I am not worthy of the least of your kindnesses
1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3 Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4 He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. 5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’” 6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies. 8 He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.” 9 Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children. 12 You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’” 13 He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.” 17 He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’ 18 Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’” 19 He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him. 20 You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob meets an army of angels, hears that his brother is coming with four hundred men, and prays the best prayer in the book while arranging a bribe.
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. Twenty years ago, leaving the land, he saw angels on a stairway. Returning to it, he meets them again — the boundary of the promised land is marked at both crossings by the same escort. He names the place Mahanaim, two camps, seeing his own company and God's.
Then he sends messengers ahead, and the message is carefully composed. Your servant, Jacob, to my lord, Esau — the language reverses the blessing he stole, in which his brothers were to bow to him. He mentions his cattle and servants, which tells Esau he is not coming home to claim an inheritance.
The reply is nine words and no information: He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. Whether that is an army or an honor guard is exactly what Jacob cannot know, and the messengers report no words at all.
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. His first response is tactical — divide into two companies so that one may escape — and it is a sound plan that quietly writes off half his family.
And then he prays, and it is the finest prayer in Genesis. It has four movements and every one of them is right.
He begins with who God is, by the family line: God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh. Then he reminds God of the command that put him here — who said to me, "Return to your country... and I will do you good" — which is not manipulation but the proper ground of any request: he is where he was sent.
Then the confession, and it is the first time Jacob has ever said anything like it: I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. The man who has spent his life grasping states in one sentence that he deserves none of it, and dates the accounting from the night he had nothing.
Then the request, plain and specific: Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him. He names the fear and the man.
And finally he holds God to his word: You said, "I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea." He has just described a scenario in which Esau strikes the mothers with the children, and he points out that the promise cannot survive it.
And then — having prayed like that — he spends the night arranging a bribe. Five droves, more than five hundred and fifty animals, sent ahead in waves with instructions for each servant to say the same thing, so that Esau meets a succession of gifts before he meets his brother. I will appease him with the present that goes before me.
Genesis makes no attempt to reconcile the prayer and the livestock. The man does both, on the same night, and the book records both without preferring one.
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