KEY TEXT: Genesis 32:22-32
THOUGHTS:
Here we find Jacob, a man known for stealing his brother’s birthright, marrying two sisters because he didn’t get the one he wanted to begin with, and having a very treacherous relationship with his father-in-law. He finally pays his debt to his father in law and leaves for home in the Promised Land and ultimately a confrontation with his brother, Esau. He sends gifts to his brother to try and smooth things over and make peace, but on the way home he has a strange encounter.
During the night he sends everyone across the river and stays alone on the other side and a man comes and wrestles him until dawn. Jacob wrestles with this man and finally the man strikes Jacobs hip and asks to be let go, and Jacob refuses unless the man blesses him and reveals his name. The man blesses Jacob but never discloses his name. Many people see this “man” as different things, a real man, an angel, or God Himself, but in some way the man represents the presence of God.
This passage is frequently used as a lesson on fervent prayer, wrestling with God through the night with God over some issue until God decides to bless it. I think that we miss the grander picture with that interpretation. What is going on is that Jacob is using the tricks of his normal, old life, as a trickster, a person who did whatever was necessary to get his way. This is the attitude that he carries into the wrestling match with God. He believes he can, by his own strength and power, manipulate God into giving him the blessing, but what happens? God cripples Jacob for life, reversing the very strength that Jacob has come to rely on. He is now completely dependant on God, he cannot do life on his own. God still blesses Jacob but leaves a mark and reminder of what the blessing required.
Jacob’s name is also changed. Name change signifies something drastic or significant happening in one's life. Abram's name is changed to Abraham for example, to signify the covenant with God. Saul’s name is changed to Paul to signify drastic life change from persecuting Christ to loving Him and calling all people to His Name. Jacob’s name is changed to show a change in his character. All his life he struggled with men, and he struggled with God about what he wanted, the wrestling match symbolizes his entire life. That is why his name is changed, because he is now man relient on God who must trust Him and does.
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing a new thought on a traditional passage. It's so easy for me to see myself as the trickster just wanting to get out of God what I want, not realizing the damage that does to myself. If I was named for this, what would my name be?
Great post, Steve! I appreciate what you're writing. There's a cool verse in Revelation that says "And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it." (Rev 2:17) I went to a Bible Study that handed out white stones and told us to go ask God in prayer what He would rename us -- how would He mark our lives in a new way? Do we embrace that God really made us new? We aren't that old self anymore. The rock is a tangible reminder to hold in our hand and remember God made us new.
You make a great point about us needing to check our hearts if we are manipulating God and trying to convince Him of what we want. We need to check our motive, and I'm sure we get a lot of "self" tangled up in our requests to God. Very true! But just for the sake of dialogue, I feel bad for Jacob here. I don't see him as manipulating God. I see the wrestling as his inner struggle, his yearning in his heart, and his desperation before God. Maybe he just needed God. Maybe he had learned it from his grandad Abraham when he said to God, "don't pass me by" (see Gen 18:3). And God blessed.
You've got some great thoughts here, Steve! It would be fun to hear some discussion through these comments. I hope some others will join in and share how it resonates with them too. Be blessed!
I have always seen his wrestling as his fighting off something inside of himself...guilt, shame, false self, etc. Almost like the war of the inner self.
WHere this passage's power lies I think is how deep the interpretations can fall though. Why did God allow the author to leave off answers to some of these questions of interpretation:
1. Why is wrestling with an angel the first response of Jacob? Where was the precedence for that?
2. Why did God put up with Jacob in the fight?
3. What really was the limp about? What that a consequence? A blessing? Both?
4. When did Jacob realize it was God he was wrestling with? Was he wresting with "the man" before for other reasons and then he realized the sacred?
To me, the beauty of this passage is that I cannot figure it all out. I want to...I really want to. But, I guess the wrestling with the text is the fruit!
Or maybe not!
all posts are welcome...anonymous too!
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