Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Gen. 33:5-15 - God is gracious

5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.
9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.
10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.
12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.
13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.
14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.
15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

Here is a conversation between brothers.  Nothing ill from the past is brought up, and nothing should.  You can’t do anything with the past.  What we see in v. 11 is that Jacob acknowledges the source of all his blessings, i.e. God.  “God hath dealt graciously with me.”  Indeed all our success is directly given to us because of the graciousness of God.  I believe that it was God who gave Jacob favor with Esau, otherwise this meeting would have been nothing short of bloody.  Jacob’s family is from God (v. 5; 48:4; Ps.127:3;).  Jacob’s wealth is from God (Deut. 8:18; Pro.10:22; Hos. 2:8).  Jacob’s protection is from God, in v. 15 he declined the security that Esau offered (Ps. 20:17; Ps. 33:17; Isa. 31:1).  This section of Scripture magnifies God’s graciousness in several practical ways.

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