PROCLAMATION
“And
when the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, ‘… thy brother Esau … cometh to
meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Jacob was greatly afraid and
distressed … And Jacob said, ‘O God of my father … I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies … which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant … Deliver me, I
pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him,
least he will come and smite me, and the mother with children.’” Genesis
32:6-11 (KJV)
EXPLANATION
These
are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the
influence of The Holy Spirit of God. When Jacob and Laban parted company,
Jacob returned to his homeland and prepared to face his brother Esau. It
had been more than twenty years since Jacob left home after tricking his
father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing which was meant for Esau and caused
his brother to despise him and plan to kill him. (Genesis 27:1-45) Since
that time he had acquired much wealth, flocks, and herds, in addition to a
large family. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau with a peace
offering and his reply was that he was coming to meet him with four hundred
men. (Genesis 32:3-6) When he heard this, Jacob became afraid and
distressed, and prayed that The Lord God would save him from his brother.
(Genesis 32:7-11) Jacob offered a lot of his sheep, cattle, goats,
camels, bulls, and donkeys to Esau as a gift to soften his heart. (Genesis
32:13-20) Later that night, Jacob wrestled an unknown man until the break
of day. As they wrestled the man said, ‘Let me go …” and Jacob said, ‘I
will not let thee go, except thou bless me.’ (Genesis 32:24-26) The
man told Jacob that he would no longer be called Jacob, but he would be called
Israel, because he had struggled with God and with humans and have prevailed.
(Genesis 32:27-31) From then on he walked with a limp because of the
injury he sustained as he wrestled. (Genesis 32:25)
APPLICATION
The Lord God may have forgiven us of our sins, but the devil
will not let us forget them and frequently reminds us of them. Our sinful
memories can rob us of our peace of mind and cause us much distress. We need to purge our conscience of sinful
thoughts. (Hebrews 9:14 and 10:2) We need to pray that God will forgive
us and restore unto us the joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:12) and grant us His
peace. (Psalm 29:11) The Bible teaches us that if we confess our sins to
Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from
all of our unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
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