Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #4 of Genesis 32, and we will be reading Genesis 32:4-16:

And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, JEHOVAH which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;  Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

I will stop reading there.  As I mentioned in our last study, this chapter is very unusual because we see that Jacob, his flocks, and his family have come out of Haran, and Jacob is sending messages unto Esau into the land of Sier in the country of Edom to let Esau know he is coming.  And yet, he is greatly afraid.  He is distressed and afraid of meeting his brother Esau because the last Jacob heard, Esau had intended to kill him.  So he was afraid not only for his own life, but for his family and everything he had.  He was genuinely afraid that his sons would be killed or injured, as well as the wives he had worked for, and that his flocks would be taken, and Esau would take revenge. 

So Jacob was reminding God of the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and now, to him.  Then he came up with the decision to send a present to Esau his brother.  We read the list of flocks, and it is interesting that when you add it all up, it totals 550.  The number “550” can be broken down to “5 x 10 x 11,” with the number “5” being the number of atonement, and the number “10” with completeness, and the number “11” with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And what did Christ come to do?  Although the work was performed at the foundation of the world, He came to demonstrate the atonement, which is represented by the number “5,” so Christ’s death on the cross was an illustration of His earlier death at the foundation of the world.  And He died because He was bearing the sins of His people, and the Law demanded justice for those sins, and the Law’s penalty for sin is death.  And the atonement is payment for sin.

We are struggling, and trying to understand this chapter.  What is going on historically is not that difficult.  Two brothers had a very serious breakup, and one intended to kill the other, and the other brother fled to Haran with his mother’s leading and his father’s agreement, and now he is returning.  So it all makes sense on the natural level, but the deeper spiritual meaning is difficult.  We have Jacob, who has been a type of Christ, but now he is hoping to find grace in the eyes of his brother Esau.  And Jacob was sending a present to him and calling Esau his lord, and with the present, he is hoping to appease him.  He sent his messengers with presents in order to find grace in Esau’s sight.  As I mentioned last time, it is “upside down,” and it is the exact opposite of what we would expect, which means that there is something very important that God wants us to learn from this chapter.  And by God’s grace, we have to discover what it is, and that is actually the whole point of Bible study.  We are to “dig,” as the Bible says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 

Where do we start?  There are some clues here in some key words.  Of course that is how we work in the Bible.  We look up the words, and we are greatly assisted with Strong’s Concordance and interlinear Bibles keyed to Strong’s Concordance.  So that is what we will do.

What we are going to begin with is to look at the land of Seir, in the country of Edom, as it said in Genesis 32:3:

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

We know that Esau is “Edom,” and Edom resides in the land of Seir.  So that is the first thing, and we know the relationship between Esau, who is called Edom, and “Adam” or “man.”  We also know that God makes some very strange statements regarding Edom and, therefore, regarding Sier.  Let us go to Isaiah 63:1-3:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

This is a Messianic passage referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We realize that, but why does God speak of Christ in this way?  He says in verse 1: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?”  And Bozrah is associated with Edom.  Why is Christ pictured as coming from Edom?  That is a question we need to ask, and I will give you the answer, and then we will see how it can be proven.  The answer is that Edom pictures those that are under the Law of God, and that would be mankind.  Remember that Edom is related to “man,” and mankind is under the Law.  This is what we are told in Galatians 4, and this will also explain why Christ is said to come from Edom.  It says in Galatians 4:4:

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

The Lord Jesus was made “under the Law” in His human form.  Then it says in Galatians 4:5:

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

So Christ was made “under the law” in order to redeem them that are under the Law.  And this is the situation with mankind.  When God created man and placed them in the Garden of Eden, He gave a Law, did He not?  It was only a single Law, but it was a Law: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.”  It was the Law of God stated.  Man would live.  The creature created in the image and likeness of God would live for as long as he kept that Law.  It was the only Law that was stipulated – not to eat of that one tree. So man was under the Law right from the start.  But he broke the Law, and God had said, “…in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  So man died, and he came under the curse and wrath of God because he broke the Law.

This is also in view when we think of Edom or mount Seir.  It is teaching us about mankind under the Law being cursed because they have broken the Law: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  So Christ, in entering into the human race, was made under the Law.  He subjected Himself to the Law.  Remember, we have talked about that before regarding the Psalm that says that God has magnified His Law above all His name.  So Christ was made under the Law, and He must obey the Law, but He also became a curse for us, the elect that He chose and whose sins He paid for at the foundation of the world.  He became a curse for us and, therefore, “he cometh from Edom,” or the city of Bozrah.  He comes from Edom because Edom typifies those that are under the Law.

So that is the statement that would support what we read in Isaiah 63:1, but where is the proof that Edom or Seir represents those under the Law?  Remember, Edom is in the land of Seir, so they are one and the same.  But let us start with Judges 5, which is an historical situation that was after Barak and the ten thousand had defeated the enemy army led by Sisera.  It says in Judges 5:1-4:

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, Praise ye JEHOVAH for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto JEHOVAH; I will sing praise to JEHOVAH God of Israel. JEHOVAH, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom…

See how Edom and Seir are synonymous?  Here, the field would represent the world, and it is the inhabitants of the world that are under the Law and under the curse.  Therefore, they are as Edom or the land of Seir. Then it goes on to say in Judges 5:4-5:

… the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before JEHOVAH, even that Sinai from before JEHOVAH God of Israel.

How did Sinai get involved?  Sinai is mount Sinai where the Law was given.  You see, God is relating spiritual truths, and not necessarily because Seir has anything to do with Sinai.  But on the spiritual level, it does.  So JEHOVAH went out of Seir, and marched out of the field of Edom, and then the earth trembled.  Remember in Exodus 19 when mount Sinai was “altogether on a smoke”?  Let us read that, in Exodus 19:17-18:

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke because JEHOVAH descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Again, in Judges 5, JEHOVAH was coming out of Seir, marching out of the field of Edom, and then it says in Judges 5:4-5:

… the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. The mountains melted from before JEHOVAH, even that Sinai from before JEHOVAH God of Israel.

So we see the connection the Lord makes between Edom, Seir, and Sinai.  But that verse does not stand alone because we read in Deuteronomy 33:2:

And he said, JEHOVAH came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

Again, JEHOVAH came from Sinai, which is synonymous with rising up from Seir.  The Law of God is in view.  There is no mistaking it.  God is linking Sinai with mount Seir, and that would also mean Edom.  There is a verse we have spoken of on occasion when we look at Old Testament time paths that point to the first coming of Christ. It is found in Deuteronomy 1 where the Lord gives us a very strange statement, as it says in Deuteronomy 1:2:

  (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)

It is 11 days’ journey from Horeb, and Horeb is another name that identifies with mount Sinai.  It would be another synonym for the place the Law of God was given, and we can see that in 2Chronicles 5:10:

There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when JEHOVAH made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

The two tables of stone were the Ten Commandments, representing the Law of God, which were placed  in  the ark at Horeb.  So we see the Law and Horeb, and Sinai and the Law, and in both instances where we read of Horeb or Sinai, we read of mount Seir. There were 11 days journey from Horeb, from the giving of the Law.  And remember that I mentioned earlier that God first gave the Law in the Garden of Eden when He set apart that one tree: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.”  The Law was given back at the creation of the world.  And in this time path, there are 11 days journey from Horeb, from the giving the Law, by the way of mount Seir.  And, again, it is because Seir or Edom identifies with mount Sinai and the Law of God.  It identifies with mankind under the Law and under the curse of the Law.  So from Horeb, it is 11 days, and when we substitute a day for a year, it is 11,000 years from creation in 11,013 B. C. until “Kadeshbarnea.”  And Kadeshbarnea is where they went into spy out the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.  So as Christ comes in history to demonstrate the atonement, you will come to know the freedom from being under the curse of the Law in the Promised Land, because the only ones that can enter into the spiritual Promised Land of the new heaven and the new earth are those that are made free from the Law.  They are set at liberty from that bondage, and they are no longer under the Law.  So 11 days journey from Horeb, from the point the Law was given, by way of mount Seir (throughout the history of the world in Old Testament time) to the coming of Christ, unto “Kadeshbarnea,” where we can see the initial promise of God seen in Christ dying on the cross to demonstrate His atoning work from the foundation of the world.  And that work set His chosen, elect sinners free from bondage to sin and to Satan, and from being under the Law.  If you are not under the Law, you are, in effect, in the Promised Land already in that you have citizenship there, and in the future you will reside there for evermore.

So we can see in these references, like Judges 5:4, Deuteronomy 33:2, and Deuteronomy 1:2, where Seir is linked to the Law.  The word “Seir” is a Hebrew word that is #8165 in Strong’s Concordance.  If you look it up, you will find it is the same as #8163.  It comes from the word #8163.  They are identical consonants with vowel points that are different, but vowel points were added later, so are not part of the inspired Word of God.  The vowel points are different between #8165 (śê‛ı̂yr), and #8163 (śâ‛ı̂yr).  And #8163 is translated in several ways, like “rough,” “hairy,” and “goat.”  There are other Hebrew words for “goat,” but this is the word for “goat” that is used especially in relationship to the Day of Atonement. Let us go to Leviticus 16:5-8:

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before JEHOVAH at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for JEHOVAH, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

Now keep in mind that when we are reading this word “goat” or “goats,” it is Strong’s #8163.  It is basically the word for “Seir,” but with the different vowel pointing.  So that ties together the land of Seir with the “goat.”  Then it says in Leviticus 16:9-10:

And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which JEHOVAH'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before JEHOVAH, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Or we read in Leviticus 16:15:

Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering…

It says in Leviticus 16:16:

And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel…

And it says in Leviticus 16:18:

And he shall go out unto the altar that is before JEHOVAH, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.

The sacrificial goat’s blood is an atonement.  It is “Seir.”  And where does the Lord come from?  JEHOVAH cometh from Edom.  He comes from Seir.  In the passage in Isaiah 63, He comes by Himself to offer up Himself as the sacrifice in the atonement for the sins of His people.

How does this all fit in with what we are reading in Genesis 32?  You might wonder, and I would suggest that you look up the word “present” because it is a word that is actually most often translated as “offering.”