Jacob Wrestles with God (Genesis 32:22-32)
Jacob had a lot on his mind. His past was catching up with him because he had heard that Esau was marching towards him with four hundred men. Esau by himself would be a fearsome sight, never mind meeting him with all his followers. Jacob was hemmed in. The route forward seemed to be nothing but trouble. And he could not turn round and head back to stay with Laban after the history between them. What could Jacob do?
First, Jacob tried a combination of prayer and his own scheming. His prayer is recorded in verses 9-12 and his plan is described in verses 13-21. Was his plan designed to impress upon Esau that Jacob had changed from the character he had been when he defrauded Esau of their father’s blessing? Now he was willing to give and share from his possessions.
Second, Jacob arranged to be by himself. This response seems unusual. Surely he would want human comfort from his family. No doubt, they were part of his burden, but he knew that they could not be part of his deliverance. He needed divine help, and the situation was such that he could not have any distractions from others as he sought to obtain it.
Jacob had been alone with God before when he had his vision twenty years earlier about the ladder as he made his way to his uncle’s home. That had been an awesome experience for Jacob. And he knew that to some extent God had kept the promises he had made at Bethel. Jacob now had a family and he also had great wealth. He had left Canaan with nothing, but he was coming back full. Yet it looked as if he might lose it all. Esau was coming.
Ever found yourself in this kind of situation. Promises fulfilled, yet now threatened in providence. The immediate future seems to be all the future that Jacob had because everything is going to be taken away from him. All that Jacob had received, even with the help of God, looked as if it was about to be taken away. Hemmed in, with no way out. All we can do is arrange some time with God and ask for his help. This is a wise thing to do. But it may not turn out in the way that we anticipate.
How does God appear
I wonder what Jacob anticipated when he found himself alone. Did he begin to say a prayer? Was he walking back and fore, asking God for help? On the previous occasion when the Lord appeared, he allowed Jacob to have a good night's sleep. Maybe he would do something similar on this occasion. If Jacob thought that, he was about to discover that God is never predictable, that we cannot assume how he will draw near. There was going to be no sleep for Jacob on this night.
Perhaps it would have been expected that God would give to Jacob an exhibition of his power in order to encourage him as Esau approached along with his band of men. Jacob, no doubt, would have appreciated a display of divine capability that would have calmed his fears. After all, the Lord could perform a sign that would have strengthened Jacob’s faith. God has done such signs in other contexts, such as when he called Moses to serve him. God could have done such a sign, but he did not. Instead, he appeared as a man.
We are not told what Jacob thought initially about this appearance of God. Maybe he was familiar with the account of how God and two angels had appeared at his grandfather Abraham’s tent as men. On that occasion, God in human appearance had provided information to Abraham that reminded him that the Lord intended to keep all his promises. Even although the men went away, Abraham could recall what he had been told. Did Jacob think that the stranger who appeared from nowhere on this occasion would pass on information about how to deal with Esau? If Jacob thought that, he was in for a surprise. Instead of speaking to Jacob, the man began to wrestle with him.
Ever found yourself in such a situation when God does something very different. Maybe you would like him to appear in a manner similar to how he did so previously, perhaps when you were converted. Perhaps on that occasion, a verse of the Bible seemed to jump into your heart, and you found a sweet taste of the love of God in your soul. You would love him to do so again. You may even have arranged to be alone in order to make it easier for God to meet with you.
Or you may want the Lord to appear to you in the way he appeared to someone else. Maybe you heard a testimony in which something straightforward had occurred and the person told of how God had made the way ahead so clear, and a string of blessings followed. Perhaps you read an account in a book or magazine of someone meeting with God and you said to yourself that it would be wonderful if God was to meet with you in that way.
What did God do?
We already mentioned that the Stranger started to wrestle with Jacob. Yet it was an unusual kind of wrestling. First, it went on and on, hour after hour. Second, the Stranger only used some of his power because we can see that he could have touched both of Jacob’s hips, but instead of doing that, he only touched one of them. It would not have been difficult for the Stranger to have removed from Jacob his ability to walk. But he only touched one hip.
Why did God do this? It looks to me as if God was providing Jacob with a real-life example of how not to serve him. God allowed Jacob to use his strength in this contest, and he must have possessed quite a lot to keep on wrestling for hours. Yet Jacob had to learn that the way for him to get victory over Esau was not by using his natural skills and abilities.
From one point of view, Jacob was already in the process of making such an attempt when he arranged for his possessions and family to go in a particular order towards Esau, all in an attempt to buy off his brother. It turned out to be a bit of a waste because Esau did not want any of it. He was actually friendly towards Jacob, indeed too friendly.
It is the case that Jacob had prayed to God for his help before he had implemented his plan (vv. 9-12). What should he have then done? Should he have left his concern with God and then see what would happen? Was it a wise plan he had put in place? There is no hint in the passage that this plan he devised was an answer to his prayer for divine help. Did Jacob’s plan indicate that he did not fully believe that God would answer his prayer and that he needed some help from Jacob?
When did Jacob realise who he was wrestling with? I assume it was when the Stranger touched his thigh and prevented Jacob from standing by himself. Jacob, having realised who was wrestling with him, gave up wrestling and became a clinger instead. Now he wanted God to hold him up. All that was a dramatic picture of Jacob’s life. He had fought for himself when he obtained the birthright from Esau, he had fought for himself when he obtained the blessing of Isaac, he had fought for himself when he enriched himself during his years with Laban. Jacob knew that he could get what he wanted. The question now was, did he want something more than what he had already received, something that only God could give him?
It is clear from the story that the Stranger was in charge of the incident because he decided when the contest should come to an end. At daybreak, he informed Jacob that the encounter was over. One would have thought that Jacob would have welcomed release from this engagement. But he showed that he had learned something very important. He now knew that he needed God’s blessing on his life.
Previously, Jacob had wangled the blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau. Isaac had indicated that he could not reverse the favours that had been given to Jacob. Jacob had walked away with that blessing, but no doubt he would have felt very uncomfortable about how he had obtained it. Now he wanted God’s blessing in a right way.
Jacob displayed what we can call spiritual bravery when he resisted the divine instruction to let go his hold. He realised that sometimes a situation can be a divine test to see if we will make the right choice. If Jacob had asked us for some advice regarding how he should respond to that instruction, we might have advised him to do what God required. After all, the Lord had just made it very difficult for Jacob to walk. What would he do if Jacob did not let go?
The Lord’s love the bravery of faith. We can think of the incident when Jesus met the woman of Sidon and told her that it was not right to take the children’s food and give it to dogs. His words would have said to her that since she was not a Jew she was not one of the children. Her reply delighted the Saviour when she said that she was happy to be a dog as long as she ate the same food as the children. And here Jacob showed the bravery of faith when he said that he would not let go until the Lord had blessed him.
The blessing of God
The blessing that Jacob received was a new name. As we know, this occurred at times in the Bible. For example, Abraham was previously Abram and Jesus gave the name Peter to Simon. The new name usually signified a change in the person’s life or circumstances. Abram means ‘exalted father’ whereas Abraham means ‘father of many nations’, his new name reflecting the promises he had received from God. The name Peter means rock and points to the way that Jesus would change unstable Simon into dependable Peter, although it would take a while.
Jacob’s new name was Israel which means something like ‘prince with God’ or ‘God struggles’. What was the significance of this for Jacob? He learned a lesson that Paul would later describe when he wrote that it was when he was weak that he was strong. In a strange way, God had made it impossible for Jacob to fight Esau or to run away from Esau. Now he had to face Esau and do so, depending on God.
Hosea, the prophet, tells us how Jacob sought blessing from God: ‘He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favour’ (Hos. 12:4). Why was Jacob weeping? Surely, it was tears of repentance. He had discovered that God wanted him to be a different man, a man dependent on God. After all, there is no victory with God until a person reaches the place of dependence on God.
Jacob now wanted to know more about the God he had encountered. This is why he asked the Lord about his name. The reply he received from God indicates that while it only took a brief sentence to describe the name of Israel it would take much longer to explain the meaning of the name of God. Nevertheless, the Lord blessed him, and he now had in a better way the blessing that he had received from Isaac.
When Jacob thought about what had taken place, he realised that he had discovered more about the grace of God. The One he had sinned against had come there to deal with him and Jacob would never be the same again. How kind it was of God to take time and meet with a believer who needed to face up to who he was and who needed to discover that he could lean upon God.
As we close, here are a couple of things to think about. First, if you ask God for a meeting, you should expect something new to happen to you. Second, meeting with God will have consequences. After all, how would Jacob walk in the land of blessings? He would walk with a God-given limp, and there are profound lessons from that experience for us.