I am not worthy of
the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you
have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and
now I have become two camps. – Genesis 32:10 (ESV)
The words of this text
are spoken by Jacob. In them, he makes reference to the steadfast love of
the God of Abraham that has been shown to him as covenant faithfulness. He
speaks of the fact that, when he first crossed the Jordan, when he was escaping
the sure wrath of his brother Esau, that he crossed over the river with nothing
but his staff in his hand, and presumably, the clothes on his back. The
point was, he had nothing. Now, however, Jacob has become rich. He
had so much that he was able to divide his people and property into two
camps. He “divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herd
and camels, into two camps, thinking, ‘If Esau comes to the one camp and
attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape’.” (32:7) It seems
that his riches and possessions were the evidence, in his mind, of the covenant
blessings of God, which is why he prefaces his statement of the tenth verse, by
saying “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord Who said
to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good’.”
(32:9)
The preface to this
story has Jacob leaving the house of his uncle Laban, for whom he has labored
many years. He is returning to his home, the place he had left years
prior, fleeing from Esau, having secured the blessing that would rightfully
have fallen to Esau as the firstborn. As he returns, he is fearful of how
his brother will react, and whether or not Esau is still angry with him.
In order to appease him, he is willing to give him “oxen, donkeys, flocks, male
servants, and female servants” (32:5a). Jacob sends some of his servants
on ahead of him, to ascertain his brother’s mindset, and they returned to
Jacob, telling him that Esau “is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred
men with him” (32:6b). Naturally, Jacob thinks the worst, and finds
himself “greatly afraid and distressed” (32:7a).
In the midst of his
fear and distress, Jacob is sure to remind the Creator God of the covenant that
had been made with Jacob. This was the extension and continuation of the covenant
that this God had originally made with Abraham, and which had been passed along
to Isaac. When Jacob is blessed by Isaac, Isaac references the covenant
that we first find God making with Abraham in chapter twelve of Genesis, saying
“Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you”
(Genesis 27:29b). This, in both narrative structure and in historical
understanding, is designed to reflect God’s words to Abraham, when he was told “I
will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in
you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (12:3).
Returning to Jacob,
the blessing from his father was obviously something nice to receive, but the
Scriptural record indicates to us that it was not precisely in Isaac’s power to
transfer the Creator God’s covenant on from himself. It seems that this
was something that is left to God alone.
Abraham had not passed along the covenant to Isaac. Rather, Isaac
had received the call of the covenant in the twenty-sixth chapter of Genesis,
when the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of Abraham your
father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your
offspring for My servant Abraham’s sake” (26:24b). Abraham is not reported to have taken steps to
pass along the covenant to Isaac through customary and traditional means. So as Isaac is reported to have received the
covenant directly from the covenant maker (as did Abraham), so too should the
same type of scenario be expected for Jacob, rather than the passing on of the
covenant from father to son, though this is something that Isaac is shown to
have apparently attempted.
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