[11] Deliver me, I pray
thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him,
lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
Lord, deliver me from Esau, for I fear him - The fear
that quickens prayer is itself pleadable. It was not a robber, but a murderer
that he was afraid of: nor was it his own life only that lay at stake,
but the mothers, and the childrens.
[12] And thou saidst, I will
surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot
be numbered for multitude.
Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good - The best we
can say to God in prayer is, what he hath said to us. God's promises as
they are the surest guide of our desires in prayer, and furnish us with
the best petitions, so they are the firmest ground of our hopes, and furnish
us with the best pleas. Thou saidst, I will do thee good - Lord, do me
good in this matter. He pleads also a particular promise, that of the multiplying
of his seed. Lord, what will become of that promise, if they be all cut
off?
[13] And he lodged there that
same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau
his brother; [14] Two hundred she goats,
and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, [15]
Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty
she asses, and ten foals. [16] And
he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves;
and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt
drove and drove.
Jacob having piously made God his friend by a prayer,
is here prudently endeavouring to make Esau his friend by a present. He
had prayed to God to deliver him from the hand of Esau - His prayer did
not make him presume upon God's mercy, without the use of means.
[17] And he commanded the foremost,
saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose
art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?
[18] Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant
Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is
behind us. [19] And so commanded he
the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On
this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. [20]
And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said,
I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward
I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. [21]
So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the
company. [22] And he rose up that night,
and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons,
and passed over the ford Jabbok. [23]
And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
He sent him also a very humble message, which he ordered
his servants to deliver in the best manner. They must call Esau their lord,
and Jacob his servant: they must tell him the cattle they had was a small
present which Jacob had sent him. They must especially take care to tell
him that Jacob was coming after, that he might not suspect him fled. A
friendly confidence in mens goodness may help to prevent the mischief designed
us by their badness.
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