Of the scenes of his sojourn at Haran there is no occasion to speak particularly. Perhaps the deception in which his mother and himself were the responsible parties came up fresh and clear to him when he found that Laban had taken similar liberties with him, giving him Leah when Rachel was in the bond. A man never gets so sharp and keen a sense of the wrong of these little deceptions as when he becomes the victim and the sting goes deep into his own bosom. This is sometimes the Lord’s way to testify his disapprobation of this wrong and to impress his own view of it upon those who may have sinfully indulged in it. _Mahanaim._ The second great exigency of Jacob’s life has its record in Gen. 32. Twenty years have passed away in Haran; he has wives, children, and ample substance of cattle, sheep, camels. Indeed all his children except Benjamin are now about him. Not feeling at home longer with Laban; remembering the Lord’s promise to give Canaan to him and to his children; mindful moreover of the scenes of Bethel, and we may hope, somewhat fearful lest the household gods which were dangerously near the heart of Laban, might be a snare to his wives and children, he fully makes up his mind to return to Canaan. At some point on this return journey, (as the narrative states rather abruptly), the angels of God met him. Jacob saw them and said, “This is God’s host”――a convoy――a kind of military guard, the demand for which presently appeared. He gave name to the place from the fact――“Mahanaim”――the double camps or hosts. They seem to have been an intimation to him that danger was near, and that God’s hosts were near also for his rescue.