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Reunion, March 5
Genesis 33:1-16
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even
as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32
.
While Jacob was wrestling with the Angel, another heavenly messenger was
sent to Esau. In a dream, Esau beheld his brother for twenty years an exile from
his father’s house; he witnessed his grief at finding his mother dead; he saw
him encompassed by the hosts of God. This dream was related by Esau to his
soldiers, with the charge not to harm Jacob, for the God of his father was with
him.
The two companies at last approached each other, the desert chief leading his
men of war, and Jacob with his wives and children, attended by shepherds and
handmaidens, and followed by long lines of flocks and herds. Leaning upon his
staff, the patriarch went forward to meet the band of soldiers. He was pale and
disabled from his recent conflict, and he walked slowly and painfully, halting at
every step; but his countenance was lighted up with joy and peace.
At sight of that crippled sufferer, “Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him,
and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.” As they looked upon the
scene, even the hearts of Esau’s rude soldiers were touched. Notwithstanding
he had told them of his dream, they could not account for the change that had
come over their captain. Though they beheld the patriarch’s infirmity, they little
thought that this his weakness had been made his strength.
In his night of anguish beside the Jabbok, when destruction seemed just
before him, Jacob had been taught how vain is the help of man, how groundless
is all trust in human power. He saw that his only help must come from Him
against whom he had so grievously sinned. Helpless and unworthy, he pleaded
God’s promise of mercy to the repentant sinner. That promise was his assurance
that God would pardon and accept him. Sooner might heaven and earth pass
than that word could fail; and it was this that sustained him through that fearful
conflict
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7
Ibid., 198, 201
.
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