Genesis 32:11
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. 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.
Jacob prayed for rescue from his brother Esau because he was afraid Esau would attack and kill him together with the mothers and children of his household. He offered this plea as he returned to his homeland after twenty years away, humbled by remembrance of his wrong, yet encouraged by God's promises and by angels sent to guard him. The danger was urgent, for Esau was coming with four hundred armed men bent on revenge while Jacob's company was defenseless, despite all Jacob had done to make peace and atone for the wrong. His night of fearful pleading portrays the righteous in the final time of trouble, when the wicked surround them with a decree of death and they cry day and night to God with no apparent escape until delivered by God's voice. That deliverance comes only after repentance, for God heard him because he had already repented of the fraud against Esau, just as God's people then will plead with no concealed wrongs, their sins already confessed and blotted out.
Jacob's Fearful Return Home
The verse is Jacob's plea for God to deliver him and his family from Esau, because he fears Esau will come and strike him and the mother with the children, killing them all. It is a cry for rescue from an expected attack upon himself and his household.
The plea belongs to his return to Canaan and his homeland after twenty years away. As he approached, he remembered his sin against his father and the trouble it had brought, while also recalling God's favor and promises of help and guidance.
As he returned he was reassured by signs of God's care, with two hosts of angels accompanying him. That escort recalled the vision at Bethel that God's messengers guarded him. Though he had become wealthy he approached God humbly as unworthy of the mercies and faithfulness already shown, appealing to God's promise to bring him safely back and to make his descendants numerous.
The danger was immediate because Esau was approaching with four hundred men, a band of warriors doubtless bent on revenge. Jacob's company was unarmed and defenseless and faced violence and slaughter. Esau could harm Jacob and might act from revenge or to secure the inheritance he believed was his. Jacob's prayer arose despite his efforts to make peace, repair the wrong, atone to his brother, and avert revenge, expressing his dependence on God for safety.
Pattern for Final Trouble
Jacob's fear and distress and his night-long prayer for deliverance from Esau represent the experience of believers and the righteous in the final conflict with unbelievers, in the time of Jacob's trouble and the time of trouble. His plea was made when Esau approached with a band of warriors doubtless bent on revenge, leaving his own unarmed and defenseless company facing violence and slaughter. In that fulfillment the wicked surround God's people and a decree goes forth to put them to death just before the Lord's coming. That includes the beast's image bringing a decree to kill those who will not worship it.
There they are left in anguish with no apparent escape while they pray and cry day and night to God for deliverance. Like Jacob, the saints will cry for deliverance and will be delivered by the voice of God. The plea is connected with the vision of angels restraining destructive forces while God's people are protected. It is linked also with Jesus appealing to the Father on behalf of the unsealed remnant, as the four angels are told to hold back the winds until God's servants are sealed.
The account teaches that as God's people approach that time they must make every exertion to place themselves in a proper light before the people, to disarm prejudice, and to avert the danger threatening liberty of conscience.
Repentance Before Deliverance Granted
Jacob's cry to be rescued from Esau came after he had repented of the fraud by which he obtained the blessing and the birthright intended for Esau. God heard that prayer and mercifully preserved his life because that repentance had already taken place. Without that prior repentance he would not have been heard.
His fear was joined to crushing self-reproach, for his own sin in deceiving to secure his father's blessing intended for Esau had brought the danger upon him after years of exile. Esau was approaching with a band of warriors doubtless bent on revenge, while Jacob's company was unarmed and defenseless and faced violence and slaughter. His only hope was the mercy of God and his only defense was prayer, yet he left nothing undone to atone for the wrong to his brother and to avert the danger.
The plea therefore means that deliverance is granted only when sins are already confessed. It applies to the people of God in the time of trouble, who will plead with God for deliverance with a deep sense of unworthiness but with no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their sins have gone beforehand to judgment and have been blotted out and cannot be brought to remembrance. If unconfessed sins were to appear then under fear and anguish, they would overwhelm the soul, cut off faith, and leave no confidence to plead.