The Angel’s Touch: An Exposition of Genesis 32:22-32
In the previous passage, we saw that Jacob dreaded meeting his twin brother, Esau. He should have been afraid, for Esau felt cheated out of the patriarchal blessing of the firstborn. The LORD had assured him that al would turn out well. Yet Jacob must have thought that he had to devise the way the LORD would work. Esau was coming to meet him in battle with hundreds of armed men. There is no way Jacob could have prevailed. Jacob’s cunning would not be the way out either.
Jacob sent everyone and everything he had over the stream called Jabbok. In doing so, he exposed his wives, his children and his servants to danger. For some reason Jacob stayed behind. On the appearance of it, it shows that Jacob was the ultimate coward. Not only this, but Jacob showed how selfish he really was. He could lose it all, but he himself would be spared the carnage. But the LORD had other plans. That night, Jacob was assailed by what the Scripture here calls a man. Hosea says it was an angel. But we must realize that angels do not necessarily have wings and could appear quite human. Jacob was a herder, so he had to have some physical strength. This wrestling match lasted for some time, and Jacob must have been quite tired. But he did not give up.
At some point, Jacob must have realized that this was no mere man. We know this because at the break of day, the man he was wrestling with asked to end the contest as daylight was breaking. Why daylight is mentioned is somewhat of a mystery, unless this was the LORD wrestling with him, and no one can see the LORD and live. Jacob refused to let him go unless this man blessed him. As the greater blesses the lesser, Jacob must have known it was the LORD.
So the man responds by asking for the man’s name. Jacob replied with his name which means “usurper” or “deceiver.” He had lived up to his name at this point. But from now on, he would be known by a different name. His name would be named Israel, which is roughly translated, “A prince who prevails with God.” The man who blesses Jacob makes this connection by saying the reason he would bear this new name is that Israel had prevailed with both God and man. The strange thing is that he would revert to form the next day. He would put his concubines and their children up front, then Leah and her children, then Rachel and Joseph. But there was a change also. Instead of staying in the rear, he came to the front to meet Esau. This is much like our struggle as well. God has transformed us by his grace though faith in Jesus Christ. We should be totally fearless, yet we see the old man still at work in us. In fact, it seems odd how we can be called “saints” and yet act in such an unsaintly manner.
The LORD did one more thing to Jacob. He touched the hollow of his thigh which resulted in Jacob becoming permanently lame. In truth, the reason Jacob had prevailed with the LORD was because the LORD had let him prevail. At any time, a simple tough of the LORD could have hobbled him. In fact, the LORD could have killed him on the spot without even laying His hand on Jacob. Now this “touch” of an angel would hardly seem a blessing. Most of us would have asked for the two armies of the LORD which had come to Jacob the day before to fight for him against Esau. Or Jacob would have thought that the LORD would have given him superhuman strength to overcome Esau in a matter lie He would later give Samson. But the last thing that would seem a blessing is that Jacob be hobbled. He would be in no condition to have taken Esau on in single combat. This and the fact that he was exhausted by the all night wrestling match would have made him weary as well.
However, the hobbling of Jacob would become a great blessing indeed. The next day, Jacob would come hobbling to meet Esau. God would change Esau’s heart from rage to love. The pitiful condition of Jacob may have contributed to this. Jacob in all his strength could not have prevailed against Esau. But he did not have to. It must also be observed that God had mercy on Esau as well. He could have easily disposed of Esau. The LORD could have hobbled Esau rather than Jacob. But Esau was also a descendant of Abraham and Isaac. The descendants of Esau would be a snare to the people of Israel for centuries, even to the days of Jesus as Herod the Great was a descendant of Esau. We see even here that God is not willing anyone should perish, not even the hated Esau. God is also the great reconciler, and instead of meeting in battle, they would embrace each other in love. How much better an outcome was this? The angel’s touch went farther than Jacob.
Perhaps by the time Jacob was finished talking with the LORD, morning had broken and he actually saw the one he was wrestling with as he called the place “Peniel” which means “face to face with God.” He had seen God, and yet did not die. So, was this “man” Jacob wrestled with the pre-incarnate Jesus? There is also some who feel that the “Angel of the LORD who appeared to many in the Old Testament times was also Jesus. This is interesting speculation which we cannot definitely answer, but Jacob and others certainly thought they had seen God, such as Samson’s parents. But Jacob did not see God in a vision. The hobbled thigh told him that. For the rest of his life, every step he took would serve as a reminder of this. More than this, he would be reminded that the LORD fights the battles for his servants in the way and time of His own choosing. The result will be better for us, for others, and it would give the proper glory to the LORD.
Verse 32 ends the chapter with a gloss that the children of Israel from that day would not eat the sinew of the shank of the thigh. This would serve as a reminder that they should not trust in their own strength. It is the LORD, the creator of heaven and earth, who looks after His people. When Moses wrote Genesis, the people of Israel were in the wilderness, not far from Canaan. In fact, they were not far from where this incident occurred on the other side of the Jordan, north of the children of Esau. They were not to disturb Esau by engaging in battle. Their enemies were before them on Canaan. They would inhabit the land promised to Abraham and his descendants. They had no means in themselves to overcome the Canaanites who had walled cities and chariots of iron. But without siege equipment, and armed only with obedience to the command of the LORD, they simply marched around the walls of Jericho seven days and then shouted. And the walls came down.
There is so much more in this narrative than the angel’s touch. We think of the sentimental TV program “Touched by an Angel.” We get sentimental seeing the classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the bumbling angel Clarence who manages to save the day for a family. We get sentimental and teary-eyed over what is essentially fiction. We really don’t know that much about angels, and anything beyond what the Bible reveals needs to be viewed with skepticism. We know that they are servants of the LORD whom the LORD uses for His purposes. They are certainly not to be worshiped. But the person Jacob wrestled with, as we have seen, was no ordinary man or angel. God did not send a delegation but intervened in Jacob’s life personally. Psalm 34 tells us that the Angel of the LORD encamps around us personally. We are also told in Revelation that God will personally wipe the tears from our eyes. We are blessed not by the touch of man or angel, although God can and does use these means. We are important to God personally. Jesus would later come and die not just for the sin of the world as a whole, but for our sin personally.
This should encourage us as we travel this journey called life. We face many dangers, toils, and snares. Yet God’s amazing grace leads us home on our journey. Jacob was returning to Isaac at the edge of an earthly Canaan. The Children of Israel entered into that same earthly Canaan. But God prepares a new home for His people in the New Jerusalem in the greater Canaan land. This is the land both Abraham and Moses and the Old Testament believers saw. As beautiful as some would find earthly Canaan, a land of milk and honey, it is but a type and shadow of the one to come. We know that the LORD has gone before us and will lead us over Jordan. With the Holy Spirit in our midst to guide us, we are touched every day by one far greater than any angel. For a little while, God let man prevail over Him on a cross. But this cross becomes the means of our hope and reconciliation. Someday, the morning will break, and we will see Him face to face.
