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Jacob and Esau are reunited

Jacob wrestles with a stranger then meets Esau.
Contributed by Sweet Publishing
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, German, French, Hindi, Simplified Chinese
1
After Laban left, Jacob was in the hill country of Gilead at a place he named Mahanaim because angels of God had met him. His twin brother Esau was living in the land of Edom in the Seir mountains. – Slide 1
2
Jacob sent messengers to Esau to say, ‘Your servant Jacob has been staying with Laban. He has cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and servants. He begs to find favour in your eyes.’ – Slide 2
3
The messengers returned to report, ‘Esau is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.’ Jacob was very frightened. – Slide 3
4
He divided those who were with him into two groups so that if Esau attacked one group the other group might escape – Slide 4
5
Jacob prayed, ‘Lord you told me to go back to my country and my relatives, and You would make me prosper. I am unworthy of Your kindness and faithfulness. Save me from Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack us. You have promised to make my descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ – Slide 5
6
Jacob chose a gift for Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put each herd in charge of a servant and set them off at intervals. – Slide 6
7
When the servants met Esau they reported who they were and who had sent them. ‘These are a gift sent to my Lord Esau from Jacob who is following behind us.’ – Slide 7
8
That night Jacob sent his family and possessions over the ford of the River Jabbok. He remained alone. – Slide 8
9
A man came and wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched. Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ The stranger replied, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’ – Slide 9
10
Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’The man replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed Jacob. Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’Jacob was limping because of his hip. He then saw Esau and his 400 men coming towards him. – Slide 10
11
Jacob put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. – Slide 11
12
Then he went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. – Slide 12
13
Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him – Slide 13
14
‘What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?’ asked Esau. ‘To find favour in your eyes, my lord,’ Jacob replied. Esau did not want the gift but Jacob insisted. Esau returned thinking that Jacob would follow on later to join him in Edom. – Slide 14
15
Jacob, however, went to Succoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. From there he moved on to Shechem where he set up an altar to God. – Slide 15
16
God then told Jacob to go to Bethel the place where God had promised to look after him. Jacob obeyed and built an altar to God. He then told his family to hand over all their foreign gods and the rings in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. God told Jacob his new name would be Israel and he would give this land to him and his descendants who would become a nation. – Slide 16
17
Jacob then travelled south. As they approached Ephrath (Bethlehem) his wife Rachel began giving birth to a son. Rachel died giving birth but the baby survived and was named Benjamin. – Slide 17
18
Rachel was buried at Ephrath and Jacob set up a pillar above her tomb. Jacob now had twelve sons. – Slide 18
19
Jacob then travelled to Mamre where his father Isaac was living. When Isaac died both Jacob and Esau mourned and buried him. – Slide 19
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Slide 20