The Sons of Isaac(98)

He stood and pondered the strangeness of it all. He would have been sure it was a dream but for the pain in his hip and the limp that didn’t go away. “It was all real,” he concluded. “I wrestled with God and won a blessing from Him and a new name.”

He gathered up his sheepskin cloak and started for the river. I must give this place a name. “Peniel,” he said. “I’ll call it Peniel, for surely I have seen God face-to-face.”

With that he went down and waded across the turbulent, bubbling water of the Jabbok and stood on the opposite shore, eager and ready to meet Esau. “I am not afraid,” he shouted. “I am Israel, God’s prince.”

* * *

The next day Esau came riding a white mule with his four hundred men strung out behind him. Behind his men came the animals that Jacob had sent to him as gifts. Jacob stood watching him come, no longer hiding behind his large family but out in front ready to deal with his brother.

While Esau was still a considerable distance away, Jacob bowed himself to the ground, and as Esau came closer he bowed himself seven times to the ground. As he rose he was surprised to see Esau running toward him with his arms outspread and tears running down his cheeks. They hugged and laughed with the joy of reunion  .

Finally Esau stood back and looked around with amazement. “Who are all these people with you?” he asked.

“They are my wives and my children.” At a nod from Jacob the concubines, Zilpah and Bilhah, came forward with their children and bowed before him, then Leah came with her children, and finally Rachel with Joseph. They all bowed and they could see that Esau was impressed.

Jacob took him aside to a large tent where they could sit while Esau’s men were served refreshments. “Tell me,” Esau asked, “where did all these animals come from that met me on the way?”

Jacob laughed. “They are my gift to you. I will admit it was an attempt to gain your favor.”

Esau laughed. “You must keep them,” he said. “I have plenty.”

“No,” Jacob said, “you must keep them. You have no idea what a relief it is to see you smiling and friendly. I was so frightened. Please take my gifts; God has been very generous with me.”

Esau could see that it was important for him to accept Jacob’s gift. “You have been more than generous,” he said.

They sat for a time in silence marveling at the strangeness of it all. “You are my only brother,” Jacob said at last. “No one will ever be closer to me. We are not just brothers, but we are twins.”

“We are closer even than wives,” Esau said. “Never mind that we have never gotten along. We were fighting, our mother says, even before we were born.” They laughed now as they realized how unique their relationship really was.

“How are my mother and my father?” Jacob asked suddenly and rather abruptly.

Esau fidgeted and looked away. “Our mother is not well. She suffered greatly with the cold this year, but our father is much the same as when you left.”

Jacob didn’t ask further as he sensed that Esau was reluctant to tell him anything that would spoil their reunion  .

They spent the day getting acquainted. In the early afternoon, Esau said he would have to go but offered to take Jacob and his family with him.

“No, no,” Jacob said. “I have such a large family and so many animals we would slow you down.”

“Then let me leave one of my men with you to guide you to my home in Mount Seir.”

Again Jacob desisted. “We will manage just fine, so you must not be worried about us.”

With that Esau left and Jacob relaxed in his tent and thought of the strangeness of it all. For years he had been alone without his family. He had been at the mercy of his wily uncle and felt so weak he could not confront him openly. Now everything was different; he had wives and sons and a brother who cared about him.

Just as Jacob was feeling that everything was going to be all right and his homecoming would be wonderful, a messenger arrived from Esau’s band. “I have a message for my master’s brother. I am to give it to him in the privacy of his own tent,” the messenger said.

Jacob was puzzled but he led the young man into his tent. For a moment they looked at each other as Jacob tried to read in the young man’s countenance the nature of the message. He could tell it was not good news. The young man looked as though he could hardly bear to say what he had come to tell.

“Come, tell me what is it my brother wants me to know. If it is bad news, it is not the first time I have ever heard bad news,” Jacob said.

“My lord,” the young man said, “my master could not bear to tell you in person, but your mother is dead and has been buried in the cave purchased by your grandfather.” With that the young man turned and left, and Jacob fell back among the cushions almost unconscious with wave after wave of grief and despair.