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having returned towards evening, he divided his company into two bands, and then committed his cause to God. After this he halted for the night but whatever sleep might fall to the lot of the children, or rest to the beasts of burden, there was but little of either for him. First, he resolves neither to flee, nor fight; but to try the effect of a present. Upwards of five hundred head of cattle were sent off in the night, under the care of his servants; and to produce the greater effect, they were divided into droves, with a space between drove and drove. Having sent off the present, he seems to have tried to get a little rest: but not being able to sleep, he rose up, and took his whole family, and all that he had, and sent them over the ford of Jabbok. Every servant presenting his drove in the same words, would strike Esau with amazement. It would seem as if all the riches of the east were coming to him and every one concluding by announcing his master as coming behind them, would work upon his generosity. He expected, it is likely, a host of armed men, and felt resolved to fight it out; but instead of an army, here is a present worthy of a prince, and the owner coming after it with all the confidence of a friend, and kindness of a brother.

and the family being all Here it was that he met

Whether he thought it would express more friendship, and be better taken, to be at the trouble of crossing the ford in order to meet Esau, than to oblige Esau to cross it in order to meet him : or whatever was his reason, so he acted over the river, he himself staid behind. with that extraordinary appearance on which he wrestled with the Angel, and prevailed. The account is as follows-And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; (that is, a prince of God;) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name

and he said,

Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

On this singular manifestation of God to his servant, we offer the following remarks: (1.) It does not appear to be a vision, but a literal transaction. A personage, in the form of a man really wrestled with him, and permitted him to prevail so far as to gain his object. (2.) Though the form of the struggle was corporeal, yet the essence and object of it were spiritual. An inspired commentator on this wrestling says, He wept and made supplication to the Angel. That for which he strove was a blessing, and he obtained it. (3.) The personage with whom he strove is here called a man, and yet in seeing him, Jacob said, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Hosea, in reference to his being a messenger of God to Jacob, calls him the Angel: yet he also describes the patriarch as having power with God. Upon the whole, there can be no doubt but that it was the same divine personage who appeared to him at Bethel, and at Padan-aram; who being in the form of God, again thought it no usurpation to appear as God. (4.) What is here recorded had relation to Jacob's distress, and may be considered as an answer to his evening supplications. By his power with God he had power with men. Esau and his hostile

company were conquered at Peniel. (5.) The change of his name from Jacob to Israel, and the blessing which followed, signi fied that he was no longer to be regarded as having obtained it by supplanting his brother, but as a prince of God, who had wrestled with him for it, and prevailed. It was thus that the Lord pardoned his sin, and wiped away his reproach. It is observable too, that this is the name by which his posterity are afterwards called. Finally The whole transaction furnishes an instance of believing, importunate, and successful prayer. As Jacob would not let the Angel go except he blessed him; and as the latter, (though to convince him of his power he touched the hollow of his thigh, and put it out of joint,) suffered himself to be overcome by him; so every true Israelite pleads the promises of God, with an importunity that will take no denial, and God is pleased to suffer himself in this manner to be as it were overcome.

Ver. 30-32. What a night was this to Jacob!

What a differ

ence between what he felt the past evening, on the return of the messengers, and what he now felt! Well might he wonder and exclaim, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved! Passing over Peniel, however, to rejoin his family, just as the sun rose upon him, he halted upon his thigh. This would be a memorial to him of his own weakness, as well as of the power and goodness of God, who, instead of touching a single part, might, as he intimated, have taken away his life. The law which afterwards prevailed in Israel, of not eating of the sinew which shrank, might be of divine origin, as it corresponds with the genius of the ceremonial economy.

DISCOURSE XLII.

JACOB'S INTERVIEW WITH ESAU, AND ARRIVAL IN CANAAN

Gen. xxxiii.

VER. 1-4. No sooner had Jacob passed over the ford of Jabbok, and rejoined his family, but lifting up his eyes, he saw his brother approaching him, and four hundred men with him. He has just time before he comes up, to arrange his family, placing the children with their respective mothers, and those last for whom he has the tenderest affection. This circumstance shows, that though he treated Esau with the fullest confidence, yet he was still secretly afraid of him. He must, however, put the best face he can upon it, and go on to meet him. This he does; and as he had by his messengers acknowledged him as his lord, so he will do the same by bowing down to him. His object was to satisfy him that he made no claim of that kind of pre-eminence which the other's heart was set upon, but freely gave it up. And this seems to have had the desired effect on Esau's mind; for though he did not bow in return to his brother, since that had been relinquishing his superiority; yet he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: nor could such an unexpected meeting fail to dissolve both of them in tears! It is pleasant and affecting to see the bitter heart of Esau thus melted by a kind and yielding conduct. We must not forget that God's hand was in it, who turneth the hearts of men as rivers of water but neither must we overlook the means by which it was effected. A soft tongue, saith Solomon, breaketh the bone. On

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