Jacob went on his way and tensely prepared to meet his twin brother Esau after 20 years. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to sound him out, and the messengers returned to say that Esau was on his way to meet Jacob and family with 400 men. This made Jacob feel acutely afraid and he divided his people and flocks in two halves so as to prepare for a possible attack by Esau's men. So Jacob prayed asking God for his protection and then he sent a gift to Esau of 200 female goats and 20 males, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, and 20 female donkeys and 10 males. All this was to pacify Esau as he knew he had wanted to kill him. That night Jacob stayed alone by the River Jabbok and had an extraordinary experience with God. A theophany occurred in which God appeared in human form and wrestled with Jacob during the whole night. "The conflict brought to a head the battling and groping of a lifetime, and Jacob's desperate embrace vividly expressed his ambivalent attitude to God, of love and enmity, defiance and dependence. It was against God, and not Esau or Laban, that he had been pitting his strength". (Kidner) God touched Jacob's hip and left him limping, but Jacob would not stop until he received a blessing. So God changed his name to Israel, which means he struggles with God, and blessed him. And Jacob called the place Peniel (face of God). (Peniel Chapel was the name of my childhood/teenage church)
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