3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir , the country of Edom . 4 He also commanded them saying , "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau : 'Thus says your servant Jacob , "I have sojourned with Laban , and stayed until now ; 5 I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants e ; and I have sent to tell my lord , that I may find favor in your sight .""' 6 The messengers returned to Jacob , saying , "We came to your brother Esau , and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed ; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels , into two companies ; 8 for he said , "If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape ."
9 Jacob said , "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac , O Lord , who said to me, ' Return to your country and to your relatives , and I will prosper you,' 10 I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant ; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan , and now I have become two companies . 11 " Deliver me, I pray , from the hand of my brother , from the hand of Esau ; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children . 12 "For You said , ' I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea , which is too great to be numbered .' "
13 So he spent the night there . Then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau : 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats , two hundred ewes and twenty rams , 15 thirty milking camels and their colts , forty cows and ten bulls , twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys . 16 He delivered them into the hand of his servants , every drove by itself , and said to his servants , "Pass on before me, and put a space between droves ." 17 He commanded the one in front , saying , "When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying , 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going , and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?' 18 then you shall say , 'These belong to your servant Jacob ; it is a present sent to my lord Esau . And behold , he also is behind us.' " 19 Then he commanded also the second and the third , and all those who followed e the droves , saying , "After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; 20 and you shall say , 'Behold , your servant Jacob also is behind us.' " For he said , "I will appease e him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward e I will see his face ; perhaps he will accept e me." 21 So the present passed on before e him, while he himself spent that night in the camp .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 32:3-21
Commentary on Genesis 32:1-8
(Read Genesis 32:1-8)
The angels of God appeared to Jacob, to encourage him with the assurance of the Divine protection. When God designs his people for great trials, he prepares them by great comforts. While Jacob, to whom the promise belonged, had been in hard service, Esau was become a prince. Jacob sent a message, showing that he did not insist upon the birth-right. Yielding pacifies great offences, Ecclesiastes 10:4. We must not refuse to speak respectfully, even to those unjustly angry with us. Jacob received an account of Esau's warlike preparations against him, and was greatly afraid. A lively sense of danger, and quickening fear arising from it, may be found united with humble confidence in God's power and promise.
Commentary on Genesis 32:9-23
(Read Genesis 32:9-23)
Times of fear should be times of prayer: whatever causes fear, should drive us to our knees, to our God. Jacob had lately seen his guards of angels, but in this distress he applied to God, not to them; he knew they were his fellow-servants, Revelation 22:9. There cannot be a better pattern for true prayer than this. Here is a thankful acknowledgement of former undeserved favours; a humble confession of unworthiness; a plain statement of his fears and distress; a full reference of the whole affair to the Lord, and resting all his hopes on him. The best we can say to God in prayer, is what he has said to us. Thus he made the name of the Lord his strong tower, and could not but be safe. Jacob's fear did not make him sink into despair, nor did his prayer make him presume upon God's mercy, without the use of means. God answers prayers by teaching us to order our affairs aright. To pacify Esau, Jacob sent him a present. We must not despair of reconciling ourselves to those most angry against us.