John Calvin Commentary Genesis 32:9

"And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good:" — Genesis 32:9 (ASV)

O God of my father Abraham. Having arranged his affairs as the necessity of the occasion suggested, he now turns to prayer. And this prayer is evidence that the holy man was not so oppressed by fear as to prevent faith from proving victorious. For he does not, in a hesitating manner, commend himself and his family to God; but trusting both to God’s promises and to the benefits already received, he casts his cares and his troubles into his heavenly Father’s bosom.

We have previously explained the purpose of assigning these titles to God—calling God the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac—and what these terms mean. The point is this: since humans are so far removed from God that they cannot, by their own power, ascend to His throne, He Himself comes down to the faithful.

By calling Himself the God of Abraham and Isaac, God graciously invites their son Jacob to Himself. For the holy man, access to the God of his fathers was not difficult. Again, since the whole world had sunk into superstition, God desired to be distinguished from all idols, so that He might retain an elect people in His own covenant.

Jacob, therefore, by expressly addressing God as the God of his fathers, fully brings to mind the promises given to him through them, so that he might not pray with a doubtful mind, but might securely rely on this support: that as the heir of the promised blessing, God will be propitious toward him.

Indeed, we must seek the true pattern for prayer in the Word of God, so that we do not rashly intrude upon Him, but approach Him in the manner in which He has revealed Himself to us. This becomes clearer from the surrounding context, where Jacob, recalling God's command and promise, is supported as if by two pillars.

Certainly, the proper way to pray is for the faithful to respond to God who calls them; and thus there is such a mutual agreement between His Word and their vows, that no sweeter or more harmonious symphony can be imagined. “O Lord,” he says, “I return at Your command: You also did promise protection to me as I return; it is therefore right that You should become the guide of my journey.” This is a holy boldness, when, having fulfilled our duty according to God’s calling, we confidently ask of Him whatever He has promised; since He, by freely binding Himself to us, becomes in a sense voluntarily our debtor.

But whoever offers prayers relying on no command or promise of God, does nothing but cast vain and empty words into the air. This passage gives stronger confirmation to what was said before: that Jacob did not falsely claim to his wives that God had commanded him to return.

For if he had spoken falsely then, no ground for hope would now be left to him. But he does not hesitate to approach the heavenly tribunal with this confidence: that he will be protected by the hand of God, under whose guidance he had ventured to return to the land of Canaan.