he “was greatly afraid.” But “Conscience doth make cowards of us all,” and the man he had wronged was com ing with four hundred men, and Jacob was not mindful that he was “justified by faith”—“with righteous Abraham.” Conscience may make us cowards, but “if we confess our sins” (1 John 1:9) we may yet have confidence in God. 4. More Scheming. Jacob’s first resort was strategy. He forgot the Mahanaim, and hoped to save at least half of his com pany. Moses did not expect to “leave a hoof behind” (Exod. 10:26). His second resort was to prayer. First he planned, then he prayed! His main reliance was
Jacob, after that Jehovah. Now it is all right to plan if our plan is an answer to prayer. To make one’s plan and then to pray is the order of the flesh. Settle your course and then pray about it! So you make a god of your wisdom and it gets the credit of your deliverance. 5. Jacob’s Prayer. The form of Jacob’s prayer is good: (1) He addressed the covenant God, God of Abraham and Isaac (Exod. 3 ;6; 32:13; Lev. 26:42; Neh. 9:7). (2) He reminded Him that he was in the way commanded (37:5) ; he confessed his unworthiness (Luke 18:13); he acknowl edged his Benefactor (2 Chro. 29:12); he then made his petition, pleaded his reasons (v. 11), and claimed the promise (v. 12). There is no mention of God’s pleasure (“They will be done”) and there is much “I” in it. Jacob adopted a new plan—we hope it was by wisdom gained by prayer— certainly it was good to give liberally to his brother whom he had so grievously wronged. IV. J acob at J abbok . 1. "There Wrestled a Man with Him” (v. 24). On the verge of the Fatherland; on the eve of meeting Esau; alone on the mountain; under the solemn stars, Jacob again had thoughts, and they were the meeting place of the wrestlers. As if the Lord’s patience was about exhausted, He laid hold on the wayward man, who, prob ably half suspecting who He was, still re sisted. At the break of day he yielded, but only when the Man laid him helpless, whose “strength is made perfect in weak ness.” Then poor Jacob claimed the bless ing indeed, and he got it, He went a cripple in the flesh, but a prince in spirit, “more than conqueror” (Rom. 8:37). V. J acor M eets E sau . It was on the mountain that Jacob won the victory over Esau. The Peniel (“the face of God”) changed the face of his enemy; changed the lion to a lamb; the foe to a friend and a protector. The old score was wiped out by “forgiving one another,” with mutual loving kindness.
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