026. XIV. Jacob’s Return to Canaan
§ XIV. JACOB’S RETURN TO CANAAN Genesis 31, Genesis 32, Genesis 33
I.Jacob’s Flight from Laban. At last Jacob found his position in Haran intolerable. His overshrewd dealings gave him no courage to face the suspicions of Laban’s sons. Hence he improved the first favorable opportunity to collect his many possessions and to flee from Laban back toward Canaan. Rachel, brought up in the school of deceit, did not hesitate to steal her father’s household gods, that their protection might go with the fugitives. Thus Jacob fled ignominiously from the consequences of his immediate acts to face those of his youth.
Laban quickly pursued and overtook the fugitives. Consistently with his shrewd, hard character, he suggested ironically that if they had but expressed the wish to go, he would have speeded their departure with mirth and songs! He also inquired why they had stolen his family gods. Jacob, who was ignorant of the theft, gave him full permission to search for them; but Rachel so cleverly concealed the stolen images, that Laban was unable to prove his charge.
Jacob improved this opportunity to recount his services to Laban and the hardships which he had endured. He omitted, however, all mention of his own doubtful dealings. The conclusion of their half hostile meeting was a covenant, according to which each agreed not to pass beyond a certain boundary set up between them in the territory of Gilead.
II.The Supreme Crisis of Jacob’s Life. Leaving behind the fear of his father-in-law, Jacob faced the brother whom he had wronged. With his usual diplomacy, he first dispatched messengers to Esau with conciliatory greetings. Still trusting to the potency of the material possessions for which he had striven so hard, he next sent ahead a princely gift for his brother. Then stealthily by night he sent on his wives and children, while he himself remained alone in the darkness by the noisy east-Jordan stream whose name (Jabbok) meant Struggler. It was the supreme crisis in his life. He had struggled for flocks and herds and material honors, and in each contest had succeeded; but with the success had come haunting fear, and an inevitable sense of failure. Hitherto he had conquered men by sheer energy, persistency and superior wit; but now he struggled alone all the night through with a more than human antagonist. He came forth from the fateful struggle with bodily strength forever impaired. Yet from this contest, by virtue of his indomitable persistency, he again emerged a victor. Henceforth he was to be called not Jacob, the Supplanter, but Israel, the one who had struggled and prevailed with God. It would seem that in this strange ancient tale the early prophet aimed to portray the victory of the nobler and more spiritual impulses in Israel’s complex character over the more sordid, selfish tendencies. The prophetic interpretation of Hosea (Hosea 12:3-4) is suggestive in this connection: In the womb Jacob supplanted his brother, In a man’s strength he contended with God, He contended with the angel and prevailed, He wept and besought mercy of him. At Bethel Jehovah found him, And there he spoke with him.
III.The Meeting with Esau. Jacob’s fears of his brother proved groundless. The meeting with Esau was in marked contrast to the bickering attendant upon his final interview with Laban. Esau manifested a generous brotherly spirit. Jacob, however, was still suspicious of the brother whom he had wronged, and so preferred to go on his way alone. At Shechem he found for a time a peaceful home, until the crimes of his sons Levi and Simeon compelled him to flee to southern Canaan. At this point the interest of the narrative in Genesis suddenly passes from Jacob to Joseph.
IV.The Historical Facts Back of the Stories. Back of the Laban stories is the memory of the later struggles between the Israelites and the Arameans. Gilead, the place of the covenant between Jacob and Laban, was the debatable territory and the scene of many battles. Doubtless tradition pointed to a certain heap of stones or sacred cairn as the scene of the treaty between the ancestors of these two related but hostile peoples. The story of Jacob’s return at the head of a large tribe probably records a third Aramean migration, reenforcing the two represented by the coming of Abraham and Rebekah. These Jacob stories also give the popular explanation of the origin of the names Penuel (Face of God) and of Succoth, and of the sanctuary at Shechem.
V.Aim and Teachings. In the portrayal of the character of Jacob, the prophets who combined these early stories clearly realized their primary aim. Though exceedingly complex, that character is remarkably consistent. Jacob’s faults are those which Orientals most easily condone. Our modern western world, on the contrary, will forgive almost anything more readily than the lack of truth and honesty. Jacob’s religious professions also seem but hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, however, involves a degree of spiritual enlightenment which he did not possess. Although his religion was of the bargaining type, it was genuine and the most powerful force in his life. Energy, persistency and ambition were the other qualities which enabled him at last to triumph over his glaring faults of meanness, deceit and selfishness. His life, as portrayed, vividly illustrates the constant conflict going on in every man between his baser passions and his nobler ideals. Jacob is the classic prototype of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His experiences show clearly how, in divine Providence, the varied fortunes, and especially the misfortunes of life, may develop the nobler impulses in the human heart, and how the meanest and most unpromising men are never beyond the pale of the divine care. It is only the base and false in man that destroy his happiness and prevent him from gaining clear visions of God’s gracious purpose.