Jacob is on his way back to Canaan and he hasn't seen his brother Esau in twenty years. He doesn't know whether Esau still wants to kill him, but the Lord has orchestrated Jacob's life in such a way that Esau has had plenty of time for his temper to cool off. As we learned yesterday, not only was Jacob tricked into having to work fourteen years for the woman he wanted, but it took him six additional years of work to establish his own flocks and herds to be financially stable enough to make the trip home. The Lord has had mercy on Jacob and on his brother Esau as well. If Esau murdered his brother he would either be put to death or else he'd have to flee for his life, living in exile for the rest of his days.
But Jacob doesn't know yet how his brother will receive him. He's afraid that Esau's resentment has continued to grow during the twenty years they've been apart. Jacob wounded his brother deeply and he knows that wounds that aren't treated can fester and become worse over time. He's living in a day when there is no reliable method of communication over long distances. He can't call his brother or email him or chat with him on social media. There's no postal service through which he can send a letter. It was possible in those days to send letters by paying a messenger and providing his supplies if he had to travel a fair distance. This is probably what Rebekah had in mind when she promised to send a message to Jacob when it was safe for him to return, but he has never received any word from her. I believe she died some years prior to Jacob's return.The Bible never tells us about Rebekah's death but she is not mentioned alive again after she says goodbye to Jacob when sending him to Harran. When Jacob returns home only his father is mentioned, and later when Isaac dies the Bible will tell us that he is buried with Rebekah in the cave at Machpelah alongside of Abraham and Sarah. It may be that Rebekah passed on before Esau's heart changed toward Jacob, so she never got the opportunity to send a message containing the good news that Esau is no longer angry.
Jacob has just finished making peace with his father-in-law who has gone on his way back to Harran. "Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, 'This is the camp of God!' So he named that place Mahanaim." (Genesis 32:1-2) The Bible doesn't describe this encounter with the angels of God, but because Jacob knows the Lord is with him he names this place "double camp" or "two camps". He's saying, "God is camping here with me."
Jacob isn't too far now from where his brother lives, so he sends word to tell Esau he's coming. "Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 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 til now. 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.'" (Genesis 32:3-5) Jacob doesn't want his brother thinking he's come home to claim anything. He already has everything he needs. He's not showing up after twenty years to take over and push Esau aside.
"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.'" (Genesis 32:6) I picture Jacob turning pale and his knees growing weak at this news. Four hundred men sounds like an army! Jacob can't fight off four hundred men. All he has are his wives and children and the servants and animals he's responsible for providing for and protecting. When he hears Esau is coming with four hundred men, he believes he's doomed. He believes his brother still wants him dead and that there is no escape.
But, oh, the grace of God! Praise be for the mighty power of the God who has changed Esau's heart toward Jacob! He's not coming with an army of four hundred men; he's coming with a welcoming party of four hundred men! Jacob won't encounter his brother until Chapter 33 but in the meantime he thinks the worst. In the meantime he tries to come up with a strategy for protecting as many of his people as he can. And in the meantime he experiences the defining moment of his life---the pivotal event upon which everything will turn. He promised the Lord on his way to Harran that if He'd protect him and bring him safely back to Bethel, Jacob would make Him his God. God is going to keep the promises He made to Jacob and Jacob is never going to be the same. And finally, when the two estranged brothers see each other face to face, both their hearts will be in the right place. All these years they never expected to have their broken relationship mended, but God specializes in making things whole.
How many times do we think the worst? How often do we dread things and worry about things only to arrive there and find that God has smoothed the way for us? This is the state Jacob is in during the first half of Chapter 32. He thinks he and the people with him will end up dead, so he will devise a plan to try to at least preserve as many lives as possible while still expecting to lose his own. But he can't go back to Harran. He and his father-in-law made a binding agreement that neither of them will enter the other's territory ever again. To do so would give the other man the right to kill him. Jacob can only go forward into the unknown. But God goes with him into the unknown. And God goes with us into the unknown. We are safe in the hands of the One for whom nothing is unknown and of Whom it is said, "Even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You." (Psalm 139:12)
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