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This week’s parasha is the eighth reading in Genesis, and is entitled Vayishlach, meaning “and he sent”. It takes us from Genesis 32-36. The title comes from the first verse of the reading, which says, “Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir…” Jacob had just come through a prolonged crisis with his uncle, Laban, and was facing another potential crisis with his brother Esau. He was in need of divine help.
In chapter 32, angels meet Jacob on his journey. This wasn’t a chance meeting, since he named the place Mahanaim meaning “two camps.” God sent those angels to reassure him of the promised covenant blessings. Consequently, Jacob demonstrates humility, and petitions God, based on those promises. Prayers that are based upon God’s covenant promises are confident; God’s word never fails!
But Jacob truly needed that reassurance. As he prepared to meet Esau, he worried about his brother’s vengeance, having deceived him and taken the blessing all those years earlier. It had been twenty years since their last meeting. At that time, Esau had determined in his heart: “The days of mourning for my father Isaac are approaching; then I will kill my brother.” Jacob remembered his brother’s anger and was distressed, not knowing Esau’s intentions. In addition, he learned that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.
Jacob got creative and put an elaborate plan into action, to protect himself and his family from Esau’s potential threat. First, he sent his servants ahead with abundant gifts for Esau, and instructed them carefully how to approach him when they met. This was intended to pacify him. Once again, Jacob the planner and schemer is trying to help God. But it wasn’t Jacob’s plan that succeeded, it was God graciously answering his prayer.
He sends his family on ahead; that night, a “man” unexpectedly appears out of nowhere and wrestles with him until daybreak. The prophet Hosea (12:4) tells us it was actually an angel or messenger of God. In the end, Jacob was convinced without a doubt that he’d wrestled with God. So, he named the place Penuel, saying, “I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved.”
The man whom Jacob wrestled and overcame, asked his name before blessing him. At this point, God changed his name to Israel. The name Israel in Hebrew means “to strive with God.” He would no longer be called Jacob, the one who grasped the heel, but Israel, for he’d struggled with God and men, and prevailed.
He left Penuel limping, because the angel had dislocated his hip socket at the thigh muscle. Clearly, God left His mark on Jacob. This placed him in a predicament that made it impossible for him to run from his brother. Sometimes God allows our experiences to bring us to the end of our struggles. Rabbi Paul is a good example; he had a thorn in the flesh and prayed for its removal. However, God assured him; “My grace is sufficient” (2-Cor 12:7-10).
In Chapter 33, Jacob sees Esau and his 400 men approaching, and divides his own group accordingly, putting Rachel and Joseph last to give the greatest possible protection in case of attack. But God had answered Jacob’s prayer. Esau was no longer angry. Jacob bowed seven times as he approached his brother. Nerveless, it was Esau who ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck and kissed him as they wept.
All of Jacob’s planning and preparations proved unnecessary, because it’s obvious that God had changed the heart of Esau. This reconciliation of the two brothers was a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate fulfillment of His promise to Abraham: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:3)
In chapter 34, Jacob’s daughter Dinah became the center of conflict between Jacob, his sons, and the inhabitants of Shechem. Dinah visited the town, and while there she was taken and raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor the ruler of the town. Shechem wanted her for a wife, and asked his father to arrange a marriage. Hamor proposed a merging of the two peoples. This arrangement would have been an unequal partnership. Jacob’s sons pretended to agree to all this, but planned treachery in their hearts. Using the covenant as a pretext, they insisted that all the men in Shechem be circumcised. When all the men were helpless with pain, Simeon and Levi retaliated by murdering every male in the city. Jacob was alarmed by their wrongful violence, and the family was forced to leave the land.
In Chapter 35, Jacob returned to Bethel. It was here he had a dream. He saw a ladder reaching to Heaven, with angels ascending and descending, and at the top he saw the Lord. This was no small event; God was confirming His faithfulness to Jacob’s vows, and keeping His covenant promise to Abraham (Gen. 28:20-22).
Centuries later, Messiah Yeshua would say to Nathanael; “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). Yeshua is our ladder to heaven, the only way, the truth and the life.
Chapter 36 tells of Jacob and Esau separating, because their possessions were too great, and the land was unable to sustain them both. Jacob returned safely to the land of Canaan. But before returning to Bethel, Jacob admonished his family, “Put away your idols, purify yourselves and change your clothes.” This changing of clothing symbolized a new focus.
This parasha is very hopeful. God took a simple man who was once a deceitful schemer, changed his name and his lifestyle, and made him a patriarch with Abraham and Isaac. As a result of Jacob’s transformation, God appeared to him again in Bethel, and reaffirmed the Abrahamic covenant through him.
God can take the good, bad, and ugly, and still create a masterpiece, called your destiny. The Apostle Paul said that if you are in Messiah, you have a new spiritual nature; the old has passed away and you should live according to your new life in Yeshua (2 Cor 5:17). May Adonai help us to do just that.