Reconciliation Through Humility

Spiritual Jacobs (humble, tried believers) are exalted. Spiritual Esaus (proud, rich in self) are brought low. Perseverance = crown.

Genesis 32:3-33:17 Jacob’s Humiliation Before Esau

Gen-32

• My Notes:

  • 01 Gen-32 Yada Yada
  • MessengerS of YHWH:
    • AngelS of God" Gen-28#v12 Jacob saw "Angels of God ascending and descending
    • Yeshua will acknowledge and confess those who acknowledge and confess him before men, before YHWH and the Messengers of YHWH. He will be will be ashamed of those who ashamed of Yeshua and his words.
      • Luke 12:8-9 (ESV): "“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God (τοῖς ἀγγέλοις τοῦ θεοῦ / tois angelois tou theou)," "but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God (τοῖς ἀγγέλοις τοῦ θεοῦ / tois angelois tou theou)."
      • Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26 - "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
      • Revelation 3:5 The one who overcomes thus will be dressed in white clothes; I will never blot his name out of the Book of Life, and will confess his name before My Father and His angels.
  • Yah's promises
    • If Jacob returns to the land - Yah will do good - same thing Yah said to Isaac ... if you live in this land ... Gen-26
    • Yah makes same promise to Jacob as Abrahm, "offspring as the sand of the sea which can not be counted"
  • The Wrestling Match with YHWH in human form
    • The chapter starts with Jacob and the Angels of YHWH - two camps and ends with Jacob and the Man (YHWH) face to face.
    • Jacob and "the man"
      • Jacob beat the man he wrestled with ... and was able to hold onto him
      • The man didn't know Jacob's name? Or was it rhetorical question?
      • You have fought with God (ʾĕlōhîm) and with men, and have prevailed."
      • The man didn't give his name - it is assumed to be Yah because Jacob said "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
      • Hosea 12: 4 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he strove with God (Elohim). 5 Yes, he wrestled with the angel (malʾāk) and won; he wept and sought his favor.
    • Face = idiomatically the seat of identity, presence, favor. Lost in English: “face to face” is correct but flattens the terror.
      • In Hebrew culture, seeing the divine face = death (Exod 33:20: לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת־פָּנָי כִּי לֹא־יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם וָחָי – “No man may see My face and live”). → Jacob claims the impossible: he saw God’s face and lived (וַתִּנָּצֵל נַפְשִׁי).
      • “I saw God face-to-face”→ Should = death (Exod 33:20)
        “yet my soul was rescued” → Life preserved
        • English translations split the shock:
          NIV: “I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
        • The Hebrew fuses the clauses; the rescue is inseparable from the seeing.
      • It is lethal proximity—Jacob gazes into the divine face (פְּנִיאֵל) and emerges alive (וַתִּנָּצֵל נַפְשִׁי), turning a death-sentence into a birth-certificate for Israel

Gen-33

• My Notes:

  • 01 Gen-33 YadaYada
  • Jacob went out of his way to show humbleness and recognition of Esau when he had the legal right to lead the family because of the Birthright.

Obadiah 1 Edom’s Pride and Israel’s Restoration

Obad-01

• My Notes:

  • 31 Obad-01 Yada Yada
  • v3 The pride of your heart has deceived //nasha// you
  • Who will bring me down to the ground
    • Jer-49#v16 (same time as Obadiah) exact same phrase spoken about Edom.
    • Isa-14#v13 (100 years later): King of Babylon says ‘I will ascend to heaven… I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.”

James 1:1-12 The Exaltation of the Lowly Through Trials

James-01

• My Notes

  • 59 James-01 Yada Yada
  • YHWH doesn't tempt anyone - wouldn't that also means it wouldn't let any of his messenger nor any adversary temp a man?
    • But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed..
    • The adversary in the garden deceived (ēpatēsen) - not tempt (peirazō)
      • • 2 Cor 11:3 – “the serpent deceived (ēpatēsen) Eve by his cunning.”
      • Rev 12:9, 20:2 – the serpent is “the deceiver (planōn) of the whole world.”
      • 1 Tim 2:14 – Eve “became a transgressor” after being “deceived” (exapatētheisa).
  • We are the greatest adversary to what YHWH desires.
    • goes back to last weeks portion and James 4:7 the adversary is within us
  • We overcome our own desires by knowing the Word which is all Truth implanted inside of us which leads us to live in a way defined by YHWH
  • Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Deut-14#v29

Psalm 27

Ps-27

Overall Notes

• Being able to recognize we are the biggest adversary to what YHWH is trying to do takes the most amount of humility. Our flesh in pridefulness wants to blame everyone else. Our mind wants to be able to point a finger at some adversary of YHWH and give "him" a name like satan, or devil. Then we make "him" out to be more powerful and outside the will of YWHW so we don't have to be responsible. Just like what happened in the garden. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent.

  • saw that the tree was good for food,
  • and that it was a thing of lust for the eyes,
  • and that the tree was desirable for imparting wisdom.
  • So she took of its fruit and she ate.
  • She also gave to her husband who was with her and he ate.

• But if YHWH is truly the light and stronghold in our lives - we do not need to fear even our own flesh. We will want, lust, and desire the things of Yah. But we have to want to seek those things more than those things we want, lust after, and desire from within. And our wisdom should come from YHWH.

One thing have I asked of YHWH,
that will I seek:
to dwell in the House of YHWH
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of YHWH,
and to meditate in His Temple.
Wait for YHWH.