(Genesis) Genesis 32-34 — Joe Focht

Jacob Returns to the Promised Land

Genesis chapter 32, this evening. It's funny to hear somebody sneeze like that, because you're in church and you really just don't want to sneeze. You know, when I sneeze, I like to feel good about it.

I like to just let it out and scream, you know. But when you're in church, you have to be careful. But I don't want your head to explode either, so don't try to stop it. If you have to sneeze, you can sneeze.

Genesis chapter 32. Jacob, returning from Padinarum. He has settled issues with Laban, his uncle. Set up their pillar, Mizba. Made the rose before God. Parted peaceably, as possible. And now he is coming into the area of Jabbok.

He is still east of the Jordan River. Coming back in the area of Gilead. And as he comes, he is met by the angels of God. Very strange verse, and I can't wait to see Jacob face to face and ask him exactly what this was like.

It says, Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host. And he called the name of that place, Mahanaim. This is remarkable. I mean, it doesn't give us the information I would like to have.

It just says, Jacob now coming, as he's coming, the angels of God met him. Hey Jacob, you know, how many of them were there? What did they say? Were they just standing there waiting for them? Did they just appear?

Did they come back down the ladder? What does it mean, they met him? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And he sees them and says, oh, this is the host of God. And calls the place Mahanaim, two hosts or two encampments.

Now we don't know whether he's speaking about his own encampment and the encampment of angels, or whether he sees a host in front of him and a host behind him. One covering his well-being in regards to Laban, and the other covering his well-being in regards to Esau and what's ahead.

We're not exactly sure of that. But the angels of God meet him and he sees them and says, oh, this is the host of God. Maybe he recognizes some of the angels. Maybe they're some of the ones that were ascending and descending upon the ladder when he left the land.

We don't know. It seems pretty matter-of-fact the way it's written here. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, unto the land of Seir in the country of Edom, down south, still east of the Jordan River, in the area of Jordan today.

And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto, now Jacob's scared, listen to the language, unto my lord Esau. Now he's his lord. Thy servant Jacob. Now you have to look out when Jacob wants to be your servant.

Thy servant Jacob saith thus. I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. And I have oxen and asses and flocks and men's servants and women's servants. And I have sent to tell my lord that I might find grace in thy sight.

I guess he wants Esau to know he's not returning trying to claim the birthright or the blessing. He's basically saying, I'm blessed. I have herds. I have cattle. You know, he's coming back in the land.

There, I'm sure, is tremendous anxiety in his heart because the last word from Rebekah was, You've got to get out of here because the servants heard Esau say that when your father Isaac dies, he's going to kill you.

And once he kills you, then his heart will be comforted. So now he's facing, the God has commanded him to come back to the land. He is facing now Esau, just being freed from Laban and that worry. Now he's facing Esau.

So he sends ahead his servants to see if they can encounter him and say, By your servant, Jacob is here. And he's saying to his lord, God has blessed him. He has all the cattle and oxen and so forth like that.

Verse 6, Now the messengers returned to Jacob. Here come the servants that he just sent, saying, We came to your brother Esau. And funniest thing, he's coming to see you too with 400 men. Uncle Harry's coming with 400 men.

Now there's a monkey wrench here in the works. And Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. You could just say stressed if you want to. And he divided the people that were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands.

Now evidently he's forgotten about me and I am already. There were a company of angels there. Now all of a sudden he's forgotten about heaven's protection. This man is on his own again. So he divides everybody into two companies.

And he said, If Esau comes to the one company and starts to kill everybody there, then the other company which is left shall escape. Now he prays. Now this is Jacob. You can't relate to this, I'm sure.

Jacob’s Prayer and His Dependence on His Own Plans

Jacob's theology is devise a plan, then ask God to bless it. So he's got the plan in motion. Now he's going to say, Oh God, bless this. Most of us will at least devise two plans and give God multiple choice instead of seeking God for the plan.

And there's interesting aspects to this prayer now. Jacob said, Oh God, God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, he's reminding God, return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with you.

Remember how he's saying to God, Okay, you're the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac. You're the God who told me to come back to my country and you're the God who said you would deal well with me. God must be going, Oh, this guy, you know, he's already wrestling with me.

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies. Now he's got that right. And of all the truth which thou has showed unto thy servant. For with my staff, I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands.

I think he's reminiscing and sincere. God, you have blessed me. As you said that you would go with me. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. And now here's honesty, because I fear him.

God, I am afraid. Lest he will come and smite me and the mother upon the children, the mother falling on the children to protect them being killed is what he envisions. You, verse 12, he says to God, you're the one who said, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Now what he's saying is, Okay, God, now there's honesty in this prayer. I'm afraid, you know, you're the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he's reminding God, now you promised you would bless me. You promised you were going to keep me.

And remember the stuff you said about my seed. You said, you know, we would be like the sand of the seashore. Now, God, that can't happen. If Esau comes and kills the moms and kills the kids and kills me, the sand will be gone.

Now remember that, God. So there is both here a reminding God, kind of coercing God, you know, not trusting God's word. And that's hard to do when Uncle Harry's coming, for any of us. And yet there is a sincerity to it.

God, I'm afraid. That's why I'm seeking you. And you are the one who made me these promises. So he devises a plan. He asks God to bless it. Puts it in God's hands. Verse 13, he takes it back in his hands again.

You can't relate to any of this, I'm sure. And he lodged there the same night, and he took of that which came into his hand, now a present. You could write bribe. For Esau, his brother, 200 she goats, 20 he goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milking camels.

I'm not much interested in that. I don't know what that would do to your coffee in the morning. 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 she s's and 10 foals. 580 animals. That's a little present.

And he delivered them into the hand of his servants. Every drove by themselves, and said unto his servants, Now you pass over before me and put a space between each drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau, my brother, meets you, and he asked thee, saying, Whose art thou?

Whither goest thou? And whose are these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant, Jacob's. Jacob's his servant now. It is a present sent to my lord Esau. Behold, also he's behind us. He's coming.

And so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed the drove saying, On this matter shall you speak unto Esau when you find him. And say moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us.

For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me. And afterward I will see his face and perhaps he will be accepted of me. So this is what Jacob does. He comes in the land. God gives him a supernatural demonstration.

He sees the angels. You know, Elisha at Dothan would say to God in regards to his servant, you know, the servant wakes up and wakes up Elisha and he's freaked out. He sees the Syrians and he says to Elisha, Oh, we're in deep trouble.

Wake up. Look at the army surrounding Elisha. Oh, he hasn't had his first cup of coffee yet. And he says, God, please open this guy's eyes, would you please? And he says to his servant, There's more of us than there is of them.

And the servant looks out again and there's only two of them and there's a lot of those. So God opens his eyes and he sees the chariots and the horsemen of fire, the angels of God surrounding the center.

It gives him peace. In this situation, Jacob is allowed to see the angels of God. A host of them meet him and still he doesn't have peace. Now, you would think, wouldn't you? I mean, have you ever said that to God?

God, if you just let me see an angel, then I'll really know. Just, I'll keep my eyes shut. Just let me see the light shining in my bedroom through my eyelids and I'll know you really love me. Just let me see an angel feather fall down from the ceiling, God.

I mean, we'll settle for a feather. But human nature is not satisfied that way. We'd start with a feather, then we'd want a light, then we'd want one angel, then we'd want two angels, or if there's really you, let me see 15 angels.

Lord, if it's really you, let me see five on their heads and five on their feet. Then we'd be reversing the fleece. Look, here's Jacob. He's a host of angels. And he goes into this thing. Oh, what are we going to do?

He says, come with 400 men. Then he devises a plan. Then he reminds God. God, you're going to bless me. You're going to keep me. I'm the guy. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this plan has to move onward from here.

It reminds God. Then he goes to his own devices. Okay, get the animals. Send them across in droves. Now, one layer of goodness another. We're going to schmooze Esau now. So, one layer upon another. And each time he says, what in the world is this?

You say, your servant Jacob is coming. He's sending these things to his lord Esau. And he's coming behind us. And after everything is in place and functioning, then he says, maybe, maybe this will work.

Perhaps, preadventure, he will accept me. So went the present over before him, and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night, and he took his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons and passed over the ford of Jabbok.

That's a river that's in that area, a tributary that comes into the Jordan. It's interesting. Jabbok means emptying, and certainly that was happening in Jacob's life. He's 90 years old at this time, too, by the way.

And that's only middle age. I think he lives to 180. It's not as bad as it sounds. And he took them, his wives and his sons, and sent them over the brook and sent over everything that he had. He sends them over now.

Wrestling With God in the Darkness

And Jacob is left there alone. So now he even sends over his wife and his kids and he's there alone. And then it says, there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Now, again, you've got to get the picture.

Here's Jacob. I'm sure he didn't start a fire because he doesn't want to give his location away. Harry's coming. He may be creeping around in the dark. So he's out there. You guys ever been camping? He's in the woods.

It's dark. It's night. He sent everybody away. He's there alone. Ninety years old, and somebody jumps on him out of the dark and starts wrestling with him in the dirt. Now, that will give you a cardiac arrest if that happens.

Because you know how spooky it is to be in the dark. I remember being in the Boy Scouts years ago and there was a time we did some kind of initiation and guys dressed up like Indians came out and they would be able to pull you out of line and just throw you down in the weeds wherever they wanted to and you had to lay there all night.

Everybody else left. I don't know whether you're an Indian in the morning or what. I forget. And you tell those stories about the guy who comes and you hear the scratching on the side of the car and you zoom away and there's a hook hanging on the car door handle.

I mean, this is out in the woods, in the dark. No campfire. And every time you hear a noise you think, is that this big hairy guy running around in the rocks getting positioned on me? I mean, what is this like?

I would not like to do this. And it says that the man wrestled with him. Now, you have to understand that because people make a big point about wrestling with God. You know, we're wrestling with God in prayer.

We're wrestling with Him in prayer. You know, to prevail with God. I mean, that is a bunch of nonsense. First of all, you can't wrestle with God. I mean, that's not how you get stuff from God. He's our dad.

And the price that was paid for that relationship was a price that heaven had to pay. It cost us nothing on this end. It was heaven's expense. It was the blood of Jesus. There's no wrestling. There's simply entering into His presence as children in faith.

As a simple child. It's God wrestling with Him. The one who's faithful is seen as God. God is the one who starts to wrestle. Jacob is nine years old. He's not looking to wrestle with somebody in the dark.

God leaps on him. Now, as we read through the passage, let's do that. Let's look at it. Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw the Lord that he prevailed not against Him, against Jacob, Jacob wasn't saying uncle, then he touched the hollow of his thigh.

Just touched him. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, the Lord said, Let me go, for the day is breaking. And he, Jacob, said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Now, I don't want you to get the idea that Jacob's got God in a full Nelson, and God's saying, Let me go, Jacob! Let me go! And Jacob's saying, No, I'm not going to let you go. No, Jacob is clinging now.

He's crippled. He's not wrestling. He's clinging. That is the position that God has been trying to get him in for over 20 years. He's a heel catcher, but he's on the right heel finally. He's holding on to God.

And he's begging for a blessing, because he realized, this one could have put my hip out of joint 20 years ago. Could have done it in the beginning of the night. Didn't have to wrestle all night. But he's like that with us.

You know, God could break us. Boom! Just like that. But he's gracious. And he wrestles with us. And you and I are the ones who wrestle back, and God gets us in a full Nelson. And he's saying, Okay, I love you.

Let me love you. And you're saying, No, I'm not going to give. I'm not worthy. You can love me. And God's saying, I love you. My word says I love you. The Spirit says I love you. I love you. No, you don't love me.

Or God's saying, Let me carry the burden. You're saying, No, I want to carry the burden. And you're wrestling. You won't give in to God. You're laughing, because we're like that. We're like that. And he is the one who is faithful to, for our benefit, not for God's benefit, for our benefit, to be faithful to wrestle with us.

Jacob’s Brokenness and the Blessing of Clinging to God

Hosea gives us the commentary that's necessary. Hosea 12 says this of Jacob. He took his brother by the heel in the womb. By his strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed.

Here it tells us how. He wept and he made supplication unto him. And then it says, He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us, even the Lord of hosts. So it tells us who he was wrestling with.

And it tells us there in Hosea 12 that he prevailed through weeping and supplication. And Kyle and Delitzsch tell us that the tenses indicate that it was during the wrestling that the weeping and supplication had already begun.

He realized along the way who it was that he was wrestling with. And you see, it was necessary, because with Jacob, with all of his scheming, and with all of his best plans, and with everything he was doing with Esau, and all of his plans, and everything he could do in the natural, the best thing he was left with is peradventure.

That's all he was left with. He was a man that spent 20 years building a kingdom in the wrong world. Twenty years conniving back and forth. First, he connived with... He had prevailed with many. He had connived with Esau.

He connived with Jacob. He connived with Rebekah. He connived with Laban. Twenty years doing it on his own. Conniving. You know, trying to get the best for himself. And yet, he would be the one who would pass along the promise to his twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel.

It would be necessary for him to be broken and contrite in spirit ultimately so he could pass the grace of God along to them. So he could pass along a proper concept of who this God was, and that all that would happen from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob down through the history of the nation would happen by God's faithfulness and God's goodness and God's willingness to bless and by God's covenant.

And here he is now wrestling. And maybe you are doing that. Maybe you're a person who is of the nature of being self-dependent. I mean, with Jacob, it wasn't adultery, and it wasn't idolatry. It was self-dependent.

It was an independent man. He was dependent upon his own knack for business. He was dependent on his own street smarts. He was dependent on his own ability to survive in a dog-eat-dog world. He just was not dependent upon God.

And even though he interacted with God, he would give God part of the picture, and then he would set out in his own wisdom to make things work out the way he thought they needed to work out. And after all of these years and all of his conniving, and now everything he has, his sons and his daughters and his wealth and his flocks and his herds, are all at this point as good as gone because his own life is passing away before him.

Everything that he had worked for and everything that he thought was his and everything he thought that he had accumulated by his own means was in jeopardy. And yet, God was desiring to give him so much more if Jacob would just finally let go and realize that at his best all he could provide is a perhaps.

Maybe I'll find grace in Esau's eyes. Maybe. So God in his faithfulness now jumps on him. And this is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. Set as the Lord of hosts there in Hosea. I mean, this is just hard for me.

And by the way, the Hebrew language indicates there was actually a wrestling. It wasn't just in the mind that God would condescend. He had laid out the heavens with the span of his hand. I heard Chuck Missler last week say that if the earth was the size of a pinhead, you take a straight pin, the size of a pinhead, that's the earth, that our sun would be 80 foot away and would be the size of a grapefruit.

If the earth was the size of a pinhead. If you can find yourself on that pinhead in Philadelphia. And that the closest star, Betelgeuse, would be 8 ,000 miles away from the pinhead. That's the closest star.

And yet the heavens are spread out beyond our comprehension, beyond that. Just the span of his hand. And yet that he would condescend to come and to be amongst us and to wrestle physically with Jacob in the dirt by Jabbok is incredible.

Now, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I want to tell you this, if you're in a wrestling match with him right now, again, all challengers will lose. In his graciousness, he may go on with you for a while before he puts something out of joint, but he's able and could have.

And his wrestling is for your blessing. To bring you to the place where you're clinging to him, where you're dependent upon him instead of your own devices and your own wisdom. And it says that here, when the Lord saw he was not prevailing against them, Jacob was stubborn.

He touched the hollow of his thigh. The hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. Now, there's no more running from Esau. The plan is out the window at this point. And he said, let me go for the day is breaking.

And Jacob says, I will not let you go unless you bless me. He's clinging to him. It isn't as though God couldn't get away. Again, my kids at home, Hannah still dives on me. She's only seven years old.

She does it to me every day. If I bend down by the fireplace or something, boom, she jumps on me. Favorite thing. And then she's hanging on my neck, and I'm going, okay, okay, okay. Come on. Okay, let go.

Okay, get down. Okay. And if I wanted to, I could just go, boom, boom, boom, boom. You know, it isn't a problem. You know, God could have smoked Jacob if he wanted to. It isn't, Jacob, let me go. No. You know, it isn't.

He's saying, Jacob, let me go. No, but this is the position he wanted Jacob in. Jacob is clinging now. He's saying, no, Lord. Not unless you bless me. And God likes that about Jacob. You would think this guy's got chutzpah.

You know, now he's saying, I'm not going to let go unless you bless me. No. No, this is the point, because God wants to bless us. He wrestles us to the place where he can finally bless us. You know, if you're in sin and you're in compromise, you know, God is still your father.

Judicially, in heaven, the price has been paid, but your fellowship is broken. You know, if one of my kids starts to sell drugs, I want to put them out of the house. It isn't that I'm not their father.

It isn't that I don't love them. It's that I can't bless their disobedience and their rebellion. And if you're in compromise today, if you're in sin of some sort, and you know God is wrestling with you, He is wrestling with you to bless you.

He is wrestling with you to break you. He is wrestling with you to the point where you will cling to Him and be dependent upon Him again. And if you will bring your life back under His care and His direction, He is wrestling so that He can bless once again.

Not for Himself. Jacob says, I will not let go unless you bless me. And God says to him, What is thy name? Now, I wonder. I wonder when God said that, if Jacob remembers his old father Isaac feeling the goatskin on his neck and his hands and smelling him smelling like the field and saying to him, What is your name?

The voice is Jacob's. The smell is Esau's. Now he hears God saying it. What is your name? You know, he doesn't have to steal the blessing or the birthright. He's not going to say Esau to God. What is thy name?

He said, Swindler. Jacob, heel catcher, supplanter. That's my name. You know, now he's finally saying, Uncle, I give. That's my name. And God says to him, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.

For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed. Jacob's saying, I won't let go unless you bless me. God says, The blessing is simply contained in this, that no longer you be a supplanter, but you be one who is governed by God.

That is where the blessing is. Now, the L, Israel, there, there are over 40 times in the Old Testament where a verb form is and then always puts the L in the nominative that always puts the action on God's part.

It's funny how other people translate this. It has to be governed by God or commanded by God. God is the one who is active. And I like that. That Israel, no longer will you be supplant or left to your own schemes, but now you're going to be one who is clinging to me, one who is governed by God.

And Jacob, in that is your blessing. If you'll change your name, you know. You were called heel catcher because of that tenacity because you came out of the womb holding on to your brother's heel. Now you're holding on to my heel.

Now you're holding on somewhere else, Jacob. And we want to change your name. And in that you'll find your blessing if you'll let your life be governed by God. And Jacob asked him and said unto him, Well, tell me, I pray thee, thy name.

God must go, Aye, aye, aye. He says, Why is it that you're asking my name? And he blessed them there in spite of himself. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. You'll see down the next verse, Penuel.

Same name. For I have seen God face to face. Now we see who he was wrestling with. And my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him. And he is now limping upon his thigh. Coming.

And his family sees him coming now. Limping. Therefore, Moses writes this note for us. Therefore, the children of Israel eat not the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day.

Because he, God, the idea is, touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the sinew of that shrank. So Moses puts a note. Even in our day, we don't eat the big sinew up the back of the thigh because we're reminded that we are the children of Israel, not the children of Jacob.

God was the one who changed his name and touched his leg. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau came. This is the showdown. And with him, 400 men. And he divided the children. Here's the interesting thing.

Esau’s Forgiveness and God’s Faithfulness

God does these things in our lives, but none of us change like this. Here he sees the angels. He goes through the process. He wrestles with God. He says, oh, I'm not letting you go unless you bless me.

God finally says, okay, we'll change your name then. If you want to be blessed, you have to be governed by God. He changes his name. The whole night is over. Here he is limping. You'd think that limp would remind him.

He's limping. And as soon as he sees Esau, Jacob is back. He divided the children unto Leah and unto Rachel and unto the two handmaids. He put the handmaids and their children foremost. He puts the kids in the order he cares about them the least.

And Leah and her children after. And then Rachel and Joseph last. It's easy to see as this family grows why the older brothers hate Joseph. And he passed over before them. That's noble. And he bowed himself to the ground seven times.

We know from ancient inscriptions that that's what was done before a king. Seven times. Until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell upon his neck and kissed him.

And they wept together. You know, the Bible says that even the king's heart is in the Lord's hand. And like rivers of water, he turns it whichever way he will. It says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Esau, now, how many times have you been in a circumstance like this where something's trouble you and you know you're getting ready to face it and you pray and you pray and you put it before God and boom, then when it happens, it works out so wonderfully, you think, oh Lord, You're so amazing, God.

You're so faithful. They fall on each other. They weep together. They kiss one another. And there's lots here to catch up on. Rebecca has died while Jacob was in Padinarum. Mom is gone, whom he was close to.

He's always called the son of his mother. Isaac will live about another 23 years or so somewhere in there. Still evidently down in Hebron, alive. They must be asking, how's dad? Mom? She passed away. Catching up on news.

Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, well, whose are these? And he said, well, these are the children which God has graciously given thy servant. And then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

I'm sure that Jacob had them rehearsing this. Leah also with her children. She came near and bowed themselves. And after came Joseph, last of all near, and Rachel. And they bowed themselves. Little Joseph, probably 3 or 4 years old.

And he said, what meanest thou by all this drove? Which I met. Esau, what is all this stuff you're sending? And he said, these are to find grace in thy sight, my Lord. And Esau said, I have enough, my brother.

Keep that thou hast to thyself. And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee. If now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present in my hand. For therefore I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God.

And he wasn't kidding. And thou wast pleased with me. He sees in the tears and the love of Esau the wrestling of the night before he sees the very face of God and the blessing of God. Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee because God hath dealt graciously with me.

And because I have enough. Now, it's interesting. In verse 9, Esau says, I have enough. The Hebrew word is much. I have much. Jacob, I don't need your flocks and your herds. Jacob says, no, you take this.

This is the blessing of God in my life. To see you is like to see the face of God. And to see you and to be patching up things that were between us is God being gracious to me. I want you to take these things because he says, I have enough.

That word is all things. It's a different Hebrew word. Esau says, I have much. Jacob said, I have all things. And he urged him and he took it. And he said, let us take our journey. Let us go. And I will go before thee.

Now, he probably figures they're going to head straight back to Hebron where Isaac is. He hasn't been there for 20 years and Isaac's over 150 at this point in time. And he said unto him, My Lord knoweth that the children are tender.

This is Jacob speaking. And the flocks and herds with young are with me. And if men should overdrive them even one more day. He doesn't bother to tell him he's been running from Laban for days. All the flock will die.

Let my Lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant and I will lead on softly or gently according as the cattle that goeth before me. As the livestock can handle it. And the children be able to endure until I come unto my Lord unto Seir.

And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk. The men that are with me. Escorts. He said, what needeth it? No, I don't have any need. Let me find grace in thy sight, my Lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

Jacob Settles in Shechem Instead of Returning to Bethel

Now it's interesting there in verse 14 where it says, Until I come, Jacob speaking to my Lord, unto Seir. Some of the rabbis from the first century in their writings believe that this will be fulfilled in the Kingdom Age.

That Jacob, Israel, will come to Seir. To Edom. To Esau. Now, possibly during the Great Tribulation. There is a place that is prepared for them in Petra. In that rock fortress. Isaiah speaks of it. Revelation chapter 12 speaks of it.

Last year one of my friends in Petra, in the spring, talking to the guide, a Jordanian guide, born again Christian. He said there are from the first of January all the way through June over 1 ,000 Jews a day that come to Petra from Israel to see.

Isn't that interesting? I think God preparing them. Esau returns that day on his way south. Now he ends south. He's east of the Jordan River going due south down to the area of Seir. Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth and built a house there.

Now you have to understand what happens. I get everything backwards here. Let me think. Where's east where you sit? They're still on this side of the Jordan. Esau heads south back to Seir and is expecting Jacob to follow him.

As soon as he goes over the hill and gets out of sight, Jacob kind of makes a loop and heads northwest and goes in the other direction and comes to Sukkoth and builds a house there. He's there it seems for about eight years.

So Esau must be wondering what in the world happened to Jacob. I don't see this guy for 20 years. He tells me he's going to be right behind me and I haven't seen him for eight years. He hasn't changed much he must be thinking.

So he goes to this area of Sukkoth. Now Sukkoth is still east of the Jordan River. It's a little more down towards the Jordan River, but it's still on that side of the Jordan River. He builds a house there.

He makes booze for the cattle. Therefore, the name of the place is called Sukkoth. Booze. Reuben, the oldest son, probably somewhere around 12 when they get there. They're there for at least eight years.