Meeting God at Peniel (Genesis 32)

This sermon was preached on 2 October, 2011

Earlier this week there was an item on the news that indicates there are many people alive today who are one hundred years old or over. The reporter had gone to see one such person and we could see her active in her house. No doubt, some were amazed at her ability at such an advanced age. As we turn to the incidents of Jacob’s life recorded in Genesis 32 we need to remind ourselves that Jacob is now ninety-seven. The man who met God at Peniel was almost a centenarian which is a reminder that God can meet with any age group and bring about a life-changing encounter.

Many intriguing features in Jacob’s walk with God are dealt with in the Book of Genesis. One of them is the way in which God dealt with Jacob’s fears, and that issue is one of the concerns of this chapter. In Genesis 32, Jacob is obviously worried about an imminent meeting with his brother Esau. Should he have been concerned? On the one hand, we could say yes. After all, his last news about Esau was twenty years old and at that time he wanted to kill his brother for taking his father’s blessing by deceit. Jacob had no idea if Esau was still angry about that incident. On the other hand, we could say no. During those twenty years, God had shown his powerful care of Jacob many times. On his first night away from home, God had appeared to Jacob at Luz and promised him that he would be taken care of. Since then, God had blessed Jacob despite the opposing schemes of Laban, and only recently had intervened to prevent Laban from punishing Jacob for leaving Haran. In verse 1, Moses records a special meeting with Jacob’s camp and a host of angels, which should have been a great encouragement to Jacob because their appearance was a reminder that he was protected by the armies of the Lord. So there were reasons why Jacob should not have been afraid of Esau.

Nevertheless he was, and we have to ask why. It looks to me that what we have here is two possible reasons as to what was wrong with Jacob. One reason is that he had a tendency to see the black side in every situation; after all, he later said after Joseph had been taken away, ‘All these things are against me!’ It was not true that all things were against him, but he could not see that was the case. Obviously we can excuse him coming to that conclusion in the distress that accompanied what he thought was the death of Joseph. Yet it does look as Jacob had the tendency to see the dark side in general, which is a very common problem in God’s people.

Where was Jacob at this moment? Geographically he was on the border of the Promised Land and chronologically he should have been expecting that the Lord was about to keep the promise he had made at Bethel concerning bringing Jacob back to the land (Gen. 28:15). Yet it looks as if his temperament prevented him getting spiritual comfort from that promise. This type of response is not limited to Jacob. Many Christians have had a similar outlook and I suspect that some of us have it as well.

The other reason is that sometimes there is one situation or individual whom we cannot accept that God can deal with. We can imagine ourselves speaking to Jacob and asking him, ‘Did you doubt that God would protect you from Laban?’ Jacob would reply, ‘No, I was sure that the Lord would keep me from Laban’s schemes.’ If we then asked him, ‘Do you think that God will protect you from Esau?’, we would observe a worried look coming on Jacob’s face. Often we can find ourselves afraid of one event, maybe something that we said in the past and we are apprehensive that the person to whom we spoke offensively will yet come and take revenge.

Dealing with potential danger

So how did Jacob deal with this difficult situation? Moses mentions three responses of Jacob. First, he tried to be friends with Esau; second, he prayed about the situation; third, he assumed that Esau could be placated by lots of gifts. The first response was common sense; the second response was a prayer that expressed, at least, surface trust in God; and the third response suggested careful thinking about the problem.

The first response of Jacob sending several messengers to Esau backfired. They made contact, but they failed to find out what Esau thought about Jacob. What should we make of the message he gave them to pass on to Esau? To begin with, we can see that the message of Jacob to Esau made no mention of God. Instead it reads like the claim of a self-made man who had prospered well during his time with Laban. Further, the message to Esau reads as if Jacob had not previously received the birthright and the blessing from God – Jacob gives to Esau the title and position that Esau should have been giving to him (lord, your servant Jacob). If these were the only words of Jacob that we had, we would not think that he feared God.

Such a self-centred message had repercussions for Jacob. The outcome was that God in his providence brought confusion to the messengers (they imagined that Esau was marching against them when it looks as if he had said anything) and that confusion then brought dread into Jacob’s camp (he became so apprehensive that he became willing to lose half his assets). His decision to divide his people into two camps is odd because he was already aware of another two camps, that is the camp of angels and his camp. He had obviously forgotten that God had sent his army to defend him.

Is this type of response not typical of a godly man when he does not live up to his divinely-given place? We all can think of times when we have spoken without mentioning God, which gave the impression that we are achievers by ourselves, and we have not behaved as if God had not blessed us. When we do that, we can expect problems in providence. Nevertheless even the problems can have a beneficial effect because, as Calvin affirmed, the Lord allowed the misreading of the situation by Jacob’s messengers to lead Jacob to pray in earnest about his situation.

So Jacob now felt that he had to pray (32:9-12), which is always a good sign. In many ways his prayer is very commendable, indeed Spurgeon in one of his sermons calls it ‘Jacob’s Model Prayer’. We can see that in his prayer Jacob addresses God appropriately as the covenant God of his fathers, that he reminds the Lord of his recent requirement to go home. He confesses his unworthiness of all the evidences of God’s loving faithfulness to him over the past two decades. He presents his concern in very clear terms (v. 11) and reminds the Lord that he cannot allow Jacob’s family to be harmed without breaking his previous promises. He mentions the cause of his concern in plain words that are easy for others to understand.

Yet is there anything wrong with his prayer? Clearly, he should have prayed first before making moves towards Esau, which of course Jacob may have done although we are not informed that he did so. No doubt, it was wise for him to have the various features of his prayer. Nevertheless, the fact that his prayer did not bring confidence in God to Jacob’s heart indicates that all was not well with him during and after the prayer. It is not easy to find the problem, but what is easy to see is that after the prayer was over Jacob put in place ruses that would outwit Esau. His actions showed he was willing to lose what God had previously given him as fulfilments of promises made to him.

Perhaps Jacob had not prayed long enough over such an important issue. His prayer is very short, even if we allow for the recorded version being a summary of what he actually petitioned. Alexander Moody Stuart, a nineteenth-century Free Church of Scotland minister in Edinburgh, had three rules for personal prayer which he passed on to others: pray until you pray, pray until you are conscious of being heard, pray till you receive an answer. It was good that Jacob knew he should pray; it was good that he knew what he should pray for; it was good that he was about to discover that there was more to prayer than he had previously imagined; and it would have been good if he had prayed longer because his short prayer had not dealt with his fears.

It seems clear that Jacob’s time of prayer did not enlighten him regarding the attitude of Esau, which was his main concern. Jacob had gone to pray because he was apprehensive about his brother’s arrival, and after he had finished praying he was still concerned about what would happen when Esau came. Jacob’s prayer time did not seem to have reminded him of the God-given angelic protection that he enjoyed, and which he had seen vividly a few days before, nor did he have an inner assurance that God would honour his promise to protect him whatever the problem. Therefore Jacob’s priority was still about placating his brother, and so he devised a plan in which instead of merely telling Esau what he had received, which he done when he sent the messengers, he now shared with him a large number of the animals he had accumulated. There was wisdom in this plan because it would show Esau that Jacob was a changed man, although we cannot say that is why Jacob chose it. Yet there is an important lesson for us in this policy. Those about whom we are praying should see that we have been changed by the grace of God.

Wrestling with God (32:24ff.)

It was good for Jacob that the Lord was on his case, even if Jacob was unaware of it. The final action of Jacob on this important evening was to send his wives and children across the Jabbok. Then he was left alone, or so he thought. Perhaps he intended engaging in further prayer or maybe he intended to function as a guard, keeping an eye on any of his men or animals who might attempt to return. Whatever his intentions were, he was in for an unusual night. Jacob was going to spend several hours participating in a wrestling match with a Stranger.

Quite often we read this passage as if Jacob was wrestling in prayer and we use him as an example of persistent prayer. Yet the passage does not say that he was praying to God, it does not even indicate that he spoke to God until near the close of the wrestling engagement. The wrestling was a physical activity, but it has a spiritual lesson. Through this lesson the Lord dealt with a fault that was obvious in Jacob at this time. We can approach the incident by asking several questions.

Who was actively wrestling? It is clear that both individuals were engaged in the conflict. But one was active and the other was defensive. The active participant was the Stranger and Jacob was resisting his advances. This was not a wrestling match in which Jacob wanted to engage, but it was one in which the Stranger was determined to take part.

Who was the Stranger? It is clear from Jacob’s response that the One wrestling with him was God (Hos. 12:3-4). We cannot tell at what stage Jacob realised it was God. Why was God wrestling with him? I suspect God wanted to show Jacob the folly of depending on his own ideas. Of course, God could have easily made Jacob immobile at any time; after all it was not difficult for God, with a touch, to make Jacob limp. Yet Jacob did not show any spiritual discernment until the Lord touched his hip socket. Jacob immediately realised who had done this, and instead of wrestling with the Lord he clung to him tenaciously.

The incident was a test for Jacob as to how he would obtain future victories. In the past he had won a victory over Esau by his cleverness when he obtained both the birthright and the blessing. Now he was anticipating another clash with Esau and it looks as if Jacob thought he could deal with it by combining prayer with his cleverness. From one point of view, he was not the old Jacob, but from another point of view the old Jacob was very involved in his strategies. I suppose we could ask, At that moment, was Jacob like Abraham or like Laban?

Why did Jacob triumph? He triumphed when God took away an important aspect of Jacob’s strength, which was his ability to stand on his own. The Lord was aware that Jacob would not fully depend on his Maker until there was no other alternative. It was not sufficient that Jacob be a praying man. In addition, he had to become a broken man, a dependant man, one who was no longer depending on his own abilities. Jacob learned here what Paul would also learn, that it is when we are weak that we are strong.

When did Jacob triumph? Strangely, it was when he stopped wrestling with God and began clinging to God. The victory came when he said to God, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’ (v. 26). Because he had become weak, he was now strong. God had so dealt with Jacob that he was now unable to run away from Esau. Whatever Esau would do the following day, Jacob was totally dependent on God. Now Jacob realised this was the case and he held on to God.

What benefits did Jacob obtain? Jacob was now ready to get a new name Israel, which means ‘God will prevail’. Name usually indicates character. When he was merely Jacob, he knew about striving unsuccessfully with men, even if he made some temporary gains. But as Israel, he had discovered the secret of real success, of obtaining blessings from God, and even at this moment he seems to have been given the victory over Esau that he so wanted, that he now had power over men.

What was Jacob denied? Jacob wanted to know more about the Divine Stranger who had wrestled with him. Yet his request was turned down. Perhaps he was being reminded that he cannot ask the same questions as God. After all, the Lord can say to us, ‘What is your name?’ and we will tell him who we are. But we are not God’s equal and we cannot command him to reveal everything about himself to us. Jacob was being told that there were some things he had no right to know.

Or it could be that Jacob’s request was refused because he was not yet ready to know more about God. After all, he had already that night being made ready to trust fully in God and what a prolonged incident it had been. There is a sense in which Jacob, in asking God to reveal his name, was assuming that he was now ready to experience more of God. But he wasn’t. What he had been given that night was sufficient for the present. In the future he would learn more as God led him on in his paths.

How did Jacob respond? The answer to this question is not given in Genesis 32, but it is found in Hosea 12:4: ‘He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favour.’ Why was he weeping? Not because he was in physical pain as a result of the wrestling. Instead he wept tears of repentance because he realised that he was not fully depending on God. The Lord had shown Jacob his sin and there in the presence of God Jacob confessed with tears. Despite the unusual way of obtaining the desired result, the Lord had brought self-dependent Jacob to the place where he could become Israel, the man who experienced God’s transforming power.

What did Jacob conclude? We see the answer to this question in verse 30: ‘So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”’ Jacob realised that the One he should have feared had been gracious to him. His God had taken steps to appear in a manner that would not destroy Jacob. Jacob realised, through a remarkable display of divine grace, God was on his side.

The theological description of this divine appearance is a theophany, and it is generally accepted that the divine person who appeared in this way was the Son of God. He appeared temporarily to Jacob in a particular form but that form was discarded when the meeting was over. Almost two thousand years later, the Son of God appeared in a form in which human could see him face to face and not be destroyed. That form has not been discarded, and so we can look forward to seeing him face to face for ever.

Of course, we should not regard the incident at Peniel as merely an incident in the life of Jacob. The incident tells us how we can interact with the One who delights to call himself the God of Jacob. We can have dealings with him in which we will not be destroyed even although we have sins very similar to Jacob. The story encourages us to draw near to him and ask him to change us. And we will be changed as long as we continue clinging to him. After all, it is better to limp with God into the future than march into it without him.