Gen 32: Jacob preparing to meet Esau and sending gifts to appease him; Jacob's wrestling with an angel who renamed him Israel.

Jacob continued on his journey to Canaan

• v1: The angels of God met Jacob i.e. God was with him and guiding him on his path. When God allows us to fall into trials and tribulations, He sends us comfort and strength proportional to the trial. "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways" (Ps 91:11)
  
• v2: Jacob thanked God for this protection and renamed the place Mahanaim (two camps).
• v3-6: Jacob was not obliged to send a message to Esau, but he paid him the respect due to his brother. He called Esau his lord, himself his servant, in an attempt to pacify Esau.
• v7-8: Esau went to meet Jacob with four hundred men as he remembered the old quarrel and probably now wanted to avenge Jacob for the birthright and blessing. Jacob was hence greatly afraid and distressed, and put himself into the best defence that his present circumstances would allow.
• v9-12: Jacob then called upon God in the time of his trouble, even though he saw the angels with him. It was this prayer that won him the honour of being Israel, i.e. "he struggles with God" He believed God for the impossible - that the power of God could rescue him as a lamb from the jaws of his brother
• v10: He acknowledged his own unworthiness to receive any favour from God. He spoke of the great mercies God had shown to him and disclaimed all thoughts of his own merit. The people whom Christ commended were those who said "Lord, I am not worthy" (Matt 8:8), and the woman who said "even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table" (Matt 15:27)
• v12: He recalled the promsie God had made him. God's promises are what we can lay claim .to in confidence as we pray. "Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope" (Ps 119:49)
• v13-16: Jacob's prayer did not put him into a place of inaction, but rather, it spurred him into using whatever means he could to turn the situation around. Our prayers must be followed up with effort and endeavours. "A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns, he succeeds" (Prov 17:8)
• v17-21: He ordered his servants to deliver a humble message, in hope that his submission, repeated, might influence Esau and to assert that Jacob had not fled through fear.
• v24-25: "He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there" (Hos 12:4) Jacob engaged the angel and wrestled with prayers and tears. It was not only a physical, but spiritual wrestling, an acting out of Jacob's faith and desire. The discouragement of the angel did not shake his faith nor silence his prayer, because it was not by his strength that he prevailed, but by heaven's. It is God's Spiirit that intercedes in us. (Rom 8:26)
• v25: The angel put out Jacob's thigh, to show him what he could do and remind him that it was God he was wrestling with.
• v26: The angel requested Jacob to let him go. It was not as though the angel could not get clear of Jacob's grapple, but it was to put an honour on Jacob's faith and prayer. The reason the angel gave (for it was daybreak) was because it was a new dawn, a new day; the communion Jacob enjoyed alone with God had to now give way to the necessary affairs and business of his life.
• v26b: Jacob resolved to make the best he could of this opportunity and receive a blessing. How desperate are we to attain God's blessing over our lives?
• v27-28: Jacob was no longer celebrated for his craft and cunning ways, but for being Israel, a prince with God.
• v29: It was unnecessary to know the angel's name, and better to attain the blessing.
  
• v30: Jacob did not say "in this place I wrestled with God and prevailed"'; rather, he said "in this place I saw God face to face, and yet my life was preserved". It was a place where he saw God and obtained favour and God's free grace.
• v32: Perhaps Jacob went limpiong to his grave, to serve the same purpose as Paul's thorn in the flesh. Gal 6:17 - "finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus."

Gen 31: Jacob returning home and being chased by Laban

Jacob went through more suffering than his ancestors. He was forced from his father's house, went to his uncle and was mistreated, and hence decided to flee home.

• v1: Laban and his sons had become ill-natured towards Jacob in what they said. They said that "Jacob has taken everything our father owned", a gross exaggeration. What happened to all the cattle that were committed to the custody of Laban's sons and sent a three days journey away? (Gen 30:35-36)
• v2: Laban, filled with envy that Jacob was so blessed by God, changed his attitude toward Jacob.
• v3: The reason Jacob left was not because he was mistreated, but because God told him to. He remained in a place of hardship for twenty years because he had been told to go there, and remained until God guided him back.
• v4-13: He left with his wives' consent, and explained to them everything that had happened. Prov 13:22 - "a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous" - perhaps illustrated by the fact that much of Laban's wealth and flock went to Jacob year after year despite Laban dishonestly changing Jacob's wages ten times.
• v14-16: Laban also mistreated his daughters, looking upon them as strangers.
• v17-18: Jacob did not take anything that was not his along - he took what God gave him and would not take the repair of his damages into his own hands
• v19: Rachel, on the other hand, was not as honest - she stole her father's household gods/images (Hebrew = teraphim). The reason she took them is unclear - it could be that she coveted the precious metal they were made of, or had a superstitious fear that Laban could consult his 'household gods' and know where they had gone, or to convince her father of the folly of his regard to idols.
• v22-24: Laban, upon hearing that Jacob had gone, raised his clan, and pursued Jacob to bring him back into bondage. The night before Laban came into contact with Jacob God intervened and rebuked Laban.
• v26-28: Laban accused Jacob as a renegade that had deserted his service, intimating that he intended kindness to his daughters and would have wanted to send them away with joy and singing. Rebekah, 120 years before, was sent away out of the same family with prayers and blessing.
• v29: Laban, even though rebuked by God, continued to boast of his own power
• v30: He accused Jacob of being a thief, and yet the things that Jacob supposedly stole were just downright ridiculous. How could Laban worship and call gods things that could be stolen?
• v31-32: Perhaps Jacob spoke too hastily when he said "if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live", not knowing that Rachel had stolen them. We read on to find that Rachel died in childbirth not long later.
• v33-35: Laban made a diligent search for his gods, indicating his lack of trust in Jacob, and also out of love to his idols. If people who seek after false gods can seek them with such diligence, with how much more passion and intention should we seek God our maker?
• v36-37: Jacob, a naturally mild tempered and calm man, was made angry by Laban, because it was a great affront to an honest person to be charged with dishonesty.
• v38-40: Jacob had been a good and faithful servant. He was honest, hardworking and pious.
• v39-42: Laban was an unjust master - he punished above the proportion of the fault, denied Jacob what was just, and robbed the poor.
• v43-44: Laban had nothing to say in reply to Jacob. He was unable to justify himself nor condemn Jacob, yet he did not want to admit his fault or ask Jacob's forgiveness. He hence pretended to profess kindness for Jacob's wives and children, finally acknowledging them as his own. He loved words of vanity, saying that "All that you see is mine" even though this was completely untrue.
• v45-53: The covenant was made and ratified according to the customs of the times:
  a pillar was erected and a heap of stones raised to perpetuate the memory
  a sacrifice of peace offerings was offerred.
  they ate together, jointly partaking of the feast upon the sacrifice. Covenants of friendship were ratified by the parties involved eating and drinking together
  they solemnly appealed to God as a witness and as a judge
• Jacob only swore by the fear of his father Isaac i.e. the God whom his father Isaac feared. The two words of Jacob's were more memorable than al of Laban's long speeches and repetitions, because the "quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools"（Eccl 9:17)
  

Gen 30: Rachel's maid, Leah's maid, Leah and Rachel all bearing children for Jacob

Jacob had many more children through Rachel's and Leah's maids, besides Leah and Rachel. God continued to bless Jacob, and his stock of cattle continued to grow in numbers.

• v1: Rachel envied her sister i.e. she grieved at the good of another. (the obvious consequences of marrying two sisters?) She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die". Her heart was set on the desires of temporal comforts, yet she forgot to apply to God through prayer too. Hannah, in 1 Samuel, wept and petitioned God for a child; Rachel was filled with jealousy and wallowed in self pity.
• v2: Jacob was angry, and reproved his wife in love. He acknowledged the hand of God in her affliction, and also his own inability to alter what God had determined.
• v3: At the persuasion of Rachel, Jacob took Bilhah her handmaid as his wife, that according to the custom of his day, his children by her would be adopted and owned as Rachel's children. She was more concerned with having children to rule by name, than to have children to love (there was no reason why as an aunt she couldn't shower Leah's children with love)
• v6-8: Rachel took pleasure in giving her children (born by Bilhah) names that marked her strife with her sister. She called the first son Dan (jusdgement), implying that God had given sentence in her favour, and called the next Naphtali (my struggle), implying that she had a great struggle with her sister and emerged victorious.
• v9: The continuation of the struggle between Leah and Rachel - Leah persuaded Jacob to take Zilpah her hdmaid to be her wife. God in His wisdom hence divinely appointed the unity of one man and one woman only, for "God has called us to live in peace". (1 Co 7:15)
• v11: Gad = good fortune/a troop. She found her happiness in bearing many children, and promsied herself an entire troop of children
• v13: Asher = happy. Leah was caught up in the foolishness of the world, and valued herself more than reputation than what her husband or God thought.
• v15: The law of Moses supposed it common that if a man had two wives, one would be loved and the other hated (Deu 21).
• v14-16: Rachel's coveting of the mandrakes resulted in a bargain being struck with Leah, just as Esau coveted Jacob's food after his day of hunting. The most hilarious story ever, where Leah goes out to meet Jacob in the fields, saying "You must sleep with me tonight, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes". ^^
• v17-18: Issachar = reward. Leah abused God's mercy and for some weird reason thought that God was blessing her follies/faults.
• v20: Zebulun = honour. This is perhaps a reflection of the patriarchal attitudes of the day, where women judged based on their childbearing.
• v22-23: Rachel fruitful at last - God remembered her, when He seemed to have forgotten. God's answer to our desires may not always be immediate.
• v25: Jacob served his time faithfully with Laban, but he always thought of home and the land of promise. Although he was with Laban many years, he did not settle there, but always kept his gaze on the land God had promised. "For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come" (Heb 13:14)
• v27-28: Laban endeavoured to persuade Jacob to continue to work in his household. Lban knew that his prosperity was due to God's blessing, and this was due to Jacob's piety. (just like Joseph caused the people around him in the prison to be blessed)
• v29-43: ????? :S