11 January

Bible in 365 Days

Genesis 32-34

Genesis 32

This is unquestionably one of the great chapters of the Bible, and it is significant how constant and powerful is its appeal to all who live on the principle of faith. It gives the account of the third direct communication of God to Jacob.

As he returned to his own land, the same conflicting principles which have been evident throughout are still manifest. His going at all was in direct obedience to the distinct command of God. There was really no other reason to return. He might still have stayed with Laban and outwitted him for his own enrichment. Nevertheless, the manner of his going was characterized by independence and confidence in his own ability. This is seen in the account of the elaborate and carefully calculated preparation he made for meeting Esau. He was ready to placate Esau with presents, and prepared a list of them. However, they were to be used only if Esau was hostile.

This coming back into the land was an event of great importance which Jacob seems to have recognized. When all his own arrangements were made he voluntarily stayed behind and went down to the Jabbok, quite evidently for some dealing with God. Then and there, in the quiet and stillness of the night, God met with him in the form of a man. Wrestling with him, God demonstrated his weakness to Jacob, finally appealing to his spiritual consciousness by crippling him in his body. This is certainly a story of Jacob's victory, but it was a victory won when, conscious of a superior power, he yielded and, with strong crying and tears, out of weakness was made strong. Jacob's limp was a lifelong disability, but it was also the patent of his nobility.

Genesis 33

The morning broke and Jacob-or Israel as he had now become- went forward to meet Esau. How strange a mixture there was in the make-up of this man is once more clearly evident. It is patent that fear of his brother still lurked in his heart and there is a touch of nobleness in his going forward alone to meet him, having set his loved ones behind in two companies. Moreover, his love of Rachel is again manifest as he put her in the second company, so that if Esau met him in anger she, at any rate, might have a better chance to escape

The chief interest of this story, however, is found in Esau's attitude. In him Jacob met no angry man but a brother. It would appear that Esau had started to meet Jacob with revenge in his heart, as the armed bands suggest. But God has the disposing of all hearts in His own power; and while He had been dealing with Jacob by the brook, probably all unconsciously to Esau, He had been dealing with him too, changing his attitude toward Jacob.

The measure of a man's finding God is ever that of his discovery of a pathway straitened and yet smoothed. Evidently, all Jacob's preparations to appease Esau would have been of no avail, for Esau did not want them. But God had met and dealt with the difficulty for this man who had been brought into submission to Him in the long struggle of the lonely night.

Genesis 34

When Jacob parted from Esau he should have gone directly to Beth-el. The previous chapter shows that he did not do so but tarried at Shechem. Unquestionably, this was a mistake. There is nothing more perilous than to stay anywhere short of the place to which God is calling, and here we have the account of the sad and tragic reaping from this halt. It gives the story of a defiled daughter and of sons using the instruments of cruelty for vengeance. It is a startling revelation of how the fruits of a man's disobedience may be gathered in the history of his family. How often children have been harmed incalculably, because parents, while believing in God, have tamed at some Shechem of worldly advantage instead of centering life around Beth-el and the altar!

Jacob's complaint to Simeon and Levi was utterly unworthy of a man of faith. It breathed the spirit of selfish fear from first to last. There was no word of jealousy for the honor of God, or of appreciation of the necessity for the purity of the chosen seed. It is wholly indicative of a cowardly fear for himself. The moment faith ceases to be the simple principle of life, selfishness is enthroned; and, instead of the calm courage which is ever the result of obedient faith, there ensues the cowardly fear of personal suffering.