Servant

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

 SERVANT

Gen 32:13-21

13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds." 17 He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' 18 then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.'" 19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me." 21 So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

NIV

Overall, Jacob sent many animals as a peace offering to Esau. The total numbered about 550, which he divided into 5 flocks and herds, each with manservants to tell Esau they were gifts from your servant Jacob. If he gave that many animals as gifts, it would seem he had far more, which would mean Jacob became extremely wealthy while working for Laban. Yet despite all his wealth and the manservants and maidservants under his authority, he presented himself to Esau as a servant. Was that simply out of fear because Esau was coming with 400 men? Did he do it because Jacob felt a sense of contrition or remorse for deceiving Esau out of his birthright? Had Jacob learned that lesson because Laban had deceived him many times? We are told that Jacob did this to pacify Esau, so fear was indeed his primary motive for all the gifts. Nevertheless, he still wanted to make peace with his brother, even though he wasn't sure why Esau brought 400 men. That may be the lesson we should take from the story. It is not about how wealthy or poor we are, or how powerful or powerless someone else might be; we should always be the one to pursue peace. Jesus taught that lesson by saying not to call anyone on earth "father," for we have only one Father in heaven, and not to call anyone "teacher," for we have only one Teacher, Christ. Then he said, "The greatest among you will be your servant, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." The idea is that a servant lives in humility before his master. Jacob's servants obeyed his commands. Although Jesus no longer calls us servants but friends, we are still subject to God's authority. However, since Jacob presented himself as his brother's servant, we should also learn to walk in humility with others, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we should, but thinking of ourselves as servants to our brothers.