Wrestling With God (Genesis 32)

Jacob’s name meant a heel catcher, someone who gets ahead by slowing someone else down. God had prophesied to Rebekah that the older would serve the younger, but Jacob took the inheritance and the blessing by tricking his brother. Was his suffering under a wage-cheating father-in-law a good lesson for him regarding this character flaw? Was his journey from Jacob the supplanter to Israel the persistent ruler with God a saga of spiritual growth? Is his tenacity a lesson for all of us? Do we wrestle with God in prayer? Let’s look at Genesis 32.

Did angels meet Jacob on the way? Have angels ever met us unawares?

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. (Genesis 32:1-2 NIV)

What message did Jacob send to Esau? Did he seek peace with his brother?

Then Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother, Esau, who was living in the region of Seir in the land of Edom. He told them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Jacob. Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform my lord of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’” (Genesis 32:3-5 NLT)

What did Jacob plan? Was he afraid that his brother planned evil?

The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies. He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.” (Genesis 32:6-8 WEB)

What was Jacob’s prayer? Was this a test of his faith in God’s word?

Jacob said, “Lord, God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I’ll make sure things go well for you,’ I don’t deserve how loyal and truthful you’ve been to your servant. I went away across the Jordan with just my staff, but now I’ve become two camps. Save me from my brother Esau! I’m afraid he will come and kill me, the mothers, and their children. You were the one who told me, ‘I will make sure things go well for you, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so many you won’t be able to count them.’” (Genesis 32:9-12 CEB)

What gifts for Esau did Jacob prepare? What plans do we make when we don’t fully trust God’s word?

After Jacob had spent the night there, he chose some animals as gifts for Esau: 200 female goats and 20 males, 200 female sheep and 20 males, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, and 20 female donkeys and 10 males. Jacob put servants in charge of each herd and told them, “Go ahead of me and keep a space between each herd.” Then he said to the servant in charge of the first herd, “When Esau meets you, he will ask whose servant you are. He will want to know where you are going and who owns those animals in front of you. So tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, who is coming this way. He is sending them as a gift to his master Esau.’ ” (Genesis 32:13-18 CEV)

What further preparations did he make? Do we try to bribe people too rather than simply trust God’s word?

He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.” So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night. During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions. (Genesis 32:19-23 HCSB)

Why was Jacob’s name changed to Israel? Should we wrestle with the same tenacity in prayer?

And so Jacob was left alone, and he struggled with a man until daybreak. When the man realized that he hadn’t yet won the struggle, he injured the socket of Jacob’s thigh, dislocating it as he wrestled with him, and said, “Let me go, because the dawn has come.” “I won’t let you go,” Jacob replied, “unless you bless me.” Then the man asked him, “What’s your name?” “Jacob,” he responded “Your name won’t be Jacob anymore,” the man replied, “but Israel, because you exerted yourself against both God and men, and you’ve emerged victorious.” (Genesis 32:24-28 ISV)