17/01/2020
Jacob Wrestles
Jacob Wrestled with God.......All night long.We can’t be certain exactly what happened that night, but maybe it was something like this.Jacob was moving again.He pulled up the stakes of his tents, and he and Rachel and Leah and their 12 children packed up all their belongings and loaded them onto a caravan of camels. And with all their servants, and their great flocks of sheep and goats and camels, they were traveling back to the land of Jacob’s father.They were a few days into their journey when they made camp for the night.That night they had visitors, they were messengers from God.“You’re brother Esau is coming to meet you,” they told Jacob.Oh, oh.“Esau is coming to kill me!” Jacob said.When they were kids, they probably got into lots of fights - and Jacob probably always got pounded, because his older brother (by about five minutes! Remember, they were twins - but not identical twins at all) was bigger and stronger than he was - but for some reason that never seems to stop little brothers from getting into fights with their bigger brothers and sisters! That’s where Jacob must have learned it was better to be clever.Of course, it’s not like they were going to end up wrestling on the ground or anything - they were both over a hundred years old by now!(Jacob didn’t know it, but he was going to end up wrestling to the ground with God instead!)But Esau was a powerful, wealthy prince. He had many strong and mighty men who served him - and he was coming to meet his brother. ..or kill him. At least, that was what Jacob was afraid he was planning to do.And so Jacob came up with a plan to make peace.He sent messengers on ahead of him. He told them to say to his brother, “I am your obedient servant. God has blessed me, and I come to you with many sheep and goats and camels.”The messengers went ahead, and when they came back, they told Jacob, “Your brother is on his way, and he has 400 men with him!” “He is coming to kill me!” Jacob cried.And so he divided h