GENESIS

CHAPTER XXXII.

1. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2. And when Jacob saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God"; and he named that place Mahanaim original: "Mahanaim," meaning "Two Camps" or "Two Hosts." This represents a state of spiritual fortification..
3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau EsauIn this spiritual history, Esau represents the "good" of the natural life—the heart and its affections—while Jacob represents the "truth" or the intellectual side of life. his brother, toward the land of Seir, the territory of Edom.
4. And he commanded them, saying, "Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says: I have lived with Laban as a guest, and have stayed there until now.
5. And I have acquired oxen and donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I am sending word to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'"
6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and he is also coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."
7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two camps.
8. And he said, "If Esau comes to the first camp and attacks it, then the remaining camp may escape."
9. And Jacob said:

O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah original: "Jehovah," the Hebrew name for the Divine, emphasizing God's eternal being and love., who said to me, "Return to your land and to your birthplace, and I will deal well with you";
10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and all the truth which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed over this Jordan JordanThe Jordan River serves as a symbol of the boundary or entrance into a new spiritual state or "the promised land" of the soul., and now I have become two camps.
11. Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, and the mother with the children This phrase "the mother upon the sons" is a Hebrew idiom meaning total destruction, where no part of the family or the future is spared..
12. And You said, "I will surely do well with you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too numerous to count."
13. And he stayed there that night; and from what he had with him, he chose a gift for his brother Esau:
14. Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams.