FEBRUARY 4.
We cannot too much admire the conduct of Jacob on this trying occasion, when he had to meet his enraged brother Esau. The religion that, aiming at something uncommon and preternatural, disregards the plain dictates of reason and revelation, is always to be suspected. On the other hand, caution and exertion, unaccompanied with a devout dependence upon God, is the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness with him, and He will take the wise in their own craftiness. Therefore prudence and piety should always be connected together.
Accordingly, Jacob sends forward a deputation, with a soft answer that turneth away wrath, and a present which makes way for a man, and arranges his company and cattle in the wisest order for escape. But what does he then ? When we have done all that we can do, to what does the whole amount? "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain:" and unless He gives his beloved sleep, "in vain we rise early and sit up late, and eat the bread of sorrows." When we have planned, and are setting all our measures in motion, then is the time to take hold of God, and say, "0 Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity." Jacob, therefore, now prays; and as this prayer was heard, and He who teaches us how to pray is our best friend, let us glance at the particulars which God has here noticed.
Observe the relation under which he addresses the supreme Being "0 God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac;" as much as to say, my family God, and my God in covenant. This was laying hold of his faithfulness, as well as goodness, and asking in faith. We have another title under which to speak attention, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This inspires more abundant hope, and involves more exceeding great and precious promises. It reminds of a covenant made with him, and so with us, everlasting, ordered in all things, and sure.
He appeals to the will of God in his present difficulty. "Thou saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee." I am now in a strait, but I have been brought into it by following thee. This was wise. They that suffer according to the will of God, may commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing. It affords great relief to the mind, and much aids our confidence, when we are conscious that the embarrassments we feel have not been brought upon ourselves, but have befallen us in the path of duty. And how does it add to the pressure of the burden, and the bitterness of the cup, when God asks, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" and conscience cries, "Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?" Let no man, therefore, suffer as a murderer, as a thief, or as a busybody in other men's matters. We complain of the world, and there are many unavoidable ills in life, but there is a large multitude of evils entirely of our own producing, and God is no otherwise accessory to them, than as he has in the nature of things and the course of providence, established a connection between folly and misery.
He shows his humility. "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant." This temper is not natural to us, but grace brings us down, and keeps us from thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. We cannot have too much of this self-abasing disposition: it will restrain us from exercising ourselves in great matters, and in things too high for us ; it will keep us from murmuring under our trials ; it will teach us, in whatever state we are, therewith to be content, and it will dispose us in every thing to be content. Only in proportion as we are humble, can we be thankful.
Jacob therefore acknowledges the kindness of God towards him. More than twenty years before, he had crossed the same river where he now was. At that time he had no inheritance, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He was going forth, a poor pilgrim in search of subsistence, and all that he stipulated for was, bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and a return to his father's house in peace. From this condition he had been raised to affluence, and his family and his flock had equally multiplied. Therefore says he, " For with my staff I passed over this Jordan ; and now I am become two bands." We should do well often to review life, and to mark the changes which have taken place in our stations and circumstances. Have not many attained conditions, which would once have appeared the most improbable? Yet the Lord has made windows in heaven, and such things have been. Yet he has brought the blind by a way that they knew not, and made darkness light before them. Those born in the lap of ease, and whose course has been always even, cannot enter into the feelings of those who have found themselves advanced, without any designs formed by their friends, or expectations indulged by themselves. But how sad will it be, if they want the disposition of Jacob, and forgetting that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, sacrifice to their own net!
Observe this petition: "Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children." Here nature speaks, and we are allowed to feel, and even to desire the cup may pass from us, with submission to the will of God. How much was there here to awaken anxiety and dread: not only his own death, but the destruction of each of his wives, and each a mother too, and of his children also, and of the mother with the children, or, as it is in the margin, the mother upon the children. So it would have been. On the approach of the executioner, she would have thrown herself upon them, to cover and defend them ; and in vain would he have endeavored to pull her away, she would have been slaughtered upon their bodies.
Finally, his argument: " And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." He had mentioned this before, Thou saidst, I will deal well with thee, and now he repeats it. It was a sweet morsel, and he rolls it under his tongue. It was a breast of consolation, and he sucks till he is satisfied. It shows us that promises do not supersede prayer. If God has engaged to do a thing, it will indeed be accomplished, but in his own way, and He has ordained the means as well as the end. The promises furnish us both with matter and encouragement when we pray, and we cannot do better than to repeat them, and to plead them with God. This, says an old writer, is suing God upon his own bond. " Remember thy word unto thy servant, on which thou hast caused me to hope."
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