And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok;
Jacob is about to meet Esau, the brother he had offended. He sends his whole household over the ford of the Jabbok and stays behind alone, on the bank where God will meet him.
Notice who crossed first and who crossed last:
He planned with real skill. But his faith was weak. And where was any generous, self-sacrificing love for his family? Everything bears the stamp of anxiety as well as cleverness, if not craft. This was his natural character. He was very much a man of God, yet God is not the one he keeps in view and depends on. He depends on his own human resources. Ill at ease, he sends over — I am sorry to say — himself last of all! What he valued most came latest. Jacob was not among the first! His flocks, herds and camels went first, wives and children next, Jacob last. He lined the groups up as a breakwater between the offended brother Esau and trembling Jacob.
There is a way of praying that still leaves us leaning on ourselves:
Nor will it do to make our prayers part of our management. We often feel very satisfied with ourselves when we add prayer to our arrangement. We feel the same when we have used every lawful means and then asked God to bless them. When this is the case, our prayers are worth about as much as our plans, because we are leaning on them instead of on God. God must truly bring us to the end of everything that self has anything to do with. Until then, He cannot show Himself. But we never reach the end of our plans until He has brought us to the end of ourselves.
The move that shows Jacob at his weakest is the move that puts him exactly where God wanted him:
All — even wives and sons — were sent over the brook at the ford Jabbok, and he was left alone, well to the rear. Not a very dignified or courageous way to act! Yet God was in all this. Now that he was alone, the moment had come for God to bring him face to face with Himself. It would give him an experience whose effect he would never lose. Up to this point his life had been mainly one of scheming against and wrestling with men. Now God, by His Messenger, was going to wrestle with him.
Now Jacob has nothing left to measure himself against but God:
This is a turning point in the history of this very remarkable man. Being left alone with God is the only true way to reach a right knowledge of ourselves and our ways. We can never get a true estimate of our nature and all it does until we have weighed it in the balance of the sanctuary. There we find out its real worth. It does not matter what we think about ourselves, or what others think about us. The great question is this: what does God think about us? We can hear the answer only when we are "left alone."
God does not deal with every believer this way:
"Jacob was left alone." God is wise, holy and loving in His dealings. Jacob was conscious that the Lord had blessed him, yet He must have Jacob discover where he was. No prosperity, no children could be any comfort to him if he did not have peace with God in practice. God has a controversy with the soul if it is not walking with Him. If I am walking up to the light I have, and not with a bad conscience, He has no controversy with me. You never hear of God wrestling with Abraham; he intercedes for others. This is God's dealing with a person who is not walking simply and practically by faith.
Who started the struggle that followed?
When Jacob was left alone, a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day — not Jacob with God, but God with Jacob. God wrestles with us: the flesh must be put to death. God can have no communion with the flesh.
- Alone by accident. Jacob sent flocks, servants, wives and children over the Jabbok as a breakwater against Esau. He came last — from fear, not courage.
- Alone by design. The fearful plan still served God's timing. Alone on the bank, Jacob had reached the moment God was waiting for.
- Alone is where self is measured. Away from everything, the only verdict left is God's verdict, and that is the one that counts.
- Alone because God had a controversy. God deals this way with a believer who is not walking simply by faith. He never wrestled with Abraham, who prayed for others.
- Alone with the stronger One. The struggle at the ford was God wrestling with Jacob, not Jacob wearing God down. The end of Jacob's own management was where God could show Himself.
and he took them and led them over the river, and led over what he had.
Genesis 32 finds Jacob on the night before he must face the brother he cheated. His answer to fear is organisation. Over the water go the droves of livestock, then the wives, children and servants, then everything else. The plan is careful, but it leaves Jacob himself on the near bank — and that is where God means to meet him.
The word behind "stream" names a particular kind of watercourse.
nachal, Genesis 32:23, and elsewhere — a mountain torrent, often dry in summer, and so often disappointing, as in Job 6:15. There are many such in Palestine. The same thing is called in the New Testament cheimarros, "winter flowing," in John 18:1. Its Eastern name is wady.
Jacob had already prayed. Then he spent the night arranging. One writer reads that restlessness as a sign of unbelief, not of faith.
Instead of remembering the promise and passing on in the quietness of faith, his soul, through unbelief, becomes deeply agitated. Instead of looking at God's host, he looks at Esau's host; he fears, and prays, and calculates, and settles everything according to man's best plan. Here was activity when all should have been stillness. And often it is unbelief that stirs up activity of spirit. There is such a thing as religious unbelief, praying unbelief. We have an instance of it here.
The order of the crossing shows where Jacob's confidence lay — and where he put himself in the line.
He is alarmed more than ever. He sets to work in his own way. He makes his plan and then he makes his prayer; but after all he is not at ease. He planned with considerable skill; his faith was feeble, and where was even generous self-sacrificing love for the family? It all bears the stamp of anxiety as well as cleverness, if not craft. This was his natural character; for though he was very much a man of God, still it is not God who is prominent to his eyes and leaned on, but his own human resources. Ill at ease, he sends over — I am sorry to say — himself last of all! His flocks, herds and camels went first, wives and children next, Jacob last. The bands in that order were meant to serve as a breakwater between the offended brother Esau and trembling Jacob.
The livestock sent ahead were a present meant to soften Esau. People carry that same instinct — buying peace with goods — into their dealings with God.
Jacob gave each driver in turn similar instructions, for he assumed that by this means he might soften any hostility in Esau (v. 20). This is the natural idea of human beings. They keep using this method in seeking any proper relationship with God, as though man could influence God by giving Him presents of things God created in the first place! But God is not looking for gifts from men. Rather, He desires their hearts.
Sending everything over left Jacob with nobody beside him. What looks like the low point of the story turns out to be its purpose.
He sent all — even wives and sons — over the brook at the ford of Jabbok, and he was left alone, well to the rear. Not a very dignified or courageous move! Yet God was in all this. Being left alone, the moment had come for him to meet God Himself face to face, so that he might have an experience whose effect he would never lose. Up to this point his life had mostly been one of scheming against men and wrestling with them. Now God, by His Messenger, was going to wrestle with him.
With the last of his possessions across the water, Jacob has nothing left to hide behind. And he is not alone with God only.
Jacob sends on his property, thinking the sight of defenceless wives and innocent children will move his brother's heart. And now we come to the crucial point in Jacob's history. We read, "And Jacob was left alone" — left alone with his guilty conscience, left alone with remorseful memories, left alone with God.
The night is usually told as Jacob's struggle. One writer turns that around, and marks where in Jacob's journey it falls.
Jacob must be alone with God. He was not yet at Bethel, but had a needed meeting in the dark meanwhile. It was not so much what men say — Jacob wrestling with God, true as that may be in its measure — but still more God wrestling with Jacob. Grace gave him perseverance and made him prevail, but in a way contrary to man's thoughts. It was not in any degree Jacob's goodness, wisdom and power, but God's faithful mercy.
- Fear. Jacob prays, then arranges. He sends livestock, servants, wives and children over the torrent ahead of him — activity where stillness was needed.
- Scheme. The gifts sent ahead are man's instinct to buy peace; God is not after presents but hearts.
- Order. The order exposes him: goods first, family next, Jacob himself last across the water.
- Alone. With everything on the far bank, he is left with his conscience, his memories, and God.
- Grace. The wrestling is God taking Jacob in hand. What carries him through is not his strength but God's faithful mercy.