The Legacy of Jacob - Moriel Ministries

Feature Article – Continued
that He who began a good work in you
will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 1:6)
Do not backslide; hang in there—He will
get you there. But now we get to the dark
night of the soul.
Two Camps
There will come a point in our life as a bornagain
Christian where if we continue with Jesus
we are going to go through a kind of trial
different than any other kind of trial we have
gone through before or will go through after.
We have two kinds of trials in the Bible:
“valley” and “wilderness.” A “valley” is a
single trial, a “wilderness” is a prolonged period
of testing, frequently associated with the
number forty in the Bible. This is a valley that
is longer than other valleys and a wilderness
that is more deadly than other wildernesses. It
is a desert among deserts. To Jacob it happened
at Peniel, the brook of Jabbok. And what Jacob
did is what we would expect Jacob to do.
Early in the morning Laban arose, and
kissed his sons and his daughters and
blessed them. Then Laban departed and
returned to his place. (Genesis 31:55)
Jacob thinks that is the end of his trial. He
goes through this for fourteen years. There
is the colloquialism, “It is darkest before the
dawn.” That is true. The colloquialism that is
false is, “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”
There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel there is the worst
darkness of all, then comes the light.
After fourteen years of this stuff (seven of
them spent for the other girl)—years spent
trying to out-manipulate each other, Jacob
thinks, “Finally, it’s over! Now I can revert to
what God promised me at Bethel, what God
promised by parents when I was born! I can
go get that blessing now. God has worked
these things out in my life after these years
of putting up with Laban, of putting up with
somebody else like me.”
Notice that the people who revolt us the
most humanly are the people who are the
most like us. The people we see with our own
negative traits and characteristics will be the
people we have the most friction with. The
people who irk us the most are the people
most like us, especially if they are even more
like us than we are.
Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels
of God met him. Jacob said when he
saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he
named that place Mahanaim.
(Meaning “two camps”)
Then Jacob sent messengers before him
to his brother Esau in the land of Seir,
the country of Edom. He also commanded
them saying, “Thus you shall say to
my lord Esau…
He knew that this guy did not like him, and
he knew why he did not like him, and he even
knew he ruined this guy in some way.
“Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have
sojourned with Laban, and stayed until
now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks
and male and female servants; and I
have sent to tell my lord, that I may find
favor in your sight.’” (Genesis 32:1-5)
It is like saying, “I have a car dealership!
Go over and pick one! You want an El Dorado
You want a Mercedes I’ll give you the
keys! My brother, I love you! Please take it
and leave! Drive out of here!”
Why is it called “Mahanaim”—“two
camps” I grew up in New Jersey right across
the river from New York City, and in our
neighborhood was a close friend of my parents
who owned a chain of liquor stores called
“Harry’s” but his real name was Haime. People
thought it was “Harry” but friends like
my parents called him “Haime,” and he was
what we called a “good” Jew because even
Gentiles liked him. One of his sons was Arthur
who managed this chain of liquor stores.
What most people did not know is that Arthur
was also a dentist. Everybody thought Arthur
was a businessman like his father, which he
was, but they did not know he was also a
dentist. “There might be a depression, there
might be prohibition, but people always have
toothaches.” He wanted a backup. He was
clever that way. Jewish people are clever that
way, having a survival mentality as a result of
their history, and they go through it that way.
So Jacob puts it into two camps. “If my shoe
store goes down the tubes, I can always sell
roses.” He is always shrewd, always trying to
figure out how to survive.
My wife is like that. My wife’s parents
were Holocaust survivors and then they were
Refuseniks under Ceausescu. For my wife, in
the way she was brought up, it was not so important
to clean the house, cook, or sew—you
could always get a shiksa to do that. With her
it was different: How many languages do you
speak How educated are you How clever
are you in business Do you have a profession
that will always be needed if you have
to run Everything was survival-oriented. If
“this” fails you will still have everything; it is
just the mentality.
Jacob puts them into two camps; he is always
scheming.
I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and
male and female servants; and I have
sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor
in your sight.”’”
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.”
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;
for he said, “If Esau comes to the
one company and attacks it, then the
company which is left will escape.”
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,’ I am unworthy of all the
lovingkindness…
(“I know I’m no good—I repent! Please
get me out of this!” When we are in trouble,
boy, do we get religious.)
…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. 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.
(He is afraid for his family now.)
“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.’” (Genesis 32:1-12)
He begins to doubt the promises of God so
he has to remind God.
The Dark Night of the Soul
When we are in the dark night of the soul,
we begin to doubt the promises God gave us
and we begin scheming and praying and doing
everything we can because now we know
it is coming. And then what happens Jacob
schemes further after he prays.
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’ 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.’” (Genesis 32:17-18)
He tries to buy him off. “You got the cash,
I’ve got the absolution!” (That is what they
say in Ireland: “High money, High Mass; low
money, Low Mass; no money, Purgatory.”)
Now he arose that same night and took
his two wives and his two maids and his
eleven children, and crossed the ford of
the Jabbok. He took them and sent them
across the stream. And he sent across
whatever he had. Then Jacob was left
alone, and a man wrestled with him until
daybreak. When he saw that he had
not prevailed against him, he touched
the socket of his thigh; so the socket of
Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he
wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let
me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But
he said, “I will not let you go unless you
bless me.” So he said to him, “What is
your name” And he said, “Jacob.” He
said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob,
but Israel; for you have striven with
God and with men and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please
tell me your name.” But he said, “Why
is it that you ask my name” And he
10 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012