Jacob and God: Let's Get Ready To Rumble

Genesis 32

Jacob has separated from Laban with his family and herd and other wealth.  He's been away from home 20 years - but recalls that his brother Esau swore to kill him.  Welcome home, Jacob. 

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim [Two Camps].

God had earlier told Jacob he would be with him. A campsite of angels is a good reminder of that promise. 

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”

Sending messengers will let Jacob get a reading on conditions and feelings, without putting himself directly in harm's way.  Maybe that angelic campout is already forgotten.  Maybe Jacob is used to dealing with things on his own terms, without God.

When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 

The messengers found Esau, alright.  A a few hundred of his buddies.  I wonder how Jacob will react to this news?

In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.” 

Jacob panics.  He takes his own counsel and decides it's best to split up his people and belongings into two groups, hoping that when/if Esau attacks, the other group may escape.

Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 

So Jacob sets his own plan into action, THEN he prays.  Jacob is being ruled by his own fear and not by trust in God.  Notice, too, that Jacob sees there is no relationship between himself and God.  He prays to the God of his grandfather and father; that God who spoke to him.

I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Jacob and his family are in a group together, and he is afraid that Esau will attack his group instead of the other group.  He has split his single group into two - reducing his odds of attack from 100% to 50% (in his own mind).

But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’” 

Jacob even reminds God of His promise of prosperity - maybe Jacob should remind himself.

He spent the night there, 

Postponing the inevitable meeting with his brother for one more night.

and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.” 

Still wheeling and dealing.  And splitting the other group into several smaller groups ahead of his own might slow down Esau a bit.

He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”

A form of idolatry. Jacob is trusting in wealth and gifts to save him from Esau.

He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp. 

Jacob has worried himself into a (wrong) worldview, then set a plan into motion to address his fears in that worldview. It's time for God's reality to intrude into his woven fantasy.

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok [Wrestle] . After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, 

I don't trust Jacob's character.  On one hand, he may be reasoning that Esau's quarrel is with him alone, and sending his family away puts them out of harm's way.  On the other hand, Jacob may be thinking that putting his own family as another buffer between himself and Esau might give him a little more time to live, escape, or think of another deal.

and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 

God is present to set things straight between Himself and Jacob.  I'm a bit jealous of Jacob.  He wrestled with God from nighttime to daybreak.  I've wrestled with God for months and years on some matters.

When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

The new day is here, Jacob.  It's time to get on with life.

God showed, at a touch, that there was nothing that Jacob could do to overcome him.  Jacob was unwilling to surrender, but he was unable to win.  After Jacob was beaten, though, his lightbulb went on and he (deeply) changed.  He clung to God with all his might.

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 

That simply bears repeating: I will not let you go unless you bless me.  Is this the last gasp of a wheeler-dealer, looking for yet another blessing?  Or the determination of a man who has finally found God and will not let go?

The man asked him, “What is your name?”

The previous time Jacob was asked this question, he lied (and said Esau).

“Jacob,” he answered. 

That must have been humiliating.  Jacob has just said (in English) my name is Supplanter (one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another.)

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [Struggles With God] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 

Like Abraham, Jacob has been given a new name to indicate he is a changed man.

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.  So Jacob called the place Peniel,[Face of God] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob has finally come into relationship with God.  He no longer calls him "The God of Abraham" or "The Fear of Isaac" - instead he says, "I saw God." 

The rabbis have trouble with this part of the story.  God told Moses, no one sees my face and lives. So the rabbis teach that Jacob wrestled with Esau's guardian angel, and received a blessing.  Christians, of course, know that Jacob was wrestling with God - in the form of a pre-incarnate Jesus.

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,and he was limping because of his hip. 

Jacob/Israel might forget the about specific words and blessing he received that morning - but his limp will be a reminder that is was real, and that he did receive a blessing, and that he was changed.

Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

That was true through Moses's time, but it's not been carried-over into modern times.


After that amazing night, Jacob still has the same problem -- his brother Esau is approaching, possibly with intent to kill him in order to regain an inheritance -- but now everything is different. Jacob has encountered God.  Up close and sweaty.