13 Jacob stayed where he was for the night. Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother, Esau: 14 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 15 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. 16 He divided these animals into herds and assigned each to different servants. Then he told his servants, “Go ahead of me with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds.”
17 He gave these instructions to the men leading the first group: “When my brother, Esau, meets you, he will ask, ‘Whose servants are you? Where are you going? Who owns these animals?’ 18 You must reply, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, but they are a gift for his master Esau. Look, he is coming right behind us.’”
19 Jacob gave the same instructions to the second and third herdsmen and to all who followed behind the herds: “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’”
Genesis 32:13-21 (NLT)
Jacob thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.” 21 So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Jacob himself spent that night in the camp.
Between rock and hard place
Jacob is in a real pinch. You might say caught between a rock and a hard place. He just dealt (successfully) with Laban and now faces Esau. Jacob has no other option – he can’t go back, but it will be risky to continue. He has come up with his contingency plan and cried out to God for help.
Better plan
After praying, Jacob changes his plans for how to engage Esau. Originally, it was to split into two camps. Now he goes with the “kill them with kindness” approach. He seeks to pacify the problem. Did God give him this new idea? “After all, if Jacob really trusted God, he would be at the head of the procession to meet Esau, not at the back.” (enduringword.com)
RЯeflection
Consider how you face fears and trials. Think of the more major, life-affecting ones. Are we like Jacob – still learning to trust God? Does the hymn, “I surrender all” reflect your heart? Or, do we, “like Jacob mean, “I surrender all the goats. If that isn’t enough, I will surrender all the sheep. If that isn’t enough, I will surrender all the camels…” To this point, what Jacob refused to do was to surrender himself, truly trusting in God’s promise of protection.” (enduringword.com)
