After 20 years in Paddam-aran with his conniving uncle Laban, Jacob is called by God to return home (31:11-13). It seems that Jacob would be joyfully skipping on his way home, but there is something awaiting at hone that Jacob dreads; something that causes inner turmoil.

The “great fear and distress” (32:7, 11) that Jacob was feeling as the inevitable meeting with Esau was looming are grounded in the cold, hard, and humiliating events Jacob had dealt his brother twenty years earlier. Jacob plotted and manipulated a situation to take advantage of Esau so he could obtain his birthright from him (25:29-34). Esau, failing to recognize and value the divinely given birthright, sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup when he was hungry. Later, Jacob dressed up as Esau – at the behest of his mother– to deceive his blind and “dying” father and steal the blessing from Esau (27:1-29).

This deception and provocation resulted in Esau harboring a heated and homicidal hatred in his heart (27:41). But, God called Jacob to go home. Jacob knew what that meant: facing Esau. Unbeknownst to Jacob, God was coordinating a magnanimous meeting between the twins, which demonstrates the character of that believers are to reflect to the world.