GOD THE ADVERSARY/ GOD THE ADVOCATE
Genesis 32:22-32
INTRO. JACOB: THE USED CAR SALESMAN
Now as you may or may not know, Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the younger son of Isaac. Now the name Jacob, as Genesis 25:26 confirms, comes from the Hebrew word “heel” and was understood to mean “heel-grabber” or, translated idiomatically “cheater” or “swindler”. If Isaac and Rebekah were alive today they might have named Jacob “used car salesman”.
And we see too that up to this point in Jacob’s life he had manifested a character that lived up to his name. He had cheated and swindled his older brother Esau out of his inheritance rights as the first born and had stolen his father’s blessing (chs. 25-27). Then, in order to escape his brother’s retribution, Jacob moved into his father-in-law’s home (who incidently was an extrordinary swindler himself) and the two took turns cheating each other. Finally, Jacob decides to move back into the promised land and face the possibility of his brother’s wrath.
Now what follows next is a story of a great wrestling match with a mysterious opponent who ambushes Jacob in the middle of the night. It is intended to capure our attention by summarizing the whole of his life to that point. Jacob wrestled and struggled against everyone and everything. He wrestled against his circumstance as the younger child, against his father’s favoritism, against Esau, and against his father-in-law. And even though he resorted, at times, to unethical and sinful tactics, we are meant to see that the root of his wrestling was a tenacious desire for the blessing of God.
I. GOD OUR ADVERSARY?
Lets note some important features in this story. . .
22 Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone,
A. The writers of the Old Testament never added unimportant words when they recorded the stories of Holy Scripture, so everything that is recorded here is important. Our author first takes great care in the beginning sentences of this passage to assure us that Jacob is alone and without any resources. His wives, maidservants, children, and all his posessions were sent to the other side of the Jabbok.
B. Verse 24 tells us that a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he [the man] had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
Now we should ask here the question that the text itself does not immediately answer: Who is this mysterious man? If we are meant to understand that it is indeed a man the best guess would be that it was his brother Esau. Hosea 12:4, the only other reference to this story in the Old Testament identifies the attacker as an angel. Finally, judging from Jacob’s reaction at the end of the match it seems to be that the mysterious adversary is God himself.
30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
C. So we are left to conclude that this "man" or "angel" is really God assuming human form (what theologians call a theophany) to attack and wrestle Jacob. It is a disconcerting thing to think of God as an adversary and attacker who fights against us, but this is the plain sense of the passage.
D. And it is here that the story has application for us. You see, what Jacob went through in his actual, physical wrestling with God is what we all go through, at one time or another, spiritually in our relationship with Christ. There are times in our life in Christ that times of difficulty and temptation, reveal God to be our enemy and adversary. He ambushes us in the circumstances of our lives by providentially removing our hedge of protection and thereby exposing us to trial, temptation, and persecution.
E. God is our adversary. In fact, he is at war with everything that is a part of our natural, sinful disposition before him. We should not be surprised, at times that he ambushes us and wrestles us to the ground. This is the only way that he can drive us from the He is at war with our self-sufficiency, self-fulfillment, moral laziness, and pride.
II. GOD: THE ADVERSARY THAT BECOMES AN ADVOCATE
26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, ‘Jacob.’” 28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
A. It is here that God the adversary becomes God our advocate. In Jacob’s case God purposely kept his true identity hidden and allowed him to prevail in their great struggle. It immediately becomes clear to Jacob, however, that his adversary is no ordinary being. With a single touch, Jacob’s leg was torn out of joint. This should have ended the match outright, but Jacob, recognizing his divine opponent would not let him go until God blessed him.
B. Being blessed by God is no trival matter. In an article on blessing we read:
“As a preliminary statement, it must be stresed that nothing was more important than securing the blessing of God in one’s life or nation. . . How crucial it was, then, for the people of Israel to secure the blessing of the all-powerful God , the only creator, the ruler of the ends of the earth, their true lord and rightful king, whose blessing no one could reverse and whose curse no one could lift. And where there was a covenantal (or family) blessing passed on through the generations, there was nothing more urgent than being properly positioned so as to receive (or inherit) that blessing. A blessed life was the ideal; a life without the blessing of God was the ultimate nightmare. Real success was impossible without the much-coveted blessing. . . Nothing else really mattered.” (Michael Brown, “BaRaK” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, Vol. 1, p. 758.)
C. What is the substance of God’s blessing in Jacob’s case? It is a change of name. The angel asks Jacob, “What is your name?” Jacob replies in admission “cheater”, “swindler”, “used car salesman”. The man replies, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”. The name Israel is here related to two Hebrew words and means “Struggles with God”.
D. What is the significance of the name change and what is God’s word for us in this story. Hosea 12:4-6 Says, He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him – the Lord the God of hosts – the Lord is his name: “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God.” We are called to love and desire God’s blesing in our lives to the extent that we are unwilling to let go.
E. Wrestling God is a dangerous business.
31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. 32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
As the story of Jacob shows us, it is also potentially very painful. Most of us would rather not enter into battle with God the adversary. Unfortunately our reluctance will never allow us to find that the adversary becomes an advocate by transforming us by his blessing.
So the question before us is. . .
III. WILL WE WRESTLE?
A. C.S. Lewis writes, “Indeed , if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, bu too weak. We are half-hearted creatures about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine hat is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are too easily pleased. (C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, rev. ed. (New York: Collier, 1980) 3-4)”
B. We must not allow ourselves to become passive in our struggles through trial, temptation, and persecution. God is sovereign, but his sovereign will is never an excuse to adopt a fatalistic, “whatever will be. . . will be” disposition toward life.
C. God is a person and we must engage him as a person. First seeing him to be an adversary and then finding him to have been our advocate all along.
© 2001, Rev. Michael J. Pahls
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