創世記32:22-32

32:22 他夜間起來，帶著兩個妻子，兩個使女，並十一個兒子，都過了雅博渡口，
32:23 先打發他們過河，又打發所有的都過去，
32:24 只剩下雅各一人。有一個人來和他摔跤，直到黎明。
32:25 那人見自己勝不過他，就將他的大腿窩摸了一把，雅各的大腿窩正在摔跤的時候就扭了。
32:26 那人說：「天黎明了，容我去吧！」雅各說：「你不給我祝福，我就不容你去。」
32:27 那人說：「你名叫甚麼？」他說：「我名叫雅各。」
32:28 那人說：「你的名不要再叫雅各，要叫以色列；因為你與上帝與人較力，都得了勝。」
32:29 雅各問他說：「請將你的名告訴我。」那人說：「何必問我的名？」於是在那裡給雅各祝福。
32:30 雅各便給那地方起名叫毘努伊勒（就是上帝之面的意思），意思說：「我面對面見了上帝，我的性命仍得保全。」
32:31 日頭剛出來的時候，雅各經過毘努伊勒，他的大腿就瘸了。
32:32 故此，以色列人不吃大腿窩的筋，直到今日，因為那人摸了雅各大腿窩的筋。

 ²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,^[f] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel,^[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,^[h] and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

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    上帝和人摔跤，人當然是無法勝過上帝，但是上帝樂意扶持祂所愛的人，故意輸給他，就像上帝在這裡故意輸給雅各。所以，贏的還是上帝，並不是雅各！這是出上帝無比的愛！

    正如上帝愛世上的人，故意讓祂的愛子耶穌基督為世人的罪死在十字架上，使世人可以得拯救與祂和好，滅去人和上帝之間的冤仇。而主耶穌也明白上帝的心意，所以沒有行神蹟從十字架上下來，情願死在十字架上，好完成上帝的旨意，使世人可以得救！

    所以，我們不能以小小的腦袋來明白上帝在基督裡對世人的愛，我們當存感謝的心，來跟隨主耶穌，因為耶穌基督不僅死在十字架上，更是在第三日後，從墳墓中復活，使人肯定祂是上帝的義，並且要將這個義賜給我們！

創世記32:1-21

32:1 雅各仍舊行路，上帝的使者遇見他。
32:2 雅各看見他們就說：「這是上帝的軍兵」，於是給那地方起名叫瑪哈念（就是二軍兵的意思）。
32:3 雅各打發人先往西珥地去，就是以東地，見他哥哥以掃，
32:4 吩咐他們說：「你們對我主以掃說：『你的僕人雅各這樣說：我在拉班那裡寄居，直到如今。
32:5 我有牛、驢、羊群、僕婢，現在打發人來報告我主，為要在你眼前蒙恩。』」
32:6 所打發的人回到雅各那裡，說：「我們到了你哥哥以掃那裡，他帶著四百人，正迎著你來。」
32:7 雅各就甚懼怕，而且愁煩，便把那與他同在的人口和羊群、牛群、駱駝分做兩隊，
32:8 說：「以掃若來擊殺這一隊，剩下的那一隊還可以逃避。」
32:9 雅各說：「耶和華─我祖亞伯拉罕的上帝，我父親以撒的上帝啊，你曾對我說：『回你本地本族去，我要厚待你。』
32:10 你向僕人所施的一切慈愛和誠實，我一點也不配得；我先前只拿著我的杖過這約旦河，如今我卻成了兩隊了。
32:11 求你救我脫離我哥哥以掃的手；因為我怕他來殺我，連妻子帶兒女一同殺了。
32:12 你曾說：『我必定厚待你，使你的後裔如同海邊的沙，多得不可勝數。』」
32:13 當夜，雅各在那裡住宿，就從他所有的物中拿禮物要送給他哥哥以掃：
32:14 母山羊二百隻，公山羊二十隻，母綿羊二百隻，公綿羊二十隻，
32:15 奶崽子的駱駝三十隻─各帶著崽子，母牛四十隻，公牛十隻，母驢二十匹，驢駒十匹；
32:16 每樣各分一群，交在僕人手下，就對僕人說：「你們要在我前頭過去，使群群相離，有空閒的地方」；
32:17 又吩咐儘先走的說：「我哥哥以掃遇見你的時候，問你說：『你是哪家的人？要往哪裡去？你前頭這些是誰的？』
32:18 你就說：『是你僕人雅各的，是送給我主以掃的禮物；他自己也在我們後邊。』」
32:19 又吩咐第二、第三，和一切趕群畜的人說：「你們遇見以掃的時候也要這樣對他說；
32:20 並且你們要說：『你僕人雅各在我們後邊。』」因雅各心裡說：「我藉著在我前頭去的禮物解他的恨，然後再見他的面，或者他容納我。」
32:21 於是禮物先過去了；那夜，雅各在隊中住宿。

 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.^[b]

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
⁷ In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,^[c] and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,^[d] the group^[e] that is left may escape.”
⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
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, ‘Who do you belong to, 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.

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    雅各回到家鄉要勇敢面對與哥哥和好的問題，雖然過去得罪了哥哥，經過二十年並不能說事情就這樣過去，心裡總是覺得哥哥一定會找他算舊帳的，心中十分害怕！

    所以，在沒有和哥哥碰面之前，先派人去打聽。不打聽還好，一打聽竟然發現哥哥帶了四百人向他而來，讓他更是懼怕！於是想用禮物來軟化哥哥的心，所以分了好幾批人帶禮物，希望能和平解決問題。

    這也告訴我們與人和睦的重要性，即使是家人也要彼此和睦。而在此，我們要感謝主耶穌，祂在十字架上滅去了一切的冤仇，使我們與上帝、與人人都能夠恢復正確合宜的關係！所以，主耶穌的福音是一個和好的福音！

箴言25:8

不要冒失出去與人爭競，免得至終被他羞辱，你就不知道怎樣行了。

What you have seen with your eyes
do not bring hastily to court
for what will you do in the end
    if your neighbor puts you to shame?

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    人與人之間還是和平相處最重要，不要主動去挑臖別人、製造紛爭，對我們絕對沒有好處，還會受到人的羞辱！

    其實做人還是低調為宜，如此才可以有真正的平靜生活，也才不會羞辱主名！

箴言25:6-7

25:6 不要在王面前妄自尊大；不要在大人的位上站立。
25:7 寧可有人說：請你上來，強如在你覲見的王子面前叫你退下。

⁶ Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence,
    and do not claim a place among his great men;
⁷ it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,”
    than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.

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    在《路加福音》中，也記載主耶穌有類似的教導：「你被人請去赴婚姻的筵席，不要坐在首位上，恐怕有比你尊貴的客被他請來；那請你們的人前來對你說：『讓座給這一位吧！』你就羞羞慚慚地退到末位上去了。你被請的時候，就去坐在末位上，好叫那請你的人來對你說：『朋友，請上座。』那時，你在同席的人面前就有光彩了。因為，凡自高的，必降為卑；自卑的，必升為高。」（14:8-11）

    不管是《箴言》和《路加福音》的教導都是告訴我們要做一個「自卑」的人，不要做「自高」的人。當然這裡的「自卑」不是叫我們有「自卑感」，認為自己處處不如人。這裡的「自卑」是情願站在卑微的立場，也就是做人要低調，不要擺架子，不要自以為是！

    一個人若喜歡以高調在人面前，不但不能得人的尊重，還會被人羞辱呢！不要忘記，不管地位有多高，謙卑總是會給自己帶來尊榮，就像主耶穌就是最好的模範，祂本是上帝的兒子，是萬王之王，竟然還願意為了拯救我們而走上十字架的道路！所以，祂是配得尊貴和榮耀的！