Out of the Frying Pan - Genesis 32:1-8

32:1-8 - I guess we have to look at Jacob’s resettlement from Laban to his father’s land as we would look at a woman’s flight from her abusive husband. I know that men can be victims of domestic violence, etc, that’s not my point, my point is that getting all his household and possessions permanently moved 500+ miles is a difficult task in and of itself, but if we factor in that Jacob had to leave without Laban finding out and was also walking back into the domain of the brother is cheated is monumental. Interestingly to note here too is that on the initial journey from his father’s house in Beersheba to Laban’s house in Haran, Jacob had life changing spiritual experiences, most notably when the Lord appeared to him and he saw the ladder.

Even though this time Jacob is not alone, and in fact has a multitude of people who depend on him, it appears like this journey back is going to be quite the ride spiritually as well because as soon as Laban leaves and Jacob carries on his journey “the angels of God met him.” We aren’t really told what exactly these angels talked to Jacob about on this first visitation on the road and it’s glazed over pretty quickly, but he does recognize that “This is God’s host,” or Hebrew mahneh, which means “camp,” so this is God’s camp and names the place Mahanaim, meaning “Two hosts, or camps.”

Now that Laban had been dealt with successfully, Jacob turns his attention to his other problematic relationship, that of his brother Esau. I had always been taught that Esau was this awful, “wicked” guy but honestly, like Judas, I think he got a raw deal in history. Being the first born, legally Esau was entitled many privileges and was constantly duped into giving those perks up to his conniving brother. As far as I know, legally Esau had the right to hunt Jacob down, kill him and take everything he had as his own, that was well within his right as first born having been wronged. If Esau really was this horrible guy like I had been told that he was, then I fully expect that this is exactly what he would have done.

Jacob recognizes just how precarious the situation is with his brother and pre-emptively sends messengers to Esau in Edom with the message “Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.” I think the implication here is that all the stuff that Jacob listed as being his own wealth could be given to Esau is that’s what he required for the “grace” of being able to live in peace. I’m sure that’s not what Jacob wanted, but he knew that this was the potential price he would have to pay as recompence for being a turd when they were younger.

The messengers returned from Esau with probably the most distressing response that Jacob could have expected. There is no mention of Esau’s reaction to hearing that Jacob was returning, except to basically say, “great, I’ll come out to meet him and bring four hundred of my men with me.” If Esau had decided to come meet Jacob personally it probably would have been assumed that he would travel with a small accompaniment of men because it wasn’t safe to travel alone, etc. And Esau didn’t say that he was bringing out all which wives and children to meet Jacob and his wives and children, like a family reunion, no he said specifically “I am bringing 400 men,” the implication here is that it is his own personal army.

When the messengers showed up to Esau’s house to give him the message of Jacob’s return, they wouldn’t have known how many men Esau could call up to go on a journey with him on such short notice. This means that the number 400 men must have come from Esau stating explicitly that he would be coming out to meet Jacob and he would be bringing 400 men. There is really no reason to give such an ambiguous answer without conveying emotion or intent unless you want to imply “I’m coming to kill everyone,” that is the only and unequivocal message that could have been taken from Esau’s response, there is literally no other way to take it. I don’t think that Esau intended to kill everyone and then changed his mind enroute, I think reconciliation was always Esau’s plan, but honestly, I think Esau was trolling Jacob hardcore here, and if it hadn’t been so distressing for Jacob and his whole family, I would think it’s kind of funny.

It’s also possible that Esau wanted to assert dominance, let Jacob know that whatever he showed up back home to do, he wasn’t going to roll up pulling his same old deceitful shenanigans. That’s probably what it was, just a show of force, because Esau didn’t know what kind of guy Jacob was at this point, what he had evolved into. It would have been reasonable for Esau to assume that Jacob hadn’t changed and was coming back home because he had conned his way into a death trap with Laban and was retreating to come and try to do the same thing to Isaac and Esau. Jacob left as a shyster and there would have been no reason to expect that he had changed his ways in the 20 intervening years.

What does Jacob do when presented with what he probably sees as imminent death for himself and possibly for all his family, he actually comes up with a pretty clever plan. Truly believing that he is about to die, Jacob “divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands,” and he hides them in different locations so that “if Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape,” presumably with enough provisions to sustain and make a new life for themselves with the livestock.