Vera. 9-12.-Jacob's prayer. 1. It was the prayer of humility. 2. Of /ctitl,- fnith in a covenant God, faith in him who had already revealed himself, foith in promises made to the individual os well as to God's people generally, faith founde,! on experience of the past, faith which has been mingled with obedience, 11.nd there- fore lo.ye hold of Divine righteousness. He has commanded me to return; I 11m in the way of his commandments. Faith in the ~reat purpose of God nnd his kingdom : " I will make thy seed as the sand of the sea, ' &c. So Luther, in his sense of per- sonal weakness in a troubled world, cried, 11 The Lord must save his own Church." 3, It was the prayer of gratitude. "1 was alone,· I am now two bund,J; " '' not worthy of the least of thy mercies," &c.," yet abundantly blessed."-R. Vera. 13-23.-Tlte crisis at hand. Jacob understood the human henrt. I. KINDNESS WILL WORK WONDERS, "I will appease him with the present thot goeth before me, 11,nd afterwnrd I will see his face." It gave Esau time to think of au altered state of things, a changed brother, nnd his own brotherly affection, not entirely destroyed. II. brroRTUNITY IN DOINO GOOD. The repeated strokes upon the iron changes its noture. ,ve moy learn a lesson from Jacob to prepare humon hearts for the recep- tion of the gospel by the same importunity. Kind deeds and ki.nd words will often open the way for a more direct fnce-to-fnce pleading for God. THE BOOR OF GENESIS. [rlI. XXXII. 24-32.
III. ExrE~IEX<,E. SANCTIFIES•. The trinls of Jacob's life were worki11g n deeper nnd more lovmg wisdom-workmg out t11e more selfish craft, nnd transmuting the natural features of a. character, far from pure nnd simple at first, into such n11 blended more _re~lly w1_th the work of grace. So in the course of providence fnmily cares and anxieties deliver us from lower thoughts or may do so if we serve God and ~1elp us to walk steadfastly in the way of faith. ' ' I~·. TH~ Tn?E _LOVE PROVIDES FOR_ rrs oDJECTs. '.l'he shepherd with his flocks, and fanuly, ,nth his little bands of precious ones, fearing for them nnd yet workincr for them, and putting them before him in the hands of God, is a type of the great Shep- herd o! the ~beep, who was " not ash~m~d to ?8;11 them brethre_n ; '' nnd allying, as he stood m their nndst,-partaker of tl1e1r mfimnhes, representative of their wants and sorrows, guardian of their safety,-" I will put my trust in hifu. Behold I nnd the children which God hath given me" (Heh. ii. 13). · V. THE TWO WORLDS. If Esau be taken as a type of the kingdoms of this world threatening the kingdom of God, Jacob represents the little flock to whom the promise of victory and peace has been given. The true mediator must be left alone by the ford Jabbok. The place of his intercession nnd prevailing is where none of the people is with him, can be with him.-R.
EXPOSITION. Ver. 24.-And 1acob was left alone (pro- thou bless me. The words show that Jacob bably on the north bank of the Jabbok; but now clearly recognised his mysterious An- i•ide on ver. 23); and there wrestled- tagonist to be Divine, and sought to obtain thus assaulting in his strong point one who from him the blessing which he had pre- had been a wrestler or heel-catcher from his viously stolen from his aged father by craft, youth (Murphy). The old word i'~~i, niph. Ver. 27.-And he said unto him, What of i'~t;:, unused, a denom.. from i'i-r;J, dust, is thy name 1 (not u.s if requiring to be in- because in wrestling the dust is raised formed, but as directing attention to it in (Aben Ezra, Gesenius), or a weakened form of view of the change about to be made upon i'~!;I, to wind round, to embrace (Fiirst), or it) And he said, J'acob-i. e. Heel-catcher, Supplanter (vide eh. xxv. 26). obviously contains an allusion to the Jabbok Ver. 28.-And he said, Thy name shall (-vide on ver. 22)-a man-called an angel be called no more (i. e. exclusively, since by Hosea (eh. xii 4), and God by Jacob both he and his descendants are in Scripture (ver. 30); but vid~ infra-with him until sometimes after this styled) Jacob, but Israel: the breaking of the day- literally, the ascendinq of the morning. --:-~~J~~' from i1~~' to be cbief, to figl1t, Ver. 25.-And when he (the unknown though, after the example of Ishmael, God wrestler) saw that he prevailed not against hears, it might be rendered " God governs" him, he touched-not strnck (Knobel)-the (Kalisch), yet seems in this place to signify hollow of hill thigh (literally, the socket of either Princo of El (Calvin, Ainsworth, the hip); and the hollow cf Jacob's thigh Dathe, lllurphy, Wordsworth, and others), was out of )oint, as he wrestled with him or wrestler with God (J,'iirst, Keil, Kurtz, -literally, in !ii.B wrestling with Mm. Lange, et alii), rather than warrior of God Ver. 26.-And he (the man) said, Let me (Gesenius), if indeed both ideas may not go (literally, send me away; meaning that be combined in the name as tho princely he yielded the victory to Jacob, adding as a wrestler with God(' Speaker's Commentary,' reason for his desire to depart), for the day Bush), an interpretation adopted by the breaketh-literally, for the morning or the A. V.-for as a prince hast thou power dawn ascendeth; and therefore it is time with God-liternlly,for thouliast contended for thee to proceed to other duties (Willet, with Elohim (Keil, Alford, &c.), or, lvirr- Clarke, lllurphy), e. ff. to meet Esau and xvrrac µEra 0wv (LXX.}, contra deum.fortis appease his anger(' Speaker's Commentary'). fui.sti (Vulgate), thou hast obtained the Perhaps also the angel was unwilling that mastery with God (Kalisch), rather tbnn, the vision which was meant for Jacob onlv thou hast striven to be a prince with God should be seen by others (Pererius), or even (Murphy)-and with men, and hast pre- that his own glory should be beheld by vailed. So are the words rendered by the Jacob (Ainsworth). Calvin thinks the lan- best authorities (Keil, Kalisch, lllurphy, guage was so shaped as to lead Jacob to infer Wordsworth), though the translation ,mi twcturna visi<>M se divinituafuisseedoctum. JJ-ETO. tiv0poJ'll'WV 8vvaro, l11v (LXX.), q11anto And he ea.id, I will not let thee go, except magia contra homines pi·evalelds (Vulgnte) on. XXXII. 24----32.J THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 395