Jacob and Esau-- Genesis 32-33, 35

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Genesis 28:15

Jacob ran away from his brother Esau, taking with him the blessing of Yahweh. And Yahweh blessed Jacob greatly while he was away. Through the trickery of his mother’s brother, Laben, Jacob married two of Laben’s daughters and through them had 11 children. And through his dealings with his uncle over twenty years, Jacob gained large flocks of sheep and goats and servants and became wealthy in his own right. Finally, Jacob decided that it was time to go home, so he collected his family and flocks and servants and they traveled back to Canaan.

On the way back, Jacob’s fear of his brother, Esau, grew in his mind. When he left, Esau was threatening to kill Jacob—and now, who did Jacob have to protect him and his family. Even as Jacob left, Esau was gathering servants to him—servants that could fight and kill. What did Jacob have? Women, children and a few shepherds. They were completely defenseless and a battle would destroy them all. So Jacob sent some of his servants ahead to Esau’s land with a message: “Your slave Jacob comes to you, lord Esau, with all the wealth he gained.” The servants came back to Jacob and said, “Esau is coming to meet you with 400 men.” Jacob was very nervous now—400 men was the size of an army!

Jacob prayed to Yahweh, reminding Yahweh of the promises he had given and to ask for deliverance. Then Jacob sent hundreds of sheep and goats to Esau as a present to him, hoping to placate him. Then he divided his caravan into two camps so that if Esau attacks one camp, he might not attack the other.

The night before he was to meet Esau, Jacob spent moving things about from one side of a river to another, trying to figure out how best to escape an attack. Finally, he left the camps alone and wandered off by himself to think. There, a power of heaven met him and they wrestled for superiority. The power could not defeat Jacob, and so he touched Jacob’s leg and caused him to limp. Jacob would not let go of the power, however. The power pleaded, “Let go of me—it is almost morning.” Jacob replied, “I will not release you until you give me a blessing.” The power asked, “So, what is your name?” “Jacob. And what is your name?” “Why should you need my name? But you will no longer be called Jacob but Israel because you fought both men and gods and have won.” And the power blessed him. Jacob later realized that he fought with the power of Edom, the angel over Esau.

Jacob went back to camp, limping, and he saw Esau coming toward him, with his 400 men. Jacob lined his family up before Esau, with all of his flocks and servants on the other side of the river. Then Jacob bowed before Esau seven times until Esau came up to him. Esau stopped before Jacob and embraced him and kissed him on the cheeks. All of Jacob’s family bowed before Esau. Esau said, “Who are all these?” Jacob said, “These are the wives and children Yahweh has given your slave.” Esau said, “And what of all of the flocks you sent ahead?” Jacob replied, “I seek your favor, lord.” Esau said, “I don’t need this, here, you keep it.” Jacob replied, “No, you keep them please.” So Esau kept them after Jacob’s urging. In this way, Jacob knew that Esau did not intend to forgive Jacob and his life was still threatened. Esau said, “My land is not far from here. Come with us and you can stay with us.” Jacob replied, “We are so slow, we don’t want to keep you. You ride on ahead and we will catch up with you.” Jacob insisted, so Esau rode ahead.
However, Jacob did not follow Esau west, but traveled far south to Shekham. In his fear of Esau, Jacob forgot the promise he had made to Yahweh that he would return to Bethel and worship God.

As Jacob and his family were living near Shekham, Dinah, Jacob’s daughter was walking outside of her father’s camp. A prince of a local kingdom there lusted after her and raped her there in the wilderness. Afterwards, though, he regreted his actions and offered to marry her. His father, the king, explained the situation to Jacob, and asked permission to arrange the wedding.

Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob’s sons, spoke for their father and began to make arrangements. “Of course you can have our sister,” they said, “but we cannot allow her to marry just anybody. Your son, your family and your whole town would have to be circumcised. Only then can we be one family.” The king hesitated, the son pleaded for agreement. The king convinced his community to do this by saying that they could be very rich if they agreed to this “little” thing. So the whole community was circumcised. Three days after the circumcision, when all the men were in terrible pain, Levi and Simeon killed everyone in the town with their swords. Jacob confronted them on this evil deed, but they replied, “But they treated our sister like a whore!”

Jacob was furious and knew they had to move again. Yahweh spoke to Jacob and said, “Go to Bethel and keep the promise you made me.” So Jacob took his family and wealth and went north to Bethel. There he made all of his company get rid of any idols and false gods they had and they all dedicated themselves to Yahweh. Jacob offered sacrifices there at the rock he had placed there so many years ago. And from that time, Jacob was called Israel and he dedicated himself to Yahweh alone—no longer deceiving or tricking. And God blessed Israel there and gave him the blessing of Abraham.