God’s Timeline – Part 37
Jacob Prepares
to meet Esau
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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SERMON TIMELINE (2021 A.D. = 5781 Jewish
Calendar Year)
- Creation Week (Approximately 4000 - 3900 B.C.)
o Adam, Eve, and the Fall
-
Cain and Abel
o Evil Fills the World
-
Noah Did All God Commanded
Him
o The Flood 2379 – 2279 B.C.)
o God’s Covenant with Noah
o Noah’s Sons and Ham’s Sin
o Nations of Noah’s Sons
-
Tower of Babel
- God calls Abram (2091 B.C.)
o Abram and Lot part ways
o Rescue of Lot
-
The Lord’s Covenant with Abram for Isaac
o Hagar and Ishmael Born (2080 B.C.) Abram 86 years old
o Sarai and Isaac
o The Three Visitors
o Abraham Pleads for Sodom
-
Birth of Isaac (2066 B.C. Abraham 99 years old Sarah 90-Hagar and
Ishmael sent away)
o The Lord tests Abraham (2048 – 2046 B.C. Isaac 18-20 years old)
o Sarah Dies 127 years old (2029 B.C. Abraham is 136)
-
Isaac marries Rebekah (2028 B.C. Isaac was 37 when he
married Rebekah)
- Jacob and Esau are born (2006 B.C. Isaac was 60 Abraham 159)
o Abraham dies at 175 (1991 B.C. Isaac was 82)
o Isaac receives the Birthright and his father’s
blessing
o Esau marries two Hittites at 40 (1967 B.C.)
o Esau marries a daughter of Ishmael
o Jacob travels to his grandfather’s family to
find a wife (1930 B.C.)
o Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
o Jacob marries Leah then Rachel
§ Levi is born (1920 B.C.)
§ Joseph is born (1916 B.C.)
o Jacob fled Laban and is pursued (1910 B.C.)
o Jacob Prepares to meet Esau
INTRODUCTION
Last week we read about
Jacob fleeing his uncle Laban in secret and Laban gathering relatives and
chasing Jacob down, catching up to him in Gilead.
In the process, Laban was
visited by God and told to leave Jacob alone.
Jacob confronts Laban
about chasing him down, and Laban accused him of stealing his idols, which
Rachel stole in secret before they left and his in her camel’s saddlebag.
After Laban searched the
camp and could not find the idols, they made an agreement not to harm each
other and stay in their own lands. After parting, Jacob returns to his travels
back to the land of his father and into the presence of his brother Esau, who
wanted to kill Jacob after their father died.
SCRIPTURE READING
Genesis 32:1-21
“Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that
place Mahanaim. [meaning two
camps]
3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in
the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He instructed them: “This is what you
are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with
Laban and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and
goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that
I may find favor in your eyes.’”
6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went
to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men
are with him.”
7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who
were with him into two camps, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He
thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, the camp that is left may
escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my
father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your
relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness
and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed
this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand
of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the
mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you
prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot
be counted.’”
13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him
he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty
male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with
their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male
donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and
said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau
meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who
owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong
to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming
behind us.’”
19 He
also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the
herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure
to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will
pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him,
perhaps he will receive me.” 21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he
himself spent the night in the camp.”
I.
JACOB SENDS MESSENGERS AHEAD TO MEET HIS BROTHER ESAU
a. Jacob first meets angels of
God
i.
Psalm 91:11 “For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
to guard you in all your ways.“
1. This translates literally to
mean that God will instruct His angels to watch over individuals. God will give
each of His angels a purpose: to guard His children. Those who are faithful
will be under the constant care of His angels.
ii.
Psalm 34:7 ”The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear
Him, and He delivers them.”
iii.
Matthew 18:10 "See that you do not
despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven
continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
iv.
Hebrews 1:14 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to
serve those who will inherit salvation?”
v.
Exodus 23:20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard
you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”
vi.
Jacob
says, “This is the camp of God!”
vii.
So
he named it Mahanaim, which means two camps
b. Jacob sends messengers to
Edom to speak to Esau
i.
Jacob
wants to know if his brother is still angry, and if it’s safe to travel there
c. Esau responds by coming for
Jacob with 400 men
i.
Not
a good sign
II.
IN GREAT FEAR OF THE MESSENGERS RESPONSES, JACOB
DIVIDES HIS CAMP INTO TWO
a. With two camps, one may
survive if Esau attacks
i.
So
Jacob divides everything into two separate camps
b. Jacob then prays to God to
uphold His covenant
i.
Notice
the order here.
1. Jacob divides the camps in
hopes of saving some if Esau Attacks
2. THEN, in verse 9, Jacob prays to God
3. Why do we always pray after
we’ve done everything we can about a situation, instead of praying firstly?
c. “Save me from my brothers
hand!”
i.
This
is the manner in which Jacob prays
1. O God of my father Abraham,
God of my father Isaac, Lord…
2. You who said to me, ‘God
back to your country…
3. He is acknowledging God is
Lord of the covenant with Abraham, passed to Isaac, then passed to Jacob when
the Lord visited him.
4. Also showing that he is
submitting to the Lord and has accepted the covenant being passed down to him.
ii.
In
verse 10 he pleads, ‘I am
unworthy of all your kindness and faithfulness you have shown me’
1. He acknowledges he is
unworthy (in other words confessing his fallen state) and thankful for God’s
Grace and Provision
2. Gratefulness goes a long way
with God
iii.
In
verse 11 he makes his petition to
the Lord, “Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am
afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.”
iv.
And
in verse 12, he reminds God of His
promise!
1. Verses like Isaiah 43:26 tells us to remind God,
2. Why do we “remind” God of
His promises? It’s not because He forgets
3. I believe it is because God
wants US to remember what He said! It really reminds US of His promises!
III.
IN HOPES OF PACIFYING ESAU BEFORE HIS ARRIVAL, JACOB
SENDS MANY GIFTS IN FIVE LARGE HERDS
a. Jacob had acquired much
wealth in his grandfather’s land over the last 20 years
i.
Jacob
gathers three herds for his brother as a gift
1. 200 female goats and 20 male
goats
2. 200 ewes and 20 rams
3. 30 female camels with their
young,
4. 40 cows and 10 bulls
5. 20 female donkeys and 10
male donkeys
ii.
Jacob
instructed them to stay apart from each other, and as they each encountered
Esau, he told them, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you
belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of
you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a
gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
b.
What was more important than Jacob’s wealth was
returning to his father’s land
i.
Jacob
was willing to sacrifice part of his wealth to smooth things over with his
brother.
1. Though Jacob got the
Birthright from Esau for a bowl of venison stew
2. And their father’s blessing
by pretending to be Esau
3. These were both God’s Will,
and Jacob is in the right
ii.
Remember,
the savior will be born from the line of Shem, after Isaac there was only Esau
and Jacob to carry this on.
1. God, knowing before they
were even born, Esau would marry two Hittite women, and then a daughter of the
rejected line of Ishmael, needed Jacob to have the birthright and blessing to
carry on the Shem bloodline so the Savior could be born!
iii.
All
Esau knows is Jacob got everything, and he was left with nothing.
iv.
So
he vowed to kill Jacob after their father Isaac died
v.
But
all Jacob cared about now was returning to the land of his father as he was
instructed to by God
c. Now Jacob awaits his
brother’s arrival
i.
The
five herds of gifts are sent out, now Jacob waits
ii.
Five
is the number of God’s Grace
1. There are 5 types of
offerings in scripture
a. Burnt
b. Sin
c. Trespass
d. Grain
e. And peace
2. There are 5 curtains in the
Tabernacle, five bars, five pillars, five sockets, and the alter was five
cubits long and 5 cubits wide. The height of the court within the Tabernacle
was 5 cubits high.
3. Anointing oil in Exodus 30,
the ingredients were given directly by God, just as the Tabernacle
instructions, and there are 5 ingredients
iii.
I
believe this was a peace offering using the gifts from God’s Grace on Jacob in
hopes of appeasing Esau.
CONCLUSION –
Jacob sends the gifts in five
large herds to his brother him before his arrival with 400 men.
Jacob spent that night in
the camp, waiting, thinking.
He feared for his wives
and children. Remember, most in the Old Testament did NOT have the Holy
Spirit’s indwelling!
It would be a frightful
thing for any of us with God’s Spirit, Armor, fruits, etc, but without, I
cannot imagine the fear that would drown you!
Genesis 32:22-24 “That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants
and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent
them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left
alone…”
Next week we will read of Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32:22-31)
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