Wrestling With God October 2023

WRESTLING WITH GOD

Text: Genesis 32:22-32

Gen 32:22-32 The same night he got up and took his two wives, 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 likewise everything that he had. (24) Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. (25) When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. (26) Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob 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) Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." (29) Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. (30) So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." (31) The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (32) Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

We might think of It as odd that Jacob was involved in a wrestling match with an unspecified person. Many have come up with any interpretations as to who this unnamed person was. Was it a another human, his brother Esau, an angel or even God appearing in the form of this wrestling opponent?

Jacob has been described as having the two natures---- a good side and side, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (Herbert Lockyer. All of the Men of the Bible). How often do we try to hide our dark side from ourselves and others?

There are are questions we need to explore to learn what the lessons are that we can gather from this story.

THE BACKSTORY

FAVORED: The backstory will help us understand a lot of how and why Jacob’s story unfolded the way it did. Jacob’s mother favored him and later helped him steal the blessing that was due for Esau for himself.

Do you remember a line from the Smother’s brothers? “Which line?” you ask. The line “Mom always did like you best” of course. In Jacob’s case it was true because Rebekah, his mom, did like him best!

TWINS: Isaac was sixty years old when his twin boys were born. Jacob and Esau were twins who seemed to compete with each other even in the womb. The scriptures say that there were two nations in Rebekah's womb. Though they were twins, one would be stronger than the other and the older would serve the younger. Esau was born first and Jacob was born holding Esau’s heel (Genesis 25:23 - 26).

NAMES: “The name Jacob means "supplanter\" or someone who seizes, circumvents, or usurps”. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+does+the+name+Jacob+mean&t=newext&atb=v357-1&ia=web In time, we will see just how well Jacob lived up to his name.

MARRIAGE OBJECTIONS: At the age of forty years Esau married two Canaanitish maidens which did not make his parenst happy…. Esau tried to conciliate his parents … by marrying his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. This led him to cast in his lot with the Ishmaelite tribes; … Twenty years after this, Isaac their father died, when the two brothers met, probably for the last time, beside his grave ( 35:29 ). Esau now permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy chief in the land of Edom (q.v.). …….Long after this, when the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, the Edomites remembered the old quarrel between the brothers, and with fierce hatred they warred against Israel. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/esau/ Perhaps this history explains how there were two nations in Rebekah’s womb and also why there is fierce hatred against Israel even today.

BLESSING ENVY: Birth order was kind of a big deal in the Old Testament because the first born received twice the blessing as the younger son (see Exodus 4:22; Jeremiah 31:9; Deuteronomy 21:17 and Psalm 78:51). https://www.gotquestions.org/firstborn-in-the-Bible.html

BIRTHRIGHT: Esau sold his birthright to Jacob over a bowl of soup. “Esau selling his birthright indicated his lack of respect for the position and privilege in which he obtained” (Genesis 25:33). https://aish.com/different-blessings-for-jacob-and-esau/ Esau got distracted by his hunger and sold his birthright like elementary kids trading their lunches at school. What distracts you?

STOLEN BLESSINGS: In Genesis 27: 12 - 41 we read about how Rebekah sided with Jacob, tricking Isaac to think that Jacob was really Esau and stole Esau’s blessing. Esau became so enraged that he vowed to kill Jacob.