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Jacob and Esau
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or if thou shalt take other wives besides my daughters; no man is
with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.”
Jacob made a solemn covenant before the Lord that he would
not take other wives. “And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap,
and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; this
heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over
this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and
this pillar unto me, for harm. The God of Abraham, and the God of
Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob swear
by the fear of his father Isaac.”
As Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. And when
he saw them, he said, “This is God’s host.” He saw the angels of
God in a dream, encamping around about him. Jacob sent a humble,
conciliatory message to his brother Esau. “And the messengers
returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he
cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob
was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was
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with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
and said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the
other company which is left shall escape.
“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. 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.”
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