Matthew Henry

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed.

“He calls him the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac; for Abraham was dead, and had gone to that world where perfect love casts out fear; but Isaac was yet alive, sanctifying the Lord in his heart, as his fear and his dread.”

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

“Note, Those that keep in a good way have always a good guard; angels themselves are ministering spirits for their safety, Heb. i. Where Jacob pitched his tents, they pitched theirs about him, Ps. xxxiv.”

In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.

“Jacob, though a man of great faith, yet was now greatly afraid. Note, A lively apprehension of danger, and a quickening fear arising from it, may very well consist with a humble confidence in God's power and promise.”

Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I…

“Such was the humble self-denying sense he had of his own unworthiness that he did not call God his own God, but a God in covenant with his ancestors: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac; and this he could…”

Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.

“The fear that quickens prayer is itself pleadable. It was not a robber, but a murderer, that he was afraid of; nor was it his own life only that lay at stake, but the mothers' and the children's, that had left their native soil to…”

Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:

“Jacob, having piously made God his friend by a prayer, is here prudently endeavouring to make Esau his friend by a present.”

Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20…

“It was a present that he thought would be acceptable to Esau, who had traded so much in hunting wild beasts that perhaps he was but ill furnished with tame cattle with which to stock his new conquests.”

So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

“We are told by the prophet ( Hos. xii. 4 ) how Jacob wrestled: he wept, and made supplication; prayers and tears were his weapons.”

Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

“In begging this blessing he owns his inferiority, though he seemed to have the upper hand in the struggle; for the less is blessed of the better.”

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

“Yet this was not all; having power with God, he shall have power with men too. Having prevailed for a blessing from heaven, he shall, no doubt, prevail for Esau's favour.”

And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

“But that request was denied, that he might not be too proud of his conquest, nor think he had the angel at such an advantage as to oblige him to what he pleased. No, " Wherefore dost thou ask after my name?”

So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

“He does not say, "In this place I wrestled with God, and prevailed;" but, "In this place I saw God face to face, and my life was preserved;" not, "It was my praise that I came off a conqueror, but it was God's mercy that…”

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

“Observe what a different figure these two brothers made. Esau is attended with a guard of 400 men, and looks big; Jacob is followed by a cumbersome train of women and children that are his care, and he looks tender and solicitous for their safety…”

But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand.

“It is a very high compliment that he passes upon him: I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, that is, "I have seen thee reconciled to me, and at peace with me, as I desire to see God…”

And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.

“Though the land of Canaan was his by promise, yet, the time for taking possession not having yet come, he is content to pay for his own, to prevent disputes with the present occupants. Note, Dominion is not founded in grace.”

There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

“God had lately called him by the name of Israel, and now he calls God the God of Israel; though he is styled a prince with God, God shall still be a prince with him, his Lord and his God.”

When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field.

“Uncleanness is folly; for it sacrifices the favour of God, peace of conscience, and all the soul can pretend to that is sacred and honourable, to a base and brutish lust.”

We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males.

“Religion is never more injured, nor are God's sacraments more profaned, than when they are thus used for a cloak of maliciousness.”

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land.

“Jacob knew indeed that God had promised to preserve and perpetuate his house; but he might justly fear that these vile practices of his children would amount to a forfeiture, and cut off the entail.”

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there.

“Seven or eight years it was now since he came to Canaan; he had purchased ground there, and had built an altar in remembrance of God's last appearance to him when he called him Israel ( ch. xxxiii.”

As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

“Note, The way of duty is the way of safety. While there was sin in Jacob's house, he was afraid of his neighbours; but now that the strange gods were put away, and they were all going together to Bethel, his neighbours were afraid of…”

And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.

“Two things are promised him which we have met with often before:-- (1.) That he should be the father of a great nation, great in number-- a company of nations shall be of thee (every tribe of Israel was a nation, and all the twelve…”

The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

“These two promises had a spiritual signification, of which we may suppose Jacob himself had some notion, though not so clear and distinct as we now have; for, without doubt, Christ is the promised seed, and heaven is the promised land; the former is the…”

So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

“When he was going to Padan-aram, he set up for a pillar that stone on which he had laid his head.”

Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

“Probably he did this now upon the death of Rebekah, by which Isaac was left solitary, and not disposed to marry again.”