Genesis #20 Ch. 31-34 Wrestling to the End of Self — Chuck Missler

Welcome to the 20th study in the book of Genesis conducted by Chuck Missler. The subject of this tape, Genesis chapters 31 through 34. Let's open with a word of prayer.

Father, we just praise you and thank you for this evening, for the privilege of gathering together in the name of Jesus Christ. We thank you that you are the God of Jacob as well as the God of Israel.

We thank you, Father, that you have given us these treasures. And we would just ask you this night, to the power of your Holy Spirit, to open understandings in our hearts to your word, that we might behold those things which you have here for our learning this evening, to the glory of Jesus.

Amen. You know, as we go through the book of Genesis, it's been my desire to highlight not just background content of the book itself, which might make it useful to you, but also as we go, you've probably caught me at trying to emphasize what I might call methodology, emphasizing not just a prophecy, but the way it's couched to hopefully what you'll gain from this experience isn't just a familiarity with the book of Genesis, and perhaps, and far more important, familiarity with its author, but also get some feeling for how it communicates.

And from time to time we throw out a trick or two. And one of the secrets, I think, I've shared with you in the past, is if you have a passage that you do not understand, that's complicated, just doesn't seem to make sense, I have suggested that you can put Jesus Christ right in the middle of it and it may unravel.

And some of you, how many of you have ever tried that with a difficult passage? How many have found that it works? Hmm, same number of hands. Okay, that's good. You know, that is something that works.

Biblical Typology in Genesis

And often, as we see a life in the book of Genesis, we're amazed to discover how that life may typify, that is, be a type of, or a model of, or foreshadowing of some major issue. We had a lot of fun with Abraham as a type of the father, offering his only son, Isaac, as a model in which apparently Abraham was knowingly acting out the crucifixion, some 2 ,000 years later at the same location.

And how Eliezer, the servant, going to gather a bride for Isaac was a type of the Holy Spirit. We found these stories very interesting because while they were very clearly historical, at the same time they also are mystical, if you will, or they are foreshadowing a modeling of other things.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Eliezer. And there are other cases. We're going to see when we take up, in a few chapters, we're going to take up the story of Joseph. And we will probably be flabbergasted to realize the way Joseph is a type.

Now, we are right in the middle of studying another character, a guy by the name of Jacob. And we're going to be flabbergasted with this obstinate, cantankerous, fleshly, carnal character called Jacob.

And this is one of those exceptions in the scripture where I suggest if you really want to understand the story of Jacob, recognize who he is a type of. And it's the person you shave each morning. We're going to be absolutely fascinated with this character for whom God did so much.

And yet, how oblivious he was to the promises and the resources he could have at his disposal. And even when they were revealed to him, he didn't understand. And he gave away that which he didn't need to.

And he didn't appropriate to himself those things which God had provided, even though they were confirmed. And as we read Jacob, my suggestion is, let's try to be patient with him because he's there for a purpose.

Romans 15 .4 tells us, all things are written aforetime. For what purpose? For our learning. And this is one situation in which God has given us a mirror and brought to mind an occasion some years ago where a dear old friend of mine by the name of Dr. Walter Martin was, he and I, well, he was speaking at a very, very, I won't mention the particular location, but here in Newport Beach, very conservative, traditional denominational setting.

And Walter was in one of his mischievous moods when he's a very impish character. And he was pointing out this question of law and grace. And he also was pointing out how the law, you know, what was the purpose of the law?

It too, like Jacob has brought to mind, is like a mirror. And it's just like a mirror. The mirror isn't to shave us. The mirror is to show us our need. Okay? The law shows us our need. It doesn't save us.

It shows us our need. Just as a mirror shows us our need. Because we're not shaved by the mirror, we're shaved by grace, you see. Well, right. But in any case, though, Jacob is, in my opinion, at least let me just suggest the possibility, that Jacob is here for several reasons, obviously.

But one of those, in a spiritual sense or in a homiletical sense, that is a practical, how do I apply it to my life sense, is here to be a mirror. In some respects, Abraham is, except I'm not sure I can aspire to see much in his life.

I can appropriate myself, because in many respects, he, you know, I have a tough time relating to Abraham. He's a pretty neat guy. Isaac, we don't see a lot of in that sense. You know, we see him more mystically, at least I do.

I see him more mystically than anything. And of course, Joseph is way out there. He's another kind of guy. But now Jacob, I can relate to. And let me tell you something about Chuck Missler. But I think all of us who understand the predicament of man have an ability to relate to Jacob, although not maybe in a very savory sense.

Jacob's Exile and God's Call

In any case, let's pick up where we were last time. And if my memory serves me correctly, we completed chapter 30. And we are in chapter 31. And we're going to find, now we're going to enter, you know, Jacob has, you know, he cheated Esau, as it were.

Rebecca advised him to go off to the relatives, so he did. Goes with Laban and has been there some 20 years. Gets involved with these two sequences of seven years each to work off his payment for his two wives.

And then stays on and raises 11, brings 11 of his sons up to the threshold of manhood, say. But his sojourn, his exile, if you will, is about over. And chapter 31 is going to usher in God's call to get Jacob back to where he belongs, which is where?

Bethel. Bethel. We're going to discover he doesn't really quite make it to Bethel. He stops off for a while at great harm to himself. And we'll see. It's very interesting as you study the Bible, particularly the book of Genesis, and you watch these travels, you'll discover that even though they're places, they take spiritual coloration as to what God's intention is.

We're going to be very sensitive to that in the case of Jacob. And we're going to now begin another pilgrimage. He's out in exile, Paddan Haran, and chapter 31 opens with this move to get him to, you know, where he ought to be.

Chapter 31, verse 1. And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this wealth. Now, recognize this is following on from chapter 30 where we saw him prosper.

We made this deal with Laban and his cattle, setting aside for the moment this peculiar issue of the stripes and all that. Basically, Jacob's flocks multiplied, and he prospered, and of course Laban's sons are resentful.

They're very upset by that. Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this wealth. Verse 2, and Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before.

Now, that's no surprise. If your memory serves you well, Jacob has, you know, the conniver has out connived the conniver, if you will. These two guys have what some people might consider a very ethnically characteristic fashion, got into some pretty tight dealing, and while Jacob has gotten the bargain he went for, at the same time, he's noticing that his welcome is wearing thin, and I came across in some of the background material here an interesting definition or an attitude.

Jealousy is what we're seeing here, right, among Laban's sons and certainly Laban himself. Jealousy is the failure to concede the right of God to bestow favors according to a sovereign will. Isn't that interesting?

It's interesting for us to sort of snicker at Laban and Laban's sons that they're kind of upset, but why are they upset? You see, it's interesting that someone walking in the will of God or walking by faith, that's really mutually exclusive with the idea of jealousy.

When we feel jealousy or envy, we know we're not in the will of God with that attitude because of that very sense. It's a challenge, that feeling of jealousy or envy is a challenge to the sovereignty of God, and when you put it that way, it puts it in its right complexion.

But in any case, Jacob sensed that he was wearing it pretty thin, and we're going to discover several steps here, but Jacob is going to be sensitive to the leading of the Lord, and it comes in three distinct steps.

This is the first step, and I'll call this step, for lack of a better label, circumstance. Jacob is sensitive to the fact that circumstances are starting to turn against him. There's a resentment among the sons and a resentment against Laban so Jacob is feeling an unsettling movement coming here.

Now the next step is verse three, and the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. Return into the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.

What a commitment. You and I would think that with that kind of a commitment, we could look at anybody, right? If the Lord had said to us, you know, do such and so, and I will be with thee, you and I would assume that armed with that commitment, nothing would cause us to be nervous.

In fact, we would go out in the boldness of that conviction, right? Glibly quoting from Romans 8 and what have you. Well, you need to recognize when you see Jacob, just write in there your name, because there but for the grace of God go all of us, and we're going to see how Jacob deals with that.

Moving on, verse 4. Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto him, I see your father's countenance that is not toward me as before, but the God of my father hath been with me, and ye know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father hath deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God allowed him not to hurt me.

And if he said thus, the speckle shall be thy wages, then all the cattle bore speckled. And if he said thus, the stripe shall be thy hire, then bore all the cattle striped. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father and given them to me.

I came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived that I lifted up mine eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were striped and speckled and spotted. The angel of God spoke unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob, and he said, here am I.

He said, lift up now thine eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are striped, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me.

Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. Now, well, I guess that's basically it. He's presenting to the daughters of Laban, his wives, the program, that they're about to emigrate, about to leave.

It's very interesting, because we can be very critical of Jacob, and yet it's interesting that he bases his proposition to his wives on the basis of his fairness with Laban. And it's very interesting to temper our judgment of Jacob, because he couldn't very well make that case, if you will.

They were pretty close. You can't con them. They were right in the middle of the whole thing. So despite the connivery, Jacob apparently could make that boast and make it stick. In any case, verse 14, Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

Are we not counted of him as strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money, for all the riches which God hath taken from our father that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

There's much that we could extract from here. The thrust of it basically is that the daughters feel no allegiance, no inheritance, no commitment left to Laban. So they're in effect endorsing their commitment to Jacob.

Wherever you go, we'll go with you. Now, we're going to discover that Rachel keeps her hooks in one particular item that leads to a little incident here. But basically, they commit to go with Jacob. Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels, and he carried away all his cattle and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Paderon, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. Now, these images are the teraphim, is the actual word. The word teraphim occurs several times in the scripture.

We know from the passages in the scripture that teraphim were things that were used to inquire of, like an oracle. They're used that way in Judges 17, verses 5, 6, and 12. The tribe of Dan, Judges 18 .6, asks counsel of the teraphim.

In 1 Samuel 19 .13, Saul's daughter is a necromancer, actually, using teraphim. In Ezekiel 21 and also in Zechariah 10 .2, we have allusions to Israel's apostasy as typified by the teraphim. Now, what is not obvious, perhaps, is that the teraphim, from the text, but something we've inferred by archaeological discoveries, is that the teraphim were not only a form of idolatry, but the household teraphim was a symbol of possession of the inheritance.

And so, Rachel's thieving these household gods, and they apparently were pretty small in form here. They were life-sized later with Saul's daughter. But here, in this case, they're very, apparently from what happens here, we can infer they're very small objects.

You sort of get the impression it's a shelf knick-knack kind of thing. But in addition to the idolatry link that we have here, we know that we now have reason to believe, at least, there was a link to a claim on the inheritance involved in them.

And so, in any case, Rachel steals the images. Now, here's the key thing, verse 20. Jacob stole away, unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. So, Jacob packs up and sneaks out of there.

Now, he's later going to be terrified when we get to Esau, for a reason that is not obvious from the text. I'll come back to that. But just recognize here, he is slipping away secretly. His intention is just to split, you know, overnight, as it were, be gone.

Verse 21, so that he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and passed over the river and set his face toward Mount Gilead. Now, it's from this phrase, over the river, passed over the river, that in Joshua chapter 24, we have, in verses 2, 3, and 14, and 15, the phrase Hebrew.

The word Hebrew means those that passed over the river. Do you know that? Yeah. And he'll come across, you know, we'll come across a verse, I think, a couple of later, about on the other side of the flood, on the other side of the river.

The word Hebrew means those that have crossed over. Now, he goes, he set his face toward Mount Gilead. Gilead, by the way, means perpetual fountain. Interesting. Perpetual fountain. And it was the rivers there in Gilead that attracted both Reuben and Gad, because they were very cattle oriented.

We're going to deal with this when we're going to do a whole summary of the 12 tribes, when we get to Genesis 49. We'll look back and tie this whole thing together. But Reuben, in particular, both Reuben and Gad were very oriented to cattle.

Before they crossed the Jordan, they decided that land looked pretty good, so they made their deal with Moses, and then subsequently honored by Joshua, that they would stay on that side of the Jordan.

Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh do so. But in any case, there's a lot of thoughts here that we're going over lightly, but maybe I should just mention. Back in verse 15, where Jacob is, this whole proposition of leaving, are we not counted of him as strangers?

Their concept of being strangers in the world, if you will, being called out to Bethel is part of the imagery here you might think about and see if you can relate to. I won't develop that excessively, because we could spend a lot of time on the whole concept of being strangers in the land.

But there's that tone of it here. We'll come back and tie it together. Let's just continue with the narrative and then get the sense of what's happening. Verse 22, and it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.

In other words, several days went by before Laban, wherever he was actually physically going, was aware of the fact that Jacob had split. Verse 23, and he took his brethren with him and pursued after him a seven days journey.

And they overtook him in Mount Gilead. Okay, so there's 10 days that have slipped by. Three days and then seven days to catch up with him. Okay. Verse 24, and God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night.

Interesting, isn't it? God himself came to Laban in a dream by night and said unto him, take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Now isn't that a strange admonition? God intervenes with Laban.

Now was Laban in fellowship? Was he a believer? No. A lot of evidence of that. And yet God appears to Laban and gives him instruction. Interesting. Furthermore, what you expect God to say, assuming you've read that before, you sort of expect him to say, take heed that you do not harm my servant Jacob.

Laban was very likely pretty upset. Because on the one hand, Jacob left with only that which was his. Because he obviously didn't know that Rachel had stolen this little household idol. But Jacob's intentions, you know, the cloudy part of it is really just that he didn't make open arrangements and say goodbye and all that sort of thing.

But what he didn't steal, what he split with was his own. And so God is instructing. But Laban's pretty upset. And God doesn't tell him, just speak, see that you don't speak any harm. He says, see that you speak not to Jacob, either good nor bad.

What a strange idea that is. And I'll leave it to yourself to come back to this verse on your own after this evening and see what you make of it then. Let's go on, see what else has happened here. Verse 25.

Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount, that is not Gilead, and Laban with his brethren encamped in the mount of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, what has thou done that thou had stolen away unawares to me and carried away my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

In other words, he's making, he feels as if it was handled as if they were kidnapped, forced away, didn't give a chance to do a proper separation. Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly and steal away from me and didst not tell me that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with timbrel and with harp?

Okay, now I don't pretend to know what Laban was really like. I have a hard time visualizing him throwing a going away party. I can visualize him trying to negotiate an extension of the contract or something, but with mirth and with songs and with timbrel and with harp.

And hast not permitted me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. Now it is in the power of my hand to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke unto me last night, saying, Take heed that thou speakest not to Jacob, either good nor bad.

And now, though thou wouldst needs be gone, because thou greatly long'st after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods, my terephim? Plural, terephim is plural. Okay, and it's referring to these terephim.

And Jacob answered and said unto Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Perhaps thou wouldst take by force thy daughters from me, with whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live. Before our brethren, discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee, for, you see, Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

Okay. And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into two maidservant's tent, but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah's tent and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them.

And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. Thank goodness. Because Jacob did a very, very foolish thing. He made a very foolish promise, you know. But in any case, they were not found. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my Lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of women is upon me.

And he searched, but he found not the images. Verse 36. And Jacob was angry and contended with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?

Whereas thou hast searched all my furniture, what hast thou found of all my, of all thy household furniture? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge between us both. Jacob is really, you know, very righteously indignant here, because from his point of view, he's been, you know, he's been put upon.

This accusation that something's been stolen. Verse 38. This twenty years have I been with thee, thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee, I bore the loss of it.

Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in the day, the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house, and I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen my affliction, and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee last night.

Interesting. Now, it's interesting how Jacob here has no trouble relying on this message that God, in effect, delivers through his adversary. Verse 43. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine.

And what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have borne? Now therefore, come thou, let us cut a covenant. Let us cut a covenant. I am thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

Now, this is a very interesting passage because it gets totally misunderstood. What we're going to lead up to here is a passage that is, in verse 49, is totally misunderstood by the general public, if you will.

The way it's used is an utter horror and a surprise, if you will, in contrast to its original meaning. Now, these two guys, Laban and Jacob, are pretty hostile to another. Laban, but for the Lord's injunction the night before, would have probably been pretty aggressive, pretty hostile.

These two guys are in a very, very strained situation. But for the Lord's intervention, they would be at each other's throats. But they're going to cut a covenant, a blood covenant. Okay? And in that time, in that part of the country, violating a blood covenant was just unthinkable.

In fact, you might want to remind yourself of God's own blood covenant. You might remember when we turn back to 1510. There, you may recall, in Genesis 15, we have a covenant with Abraham. And God says, He took all of these, and He divided them in the midst, and laid each piece against.

And the burden is over. He divided not. And then Abraham cut them up. And then a deep sleep fell upon Abraham. And God then, you know, the fire passes between the pieces. And we have this prophecy of how Israel was to go into captivity and so forth in Egypt.

And the fourth generation, they would return. We covered all that then. But just, again, the structure of the covenant was a blood covenant. And at that time, I think we looked at, did we look at Jeremiah 34, 18?

We might do that now, just to... Jeremiah 34, 18. The Lord says, And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between these parts.

It's another reference to the structure of a covenant. Cutting it in half and passing between them, as a form of blood covenant. That's in effect, that kind of a covenant, is what is being proposed between Laban and Jacob.

And that's what they enter into here. Back to Genesis 31, verse 44. Now, Therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant in the king James, or I technically cut a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap, and they did eat there upon the heap. And Laban called it, Jigar-sar-had-dutha, I guess.

But Jacob called it, Gelid, the heap of witness. One is in Aramaic and one's in Hebrew, basically. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore, was the name of it called Gelid, and Mitzpah.

Now, technically, Mitzpah is simply a monument or watchtower, milestone kind of thing. And he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us.

See, God is witness between me and thee. Now, what this is really saying, the tone of this relationship is hostile. In other words, he's not saying the Lord keep watch over you while we're separated. It's an emotional thing.

He's saying, you know, the Lord help you if you violate this covenant. As it might be paraphrased, if you cross over on my side, I'll shoot to kill. That's basically the mood of what's happening. They agree, but they agree as a, you know, don't make one false move.

The Lord's going to watch you. You with me? It's a hostile type thing. Now, what's interesting is people have taken verse 49. And as you well know, have made jewelry out of it. It's become a motto for certain organizations.

The whole concept of, gee, the Lord watch over you and I while we're apart, as if that's, you know, parting such a sweet sorrow kind of thing. Well, it's taken totally out of context. There are rings and mottos and benedictions of all kinds that are sold as Christian jewelry by a misunderstanding of what the verse 49 really is and what the context of that separation was.

I hope none of you here tonight have a separation that has the emotional connotation this one does. Now, if some of you happen to have shared, you know, a coin mitzvah or something on the key chain, fine.

I don't mean to spoil it for you. But I think you need to understand the real background. And I do trust that you aren't having separations that are marked with the kind of sanction this one was. This is a sanction in the sense of the Eiger sanction, I think, more than anything else.

Okay, verse 50, verse 51. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and thee. This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me for harm.

In other words, what they're really saying, the Lord keep watch over you, but there's the line. I agree not to cross it, you agree not to cross it. We agree this day to put a boundary and we won't harm one another.

But it's in the form of an armistice, an armed armistice, not in the form of some parting between lovers. It's interesting how we can take those things out of context that way and so on. But anyway, the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor and the God of their father judged between us.

You know, bear in mind, this is Laban talking. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. Strange, isn't it? Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mountain, called his brethren to eat bread, and they did eat bread, and they tarried all night in the mountain.

Jacob Encounters Esau

Early in the morning, Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them, and Laban departed and returned unto his place. Now, we're going to enter now into a very, very interesting reunion.

We have here a separation of Laban and Jacob. Now we're going to move into a reunion, a reunion between two brothers, Esau and Jacob. This would make a great scene in the movie, I think. Let's just jump in and then we'll look back reflexively here.

Chapter 32, verse 1,. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. This implies that he's on the path that God would have him be. What are angels for? Ministering spirits. Hebrews 1 .4 is something you might make reference to and you can launch off onto a study of angels in terms of their guardianship and their ministry on your behalf.

Jacob went his way, and the angels of God met him. Very interesting thought here. Did Jacob know they were angels of God? Did he understand their purpose? Verse 2, And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is what?

God's host. And he called the name of that place Mehennaim, which means two bands or two groups, two companies. Okay? Now, this fascinates me because you and I, if we had seen elsewhere in the Old Testament where the servants' eyes are open and he beholds the hosts of God camped around them, remember?

If we're granted the spiritual insight to see God's hosts on behalf of his own, you would think that that vision, that insight, that understanding would be sustaining, would be encouraging, would be strengthening.

I think if you and I were facing a battle tomorrow and we somehow got a glimpse that God's hosts were encamped around us or somehow positioned to our benefit, you would think that that would invoke in us boldness, confidence, and so forth.

Right? Well, let's look at what happens to Jacob. First of all, Jacob recognizes there's no ambiguity. There's nothing, something hidden. Jacob understands who they are and names the place Mehennaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau's brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

And he commanded him, saying, Thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau, thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen and asses and flocks and men servants and women servants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight.

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee. Oh? He's on the way here. What's he traveling with? Four hundred men. Now, it says, Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.

Now, what isn't obvious here is put this whole thing in context. Jacob has left secretly Laban. He split, in effect, under cover of darkness two weeks ago. Didn't tell anybody. Even Laban didn't find out for three days and then spent seven days catching up with them, and they had this scene here.

What some scholars suspect, or let's put it this way, infer, they infer that Jacob was probably terrified because this almost implies a spy in Esau's employ in the ranks of Laban, for him to be tipped off that Jacob was coming.

Because he's now, Esau is on his way to meet Jacob, and not casually, like, you know, mount up a few buddies on camels and get going. There are 400 men, and the implication is an armed army. Now, Shakespeare has a marvelous phrase, conscience doth make cowards of us all.

Now, if we were facing any kind of an army, with the commitment the Lord's going to be with us, and we've actually been met with his hosts that are on our behalf, you could go into an army situation with very adverse odds and go at it confidently, couldn't you?

You would think. Except for one small problem. Jacob knew he was guilty, as could be. He understood that Esau had every right to be out for his skin. This was the brother that he had defrauded of his birthright.

This was the brother that he had connived and deceived and disenfranchised of his blessing. He's been away for 20 years. His brother obviously has prospered. He's got an army of 400 men ready to greet him.

So Jacob is terrified. Now, it's interesting that the word men, the two hosts, the name, the place name, most scholars believe that the reason he calls it two hosts, because he has his own host, that his own entourage, and he sees the angelic host that's with him.

That's why names are two hosts. Some scholars suspect there's even the indication that there may have been two hosts of angels in front and behind, behind to protect him from Laban and in front to protect him from Esau.

But we'll see what happens as we go here. Jacob, verse 7, Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels into what?

Two bands. The Hebrew word's the same as the other one. Two bands, okay? And it's mentioned twice again in verse 8. And he said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.