Jacob and his Tribes, Part 4 (The Covenant & the Cross #58)

Today's passage of Scripture is Genesis 31:9-11 which reads: "And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 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."

Today's quote about the Bible is from Bruce Barton. He said: "The Bible rose to the place it now occupies because it deserved to rise to that place, and not because God sent anybody with a box of tricks to prove its divine authority."

Our topic for today is titled "Jacob and his Tribes" (Part 4) from the book, "The Promise and the Blessing" by Dr. Michael A. Harbin. 

"Even after twenty years, Jacob feared returning to meet his brother. He divided his property to make it less of a target and sent bribes on ahead to placate Esau, only to find that his brother had mellowed and become prosperous in his own right. En route, Jacob wrestled with God and was given the new name Israel, 'One who strives with God.' It would seem that it was only after this event that Jacob really became a man of faith, albeit a faith that wavered (perhaps up to the point when he learned that Joseph was alive in Egypt)."

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