Genesis 33:1-20
Through the means of Grace, God implements his divine plan in human history.
This morning we come to the last episode of Jacob's life story. Jacob continued to live many more years. But the focus of the biblical narrative began to shift to his children, especially Joseph. This began another phase in God's unfolding of his redemption plan in human history.
Jacob's story really started way before he was born. Soon after Adam and Eve deliberately disobeyed God, God began to reveal his redemption plan. It was his plan to bring man, the crown of his creation back to him, to reconcile men to him. To restore the broken and distorted divine image in man.
To implement this plan, out of many he chose Abraham. He promised Abraham a new land, a great nation and others would be blessed through him. This promise was repeated to his son, Isaac, who had two sons, Jacob and Esau. From two generations following Abraham, all the covenanted purposes of God were vested in Jacob and his sons. For this reason, Jacob played a very important role in the redemption history.
Jacob was a man of conflict. As a matter of fact, the focus of his life story was on the conflict with his brother, Esau and how this conflict was resolved. The rest of his life was almost like a parenthesis. In between his conflict with Esau, there were the conflicts with his father and later his uncle, Laban.
Because of the conflict with Esau, who vowed to kill him, Jacob left home and became a refugee. Soon afterwards, at Bethel, God appeared to him. There, God reaffirmed his promise to Abraham and his descendents. It was also a promise of God's presence with him during this time of exile, and eventually God would bring him back to this promised land.
After hearing the promise, Jacob made a vow saying, "if God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the love will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all you give me I will give a tenth."
20 years after he made this vow, he returned to his homeland. Several years later, he went back to Bethel where God first appeared to him. Here at Shechem he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel, meaning: mighty is the God of Israel. What happened during these 20 years of exile leading him to the conclusion: "mighty is the God of Israel?"
This morning, by way of reviewing the familiar and exploring new incidents in Jacob's life, we'll discover a simple truth: that through the vehicle of grace, God executes his unstoppable plan in human history.
After Jacob left home, he went to his uncle, Laban's house. He lived there for 20 years. During that time, he was deceived and mistreated. He saw his family begin to grow. At Laban's house he saw the beginning of a people, the shadow of a nation.
At Laban's house, in addition to the family members, maidservants, Jacob amassed a large herd of sheep, donkeys and cattle. He had worked very hard for them. But in the end he realized that these were all from God. Genesis 31:9,42, "So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me… If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed." Genesis 33:11, "Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need." He clearly recognized that his family and material possessions were from God. Not because of his merit, but because of God's grace. God was gracious to him.
After 20 years at Laban's house, responding to God's call, he returned to the land promised to him and his descendents. As he was approaching home, his mind was preoccupied with Esau. He was willing to reconcile, but how about Esau? Jacob was totally preoccupied in seeing Esau's face, that is, to obtain his favor and grace. So much so, he was willing to minimize the blessing he stole from his father, calling Esau his master, and himself 'your servant'. He wanted to give 500 of his animals as gifts to Esau to please him. He was willing to give the grace from God to Esau to exchange for his grace. Jacob wanted to reconcile at all cost.
However, what a surprise was waiting for him at the Jabok ford. Jacob was totally preoccupied with seeking Esau's face, but God came to him face to face. You see, before seeing Esau's face, he had to first see God's face.
In this second special encounter with God, Jacob had to face up to who he was. When God asked him what was his name, by saying "Jacob";, he faced the reality of his broken nature: his ugliness, frailty, deception and dishonesty. It was him that started all this 20 years ago. In the midst of this encounter, he was crippled and given a new name, signifying the beginning of another stage in life. He was called Israel, possibly meaning: "prince with God".
He saw God face to face yet he survived. So he called that place Pinuel. Before God, his broken and sinful nature was completely exposed, yet he survived. God was gracious to him. It was God's grace. His limp would forever remind him and those after him how God was gracious to him by accepting and loving him despite who he was and what he did. It has nothing to do with his merit.
Having seen God, Jacob is ready to meet Esau. Really? Now we come to the climax of this entire narrative. The conflict that separated the two brothers has now come full circle. What will happen next? All we know was that Esau was coming with 400 men. We were not told of his intentions. Jacob was ready for reconciliation, but Esau?
Anyway, seeing Esau coming with 400 men, Jacob put his plan into action. The gifts had already gone before him to Esau. Leading the way, Jacob was followed by the maidservants and their children, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and her children. This was in the order of importance. How do you think the maidservants' and Leah's children felt? They were put in the front of the column, so if there was a war, they would be the first to be sacrificed. Could this be the seed of animosity between these children and Rachel's son, Joseph many years later?
Jacob then bowed 7 times as he approached Esau. 7 times was the custom of the day. It could also have been an expression of Jacob's guilty conscience and humility. It must have been a mixture of emotions and motives on Jacob's part. He was willing to reconcile at any cost, wanting to close this chapter with his own efforts.
But what was Esau's response? He ran to meet Jacob, embraced him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. Compared to Jacob's elaborate planning of appeasement, Esau's action was described in one sentence. Esau did not mention anything about the past. It was an expression of total and unconditional acceptance and forgiveness.
The story teller tells us that the two brothers wept. This must have been tears of joy of brotherly reunion and joy of relief. Before we move on, we need to ask: does this sound familiar? You see, almost 2000 years later, Jesus told a story about a father and the rebellious younger son. After the son had wasted all the inheritance from the father, he decided to go home. He was so ashamed of what he did so he devised a plan. That he would become one of his father's servants. However, even before he arrived, before he had the opportunity to propose his plan, the father ran to him, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Could Jesus have had Jacob and Esau's reconciliation in mind when he told the story? Jacob's words were very telling. Vs.10b, "….for to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably…" as far as Jacob was concerned, his reconciliation with Esau was just like his reconciliation with God, his heavenly father.
The picture we see here is this, Jacob had tried to reconcile with Esau by means of his own efforts, such as gifts and his own humiliation. But the story teller was trying to impress us, and later further affirmed by Jesus' story, this reconciliation was purely grace. By grace, Jacob reconciled with God. By grace Jacob also reconciled with Esau. There is nothing good in Jacob to gain favor from God or his brother. Nothing he could do to undo the wrong he did to Esau. This is pure GRACE.
After this episode of reconciliation, the two brothers separated. Esau suggested to Jacob that they travel together. What followed was somehow disturbing. If I were writing the scripture, I'll probably omit 13-17. Jacob gave Esau the excuse that he needed to care for his family and flock, therefore Esau should go first. So Esau started his return journey. And what happened after Esau left? Jacob took a different route and went to Succoth.
Do we see what was happening here? Right after this reconciliation, Jacob was being deceptive again. He was not being honest with Esau. It certainly looked like the old Jacob again.
There can be many different interpretations to this passage. But the story teller seemed to be impressing upon his listeners that Jacob was a different person, yet many of his old traits were still visible. This was to strengthen the theme that Jacob being at where he was had nothing to do his personal merits. It was all GRACE from God. All his life, he was a recipient of God's grace.
We are ready to move now.
After Jacob came back to the land promised to him and his descendents, he built an altar. He called it El Elohe Israel, meaning, God, the God of Israel or mighty is the God of Israel. Why mighty is the God of Israel? As he looked back what happened during the past 20 years, he clearly saw God's unstoppable plan in action. At every stage of his life, God was there executing his divine plan for human history. As promised to him some 20 years ago, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to his land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Jacob, personally experienced God's persistence in implementing and completing his plan in his life.
With this, we come to a close in our study of Jacob's life. Looking back at Jacob's life, what do we learn? Without doubt, the highlight of today's passage was about Jacob and Esau's reconciliation. You may be waiting for me to say that we too need to reconcile with people around us. That I may ask you to take out your pen and write the name of one person that you need to reconcile with. Then give you 7 steps how to reconcile with this person. If I do this, some of us may say, "Oh, I have tried that already." This will just make you feel more guilty.
No, I am not going to this today. Instead I would like to ask all of us to focus on Jacob's life one more time. You see, it was God's grace that Jacob began a family. He was the first person since Abraham to actually see the beginning of a people, a nation. It was God's grace, that he was able to have all those possessions. At Pinuel, he once again faced his own ugliness, deception and dishonesty, yet he was not abandoned by God. He was accepted and given a new name, signifying a new direction in life. He saw God face to face and he survived. This was grace. Then he had such an elaborate plan to reconcile with Esau. He had it all worked out. he wanted it to do it his way. But the reconciliation turned out to be a total grace, nothing to do with his effort and merit. Esau simply forgave him. And then the story teller also hinted to us how God changed that scheming, proud and selfish person into a humble and generous Jacob. How God changed that angry Esau into a forgiving person. Again, this is the work of grace. Jacob's entire life can be summed up in two words: God's Grace.
It is through the means of grace, that God implements his unstoppable plan in human history. It is his divine plan to bring us sinners back to him, to be at peace with him, so that we are no longer his enemies. Through the death and suffering of Jesus Christ, he delivers us from the dominion and punishment of sin. It has nothing to do with our merits. This is grace. It is also his plan for us to enjoy the fullness of eternal life in him. It is God's grace that has provided us with what we have: our possessions and family. It is God's grace that he accepts and loves us despite our sinfulness and brokenness. There is nothing we can brag about ourselves. It is God's grace that has brought us into a loving relationship with him. It is God's grace that has brought about that reconciliation with someone close to us. It is God's grace that we are who we are today. It is God's grace that HCC is at where we are today. It is God's grace that I am here studying and listening to God's word with you. It is all God's GRACE.
This is the lesson we are to bring home as we conclude our study of Jacob's life. It is through the vehicle of grace, that God implements his unstoppable plan in our lives.
Sunday April 25th, 1999, Rev. William Hsueh, Houston Chinese Church, Houston, Texas.