ch 33 - So the feared meeting turned out to be a happy occasion. Two brothers in the flesh met again - the hostility of earlier years has gone. Jacob now recognises that God is at work I his life. Esau has all he needs and is happy. However spiritually these two brethren and poles apart.

32:11-12 Jacob's request for deliverance because of what God had said relies on Genesis 32:13-15 and 32:30. Jacob was not just making a deal with God. He was relying on things that God had already promised.

33:9,11 The two words translated 'enough' are in fact different words. :8 'enough' is 07227 and means 'enough' :11 'enough' is 03605 and means 'all' - see RV margin. So the second time Esau speaks he emphasises what he has already said.

Genesis 32:1 "And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him" -  That is, Jacob continued his journey back to the land of promise, having spent 20 years in Syria whilst God purged the "deceitful Syrian" out of his character. Though Jacob had long been in the "Truth" [he is here at least 77yo] only now is he in the process of being "converted." "His way"  is now becoming the way of God, and so it is no wonder that the angels of God now meet him - whether in person or in vision, we do not know - Psalm 34:7. The angels met him to bid him welcome to Canaan again, having attended to him 20 years previous on the way to Syria - Genesis 28:13. Jacob receives now a more honourable reception than ever any prince had that was met by the magistrates of a city. They met him to congratulate his arrival, and his escape from Laban. They had invisibly attended him all along, but now they appeared, because he had greater dangers before him. When God designs his people for extraordinary trials, he prepares them by extraordinary comforts.

Genesis 32:24 - "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" - There are a great many thoughts that one can have surrounding this incident. Did Jacob believe that he was wrestling Esau his brother in the dark? Some think strongly that this was so. Is Jacob being "left alone" here, foretelling us about the lonely nature of Jesus' trials, as He struggled with His desires to bring them in conformity to His Father's will? Whoever Jacob believed the "man" to be initially, was the "man" wrestling "with Jacob" ie. in a physical sense - or were they "wrestling together" over Jacob's problem concerning his "cheating" nature? Notice that the record says "there wrestled a man with him" ie. it was not 'against him'. 

32:9 We might think Jacob is striking a bargain with God at this point however he is reminding God had said (Gen 28:13, 31:3). We must be careful not to jump to hasty conclusions about Jacob just because we know he is a schemer. We should be equally careful when thinking about our brethren and sisters.

33:5 When Jacob meets Esau he explains that God has given him the things that he has. Esau, it would seem, had little time for the things of God, nevertheless Jacob still provided the explanation. Surely we would do well to imitate him. The fact that one we speak with may not believe in the God of Israel  is no reason not to express our beliefs though I suspect we are shy at times of doing this for fear of ridicule.

32 The repeated use of the Hebrew word panim – face / presence see list

32:3 him

 32:16 me

32:17 before

32:20 me face me

Highlights that the meeting was not just a casual meeting of friends or family. It was a meeting of two who, I the eyes of one of them, was a major incident.

33:16-17 After the meeting of Jacob and Esau, even though Esau invited Jacob to go with him – presumably to spend time together – Jacob goes a different way from Esau.

32:25 Jacob’s thigh being ‘out of joint’ is the basis for the exhortation – Heb 12:13 – see RV marginal note

32:32   In telling us what the Jews do not do God is not condoning their actions – simply saying that they have built up a practice which is based upon Jacob’s wrestling with the angel.

32:28 The idea of being a prince and having power with God is used by the prophet – Hos 12:3 – to remind Israel of the high position that they had fallen form.

33:4 The way in which Esau ran to meet Jacob is echoed in the language of the parable of the prodigal son – Luke 15:20

Psalm 36:1 - "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart" - Sin is represented as a person speaking within the Psalmist; not that the 'transgression of the wicked' was really in the Psalmist; but that the "old man of the flesh" ie. sin was in him, and sin of the same kind and nature as is with the wicked man's; but the Psalmist taking notice of and considering the wicked man's sinful course of life, and his daring impieties, conceived in his own mind, and concluded from hence:- "that there is no fear of God before his eyes" - ie. there is no reverential affection for God, but enmity to God; no godly filial fear, but at most only a slavish fear, a fear of punishment; no holy and humble fear of God, but pride and wickedness; no trusting and obedient fear, but all the reverse; no true true worship of God, either internally or externally.  The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render the words thus, "the transgressor said, that he might sin in himself, there is no fear of God before his eyes". The phrase "before his eyes" can mean that the transgressor believes that God is so good a Being, that he need fear no punishment from God, but presumptuously expects that God will pardon all his sins.

Psalm 36:12 - "There are the workers of iniquity fallen:" - Jesus describes the end of those termed as "workers of iniquity" in Matthew 24:48-51. Though the world is full of such creatures, sadly the Brotherhood has its fair share of them too - as the words just quoted by Jesus prove. The one who receives His reprobation there is described initially as "a good and faithful servant" in the previous verses - but sadly, with the apparent delay in his Master's return, his attitude changed - and so too does his destiny. His destiny becomes the same destiny as awaits those who find themselves stranded in Central Europe after their interview and rejection by Christ at the resurrection, to become part of the "everlasting lake of fire" prepared for the destruction of Sin and all Sin's adherents.

"they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise" - This describes the judicial end of Babylon, or Roman Catholic opposition to God, when fallen - Revelation 18:21, and this distinguishes the falls of the wicked from those of the righteous; for though the righteous fall, whether into sin, or into any calamity, they can rise again; not so the wicked; see Psalm 37:24; and thus, as the Psalm begins with the transgression of the wicked, it ends with their ruin. As a dear old Sister in Christ shared with me over 20 years ago:-

36:1      The wicked are naïve in that the are not afraid of God. Their wickedness stems from a conviction that God does not see nor will He do anything. Is this why we rebel? If so then we fall into the category of ‘the wicked’.

36:2 Flattering with one’s own eyes is comparing oneself with oneself – 2Cor 10:12

36 Note the powerful contrast in this Psalm. Between the wicked ::1-4 and God ::5-10. This forms the basis for the prayer of the rest of the Psalm – that God will continue to regard the faithful.

36:1 Paul – Rom 3:18 – uses the ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes’ as a general principle which is part of his argument which terminates with ‘all have sinned ...’ Rom 3:23

36:3 In saying ‘he hath left off to be wise.’ We see a man who once was ‘wise’ who has turned away from God’s wisdom to the thinking of the flesh

v.1-6. Jesus knew this was the right thing because he knew the prophecy (Zech.9:9). He was so in tune with God that he knew how to organise the circumstances of his life in order to fulfil God's purpose. We should aim to attain a similar position. John 9:31, Acts 22:14

Matthew 21:8 - "And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way" -  The A.V. appears incorrect here. The reference is not to the size, but to the proportionate part of the multitude which followed him. Hence R.V. more correctly has, "The most part of the multitude."

Matthew 21:14 - "The blind and the lame came" - Having condemned the profane use of the temple, he now shows the proper use of it. It is a house of prayer - Isaiah 56:7 for all nations, not just the Jews. It is in that place where Jesus manifest His Father's goodness and power in giving sight to the [spiritually] blind, and feet to the lame.

Matthew 21:19 - "and presently the fig tree withered away" - That is, immediately, upon Christ's saying these words, its sap was dried up, it lost its verdure; its leaves were shrivelled and shrunk up, and dropped off, and the whole was blasted. This tree was an emblem of the Jews: Christ being hungry, and very desirous of the salvation of men, came first to them, from whom, on account of their large profession of religion, and great pretensions to holiness, and the many advantages they enjoyed, humanly speaking, much fruit of righteousness might have been expected; but, alas! He found nothing but mere words, empty boasts, an outward show of religion, an external profession, and a bare performance of trifling ceremonies, and oral traditions; wherefore Christ rejected them, and in a little time after, the Gospel, was taken away from them, and their temple, city, and nation, entirely destroyed - see v43. Are we then, bringing forth "fruits meet for repentance" in our lives, or will we suffer the same de-creating blast that Christ afforded this sad fig tree nearly 2,000 years ago?

Matthew 21:5 - "The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" - They had just challenged Christ, and asked who gave Him the authority to interfere with their worship arrangements, when He cleansed their Temple. So when Christ here asks, whether "John's baptism was from heaven, or of men",  His meaning is, whether this new institution of baptism was of divine origin, and that John acted by divine authority, and commission; or whether it was a human device of his own, or of other men, and that he took the office of preaching and baptizing upon himself of his own head, or by some human appointment.  To this Jesus requires a direct answer, as is said in Mark, "answer me"; whether it was from the one, or from the other. And they reasoned with themselves; either "within themselves", as the Arabic version renders it, "in their own minds", as the Syriac; or they took some little time and privately conferred together, what answer they should return. When they had argued the point among themselves, they reasoned "saying, if we shall say from heaven"; that is, if we shall return for answer, that the baptism and ministry of John were of divine appointment, and that he acted by a divine authority, "he will say unto us, why did ye not believe him?" Meaning, why did not you believe the doctrine that he preached? and receive the testimony that he gave concerning the Messiah? and why were you not baptised by him? why did you reject the counsel of God against yourselves? They saw plainly, that if they owned the divine authority of John's baptism and ministry, they must allow Jesus to be the true Messiah, that John bore witness to; and consequently, that it was by a divine authority He did what He did in cleansing the Temple; and that then was an end of the question, and is the very thing that Christ had in view. Oh how I love the way that our Lord and Saviour can so tie men in knots of their own making! And He has had 2,000 years of Divine experience to hone this craft, so that every man who stands before Him shortly will be without excuse.

It’s important to read these records in the other Gospels, as well. Mark makes it plain that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey one day, and then the next day He went into the temple and cleared it out (Matt 21:10-12and Mark 11:11-19).  Obviously He had thought about this overnight, and carefully planned His actions.

Peter Forbes in his 2003 comments notes the time line of Jesus arriving at Bethany (means "house of dates" or "house of misery") and is thought by many to refer to the Gentiles along with the time line of his arrival on an ass in Jerusalem. Jesus arrived at Bethany 6 (thought by many to be the number of man) days prior to his death and Jerusalem 5 (thought by many to be the number of grace or mercy) days before his death Matt 21:1;John 12:1,12,13.  Christ's death and resurrection from a mortal human body enabled grace and mercy to mortal man and will be manifested in the hope followers have of immortality when Christ the king establishes his throne in Jerusalem Rev 7:9-10

21:12  In casting out those that sold Jesus was behaving like God who cast Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden for their sins.

21:9-10Whilst Matthew does not record it we know from Luke 19:41 that when the city came into view Jesus wept.

V.31 reads in the KJV: Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.  The word before (in the NIV it is ahead of) seems to suggest that the Jewish religious establishment will enter the kingdom, but after others.  The word before comes from the Greek word proago which means instead of.  This understanding is consistent with Jesus' statement that the Jewish religious establishment will not be in the kingdom (Luke 13:28).

21:2-7 Notice the consistency of Jesus with regard to the animals. It is always ‘them’. Whilst we sometimes debate whether Mat is correct with the two animals when the other records mention only one maybe there is some value in wondering why Matthew has a number of occasions when he emphasises ‘two’ – Matt 8:29, 9:27, 20:21,30

V.2 This verse fulfils the prophecy of Zech 9:9 as described in vs.4,5.  But why did the Lord need both the donkey and her foal?  Notice that the donkey was tied but the foal was not.  (There is no need to tie a foal as it will not wander away from its mother). 

 In the selection of the two animals, the Lord was showing Judaism and Christianity.  The older animal represented Israel.  Like the donkey, which was tethered, Israel was also limited, being constrained by the Law.  The foal represented the new way in Christ.  The limited older donkey gave birth to the unconstrained younger foal.  And so the Law gave birth to the freedom in Christ.

Using prayer for little miracles

In v18-19 Jesus cursed a fig tree and it withered away immediately. The disciples marvelled at the power displayed, yet Jesus simply said "you can do this too, and much more" (v21).

In our daily lives, as we see oportunities to teach others the word of God, we have the option to use prayer to help us. In this example Jesus destroyed a tree to demonstrate what he was teaching about unfruitful Israel. There is no doubt that his words are directed at us: "whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive". We could even ask to move mountains (v21). So on a practical level, what does this mean? It means we can pray for specific people we know; to pray for God to help them in a way that will demonstrate His power, His presence, or His truth to them. Elijah is our example for this kind of prayer in James 5:16-20, 1Kin 17:1-7, 18:41-45. 

21:16 In rebuking the leaders for their ignorance of Psa 8:2 we learn something about Psa 8. Jesus applies it to himself.