Facts: Jacob is on his way home when he sends messengers ahead of him to tell his brother he is coming and has possessions to offer him.

-The servants come back and tell him Esau is coming with four hundred men.

-Jacob sends the messengers again to Esau again, but this time with livestock so that he will not be killed.

-In the next story Jacob sends his family across a stream and wrestled with a man (God) all night. At daybreak they stop and God says that he is no longer Jacob,but Israel.

Observations: Jacob says that he is his brother’s servant so that his brother won’t kill him even though his father blessed him so that his brother would be his servant.

-Jacob is the only one to have actual physical contact with God.

Ideas: Jacob seems to be repenting to God saying “I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and faithfulness that you have shown your servant” (Gen. 32:10).  He seems to be asking for forgiveness but he really just wants to be saved from his brother.