Why pray? There are many different reasons to pray. In general we pray to give thanks and to make requests of God. There are many exhortations in the Bible to pray including this one found in the first letter to the Thessalonians:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Messiah Yeshua. – 1 Thess. 5:16-18
This is a simple and straightforward exhortation to always rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything. It is easy to read these words but not quite as easy to apply them to daily life.
How many of you live out the above verses? I will be the first to confess that I generally complain before giving thanks when things do not go my way and that my prayer life often follows my inability to solve a problem. Being proactive to rejoice, to pray, and to give thanks is a spiritual discipline that I am still working on. As an encouragement to us, we see a great example in this week’s Torah Portion of how putting these spiritual truths into practice and prioritizing prayer can bring light into a dark situation.
Jacob’s Trouble
It had been twenty years since Jacob last saw his family in the land of Canaan. Jacob fled his home because of Esau’s threat to kill him. Then two decades later, as Jacob journeyed back to the land of Canaan, Jacob sent a delegation of servants before him to greet Esau and to inform him of his arrival, while still being conscious of his brother’s animosity toward him. This is where this week’s Torah Portion begins:
Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and stayed until now; and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.”’” And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies; for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.” – Gen. 32:3-8 (Some translations of the Bible differ by one verse from the English in this chapter)
Jacob did everything in his power to be proactive in communicating with his brother to inform him of his arrival back home but he soon found out that Esau had already taken the initiative to come to him with 400 men by his side.
Jacob did not need to receive counsel about Esau’s intentions toward him. An entourage of 400 men is not a welcoming party but a small army ready to do battle. Jacob panicked when he realized that his fears from the past twenty years were coming true.
Jacob’s Reaction
Jacob immediately reacted to the news of Esau’s coming with 400 men in a manner of self-preservation for himself and his family. Along with Jacob’s wives and children, Jacob had a large number of flocks and herds together with male and female servants. Jacob decided to divide everything into “two companies”: literally in Hebrew שני מחנות – Shnei Machanot. Jacob rationalized to himself that if one company was attacked by Esau, the other could flee and hopefully survive.
Like many of us, Jacob initially reacted in the most natural way by making a human plan to make the most of his challenging situation. We then read, however, how Jacob turned to the LORD and began to pray and give thanks to God while making supplication of Him:
Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the favor and of all the faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, ‘I will assuredly make you prosper and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’” – Gen. 32:9-12
Jacob humbly came before the LORD while recalling the promises that God had made to him and asked Him to save him from his brother Esau.
Why do we pray? We often pray when we find ourselves in desperate situations. We pray when we feel powerless before a more powerful force that could cause us harm. We pray because we want to see God act and intervene on our behalf. What we often do not realize is that prayer not only invites God to act on our behalf but prayer can also change our perspective of the situation we face.
Prayer Changes Everything
Immediately after Jacob’s prayer we read how Jacob took a dramatically different course of action from what he did before he prayed:
So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. Then he placed them in the care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.” And he commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him; and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp. – Gen. 32:13-21
Jacob changed course and instead of simply trying to preserve what he had gained through his labors, he chose to take a portion and offer it is as a gift to his brother.
This major shift from preserving his possessions from an attack from his brother Esau to offering a gift from his possessions as a means of softening Esau’s heart towards Jacob seems to be a direct result of Jacob spending time in prayer with the LORD. In the Hebrew we also see that Jacob went from initially trying to preserve his “camp” – מחנה – Ma’cha’ne to preparing a “gift” – מנחה – Min’cha. These two words in Hebrew contain the exact same letters, however, the two middle letters are simply in the reverse order. In the same way Jacob chose to reverse his strategy from protecting himself from Esau to being proactively generous towards Esau.
Prayer changes everything! Prayer not only invites God to fight against our enemies but it also enables us to have the right perspective toward our enemies. It is wise and beneficial to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in everything.
We do not know what would have happened if Jacob had not prayed, however, we do know how this situation ended with prayer at its core:
Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women. He put the slave women and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. – Gen. 33:1-4
Jacob prayed, recalled God’s promises, and asked God to save him. Jacob reversed his strategy, sent a gift to his brother, and was greeted by Esau with a tender embrace as they both wept. Prayer changes everything!
The Gift & Its Meaning
We know that the gift that Jacob gave to Esau was a portion from his earnings while serving Laban in Haran. Why did Jacob take from his hard-earned profits and give them to his brother who wanted to kill him? Why did Jacob chose to give Esau a portion from his flocks and herds? We are never told specifically why Jacob chose the exact numbers of animals from his possession as a gift to Esau but I believe that the text reveals this to us.
First of all, as we have already noted, the word for gift in Genesis 32 is the Hebrew word מנחה – Mincha which can mean gift but literally means offering as we see this word used for the first time in the Scriptures in the account of Cain and Abel:
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought an offering, from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering; – Gen. 4:3-4
This word Mincha – offering is generally used of something given freely and it is often used in the Scriptures as an offering given to the LORD. In what manner did Jacob give his gift (offering) to Esau?
We read in the continuing text of Genesis 33 how Esau was also surprised by the generous gift that Jacob gave to him. After greeting one another and asking about each others well-being, Esau asked Jacob about this gift:
And he said, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” And he said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. Please accept my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.” So he urged him, and he accepted it. – Gen. 33:8-11
Jacob explained to Esau that God had been gracious to him and had blessed him with more than enough for him and his family. In the same manner Jacob wanted to be gracious to Esau. Beyond this, Jacob explained that seeing Esau’s face was like seeing the face of God. How was Esau’s face like seeing the face of God?
Remembering The Vow
Twenty years earlier, when Jacob first set out on his journey while fleeing from his bother, God met Jacob in a dream and promised to give him the Land of Promise, to bless him, and to be with him along his journey (Gen. 28:10-17). Jacob responded to this dream in the following manner:
Jacob also made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a memorial stone, will be God’s house, and of everything that You give me I will assuredly give a tenth to You.” – Gen. 28:20-22
Jacob had vowed that he would give a tenth of all that he received from the LORD back to God if He would keep him along the journey, provide for him, and let him return safely to his family.
Prayer Changes Everything
It appears that Jacob remembered his vow from twenty years earlier after he prayed to the LORD. He then quickly separated out a tenth of his possessions which the LORD had generously given to him and sent them to Esau as a gift. In response to this gift Esau welcomed back his brother with a warm embrace.
God had been faithful to Jacob in both protecting him and providing for him during those twenty years. God brought Jacob back to the Land of Promise as a wealthy man in every way and reunited him with his brother Esau in peace. In this way, seeing Esau was like seeing the face of God.
Whatever you may be facing today, take time to go before the LORD in prayer, give thanks to Him, and make requests of Him. When you pray, remember to listen for the still small voice of the LORD and be sensitive to His Holy Spirit. Prayer changes everything, it can even change you!
Shabbat Shalom!
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*All Scripture take from NASB Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
**The Hebrew name “Yeshua” is used in the biblical quotations in place of the English name “Jesus” to give emphasis to the meaning of this name, salvation. The word “Messiah” is also used in place of the word “Christ” to bring clarity to the office of Yeshua.
A timely word for me Daniel, thankyou.xx Denise
🙂