This is a significant moment within the life of Jacob. It’s a significant night because it’s a night when God brings Jacob to the end of himself. The man who spent his whole life grasping, scheming, manipulating, and driving is finally going to discover that he cannot secure God’s blessing through his own strength.
In our passage today, what I want us to see and understand is this: God is going to have to break Jacob before Jacob learns to cling to him. And God is sometimes so powerful and so gracious that he’s willing to use hardship to make us more like him and more dependent upon him. Those that God saves, he also sanctifies.
So, let’s dive in.
“[22] The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. [23] He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. [24] And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. [25] When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his 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 has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” [27] And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” [28] Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, 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 name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” [31] The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. [32] Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.”
So, in an attempt to protect himself from the potential danger of Esau’s arrival, Jacob takes his wives, his two female servants, his eleven children, and everything else that he has, and he sends them across the ford of the Jabbok.
Verse 22 says, “He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.”
When I first read this, I asked myself, “What in the world is a ford of the Jabbok?”
A ford is a shallow place in a river where people or animals can cross on foot. I used google to learn that. But, if I’m honest, I could have probably used context clues to figure that out— “he took them and sent them across the stream.”
The Jabbok was a river in what we now know as modern-day Jordan, east of the Jordan River. And this is significant because the Jabbok would have been directly along Jacob’s journey from Paddan-aram back toward Canaan.
Jacob was on his way home. He was moving toward the land God told him to return to. This would have been a place directly between Canaan and Paddan-aram, directly between where he was leaving and where he was going. And in-between these two places, we see Jacob left alone, and while he was alone, a man came in the middle of the night and wrestled with him— “And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”
Now, there’s an important discussion here pertaining to who the man is that wrestles with Jacob here. But, before we get there, can we just really quickly point out how sometimes God seeks to get us alone before he seeks to deal with what’s going on inside of us?
Jacob was alone. And in the darkness of the night, God met him.
WHO IS THE MAN?
Now, before we go any further, I do want to try to answer a the question, “Who is this man that came to wrestle Jacob?”
There’s three different options or interpretations of who this man was:
A human.
An angel.
God himself.
Human.
I want to take a moment to explore why one would hold onto one of these three options. And then I want to try to shepherd us toward a proper interpretation.
First, let’s talk about the view that Jacob is wrestling with a human. What would lead to someone holding onto this view?
Well, it would come from a straight forward reading of verse 24– “And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”
If we were to stop reading here, then I would 100% agree that it was a man who wrestled with Jacob throughout the night. However, the story doesn’t end here, does it? Later in this story, Jacob will say, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” And then hundreds of years later God, through the prophet Hosea, said, “He strove with the angel and prevailed (Hos. 12:4).”
So, that can be a little confusing, right? God, through Moses, calls him a man here in Genesis, Jacob will later call him God, and then God, through Hosea, calls him an angel.
Angel.
This leads us to our second view that this would be an angel of the LORD who has appeared to Jacob.
One of the greatest supports of this view would be Hosea 12. In looking back on the life of Jacob, Hosea says, “He strove with the angel and prevailed.”
The Hebrew word for angel is malʾāḵ, which means messenger or angel. It can at times refer to a human messenger (Jacob, for example sent messengers before him to Esau in Genesis 32) or to an angelic messenger (two angels came to Sodom in the evening in Genesis 19:1), depending on the context.
So, those who hold this view believe that the one who wrestled with Jacob here was a created angel who appeared in human form as a representative for God. And, honestly, that’s not an outlandish view! God elsewhere communicates and interacts with his people through an angelic messenger who speaks and acts with God’s authority.
In Genesis 16, an angel of the LORD appeared to Hagar in the wilderness and said, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”Likewise, in Genesis 22, we see the angel of the LORD call out to Abraham, “Abraham, Abraham! … Do not lay your hand on the boy.” Then he says, “For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
So, those who hold this view would say that in a divinely unique way, Jacob wrestled with God as he wrestled with God’s angel.
God.
The third view here would be that this was God himself who wrestled with Jacob. This wasn’t simply a man, nor was it an angel. It was God.
I think Jacob’s response to his encounter is telling— “So Jacob called the name of the place Penuel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”Likewise, just before Hosea says that Jacob strove with an angel, he says that he strove with God— “[Jacob]strove with God in his manhood. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor.”
So, it could be that this is what we would call a theophany— a visible manifestation of God. And more specifically, many Christians throughout history have understood this to be a Christophany— a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God.
In other words, this wasn’t simply a man. Nor was it an angel. It was Jesus who came and wrestled with Jacob in the night.
The Bible tells us that man cannot look upon the face of God and live (Ex. 33:20). And yet the Bible also tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were made.
As John puts it, “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Jesus is the word made flesh. He has dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, and it is full of grace and truth.
So, here’s my pastoral counsel to you as we move on into the story.
First, we have to agree that this encounter was not simply with a man.
Second, if you land in the camp that this was an angel of the LORD, you have to hold to the belief that this angel was acting on behalf of the LORD… and thus it was the LORD’s actions that he was carrying out!
Third, we have to see that this wrestling match was prompted by God for a specific purpose for Jacob.
As Charles Spurgeon puts it, “We call him ‘wrestling Jacob,’ and so he was; but we must not forget the wrestling man,—or, rather, the wrestling Christ,—the wrestling Angel of the covenant, who had come to wrestle out of him much of his own strength and wisdom.”
God instigated the fight. As Jacob was preparing to come face to face with the brother that he’s been wrestling against his whole life, God comes face to face with him. As Esau is coming with 400 men, God comes as one man. And he wrestles with Jacob, not to destroy him, but to transform him! God has come to wrestle out of Jacob any self-reliance that might be left in him.
Jacob has spent his entire life trying to secure blessing through his own strength. And now God has come to teach him that God’s blessing cannot be grasped; it can only be received.
Church, as we work through this narrative, I want us to understand that sometimes it is a grace to be broken by God. Sometimes God’s greatest act of mercy toward us is to bring us to the end of ourselves. Better is it to have God come and wrestle self-reliance out of you than to have God allow you to continue relying on yourself. Better is it to have a limp the rest of your life as a reminder that you are not God than to be able to sprint thinking you are God.
I’m afraid to pen these words, but could it be better to walk weak with God than to walk strong without him?
We don’t know what time this match began (but in true wrestling fashion, it was late). But, we do know what time it ended. They wrestled until the breaking of the day.
For context, I googled this week the average timespan for an UFC fight. It’s 8-9 minutes. The average wrestling match 6-7 minutes (WWE lasts 10-20). And, if a boxing match goes the distance, it could last up to 47 minutes. And yet this match lasted all night long.
And when the sun started to come up and the man saw that he wasn’t going to beat Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
If you google dislocated hips, it indicates that this is something caused by significant force such as a major fall, car accident, or sports injury. Yet, Jacob’s hip was put out of joint by a simple touch. The language here is intended to highlight a lack of effort. The man didn’t punch or kick his hip; he touched it. And with a simple touch, his hip was put out of joint.
I think this highlights the fact that this was no ordinary man wrestling Jacob, and it was an even fight because God allowed it to be an even fight. Like a dad wrestling with his child, God wrestled with Jacob.
Now, I dislocated my thumb during football in HS. It was excruciating. So, I can’t imagine the pain that must have come from this moment. The medical advice provided for someone whose hip has been put out of place is to “keep the person still and seek emergency medical care immediately.” Yet, notice what the text says, “…and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’”
Through tears, Jacob saying, “I am hurting, Lord! I am broken, Lord! But, I need you, Lord! I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man who spent his entire life grasping, planning, scheming, and deceiving has finally learned how to cling and plead. Jacob has no strength left to fight. All he can do is hold on and say, “Lord, I’m not letting you go, bless me as you’ve promised you will!
After Jacob’s request to be blessed, the man said to Jacob, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
***Remember, Jacob means “heel-grabber.” It’s a name and title that highlights deception.
And then the man said to Jacob, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
The Hebrew name “śārâ” means to strive, contend, struggle,” and the name “ʾēl” means God. So, the basic name for Israel means he strives with God or “God strives/contends.”
This is a transformational moment for Jacob! And, the beauty of this name isn’t found in the strength of the one who possesses the name. The beauty of this name is found in the dependence upon the one who gave it. Jacob didn’t prevail because he was stronger than God! He prevailed because, when his strength was gone, he refused to let go of God! His victory wasn’t found in his strength; it was found in his dependence. Jacob didn’t overcome God; he clung to God. The heel grabber has become the God clinger.
The man who grasped Esau’s heel… The man who grasped the birthright… The man who grasped the blessing… The man who schemed with Laban… now finds himself with nothing left to grasp but God himself. The man who always relied on his own strength is now fully dependent upon God’s strength.
Now, this name “Israel” is a name that will be passed along to God’s people throughout history. We see this in verses 31-32, “[31] The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. [32] Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.”
God was (and still is) creating a people who will learn to walk in full dependence and surrender to him. If your faith resides in Jesus, you have been grafted into this covenant people who will limp through life together for the glory of Jesus!
Charles Spurgeon says this, “God’s choicest mercies often come to us under the guise of adversities.” In other words, God often chooses to use hardships for our good.
For Jacob, every twinge of pain that would shoot down his leg would serve as a subtle reminder of God’s power that would be carried out through Jacob’s weakness.
Church, not all limps are bad! Sometimes God might break us to make us stronger. But, sometimes God might break us to make us weaker! And weakness is a blessing if it pushes us to depend upon God more.
Listen closely to the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, “[1] I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. [2] I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. [3] And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—[4] and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. [5] On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—[6] though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. [7] So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. [8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. [9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Church, not all limps are limitations. Some limps are a result of the all-powerful, all-gracious God of the universe reaching down and touching us! Some limps are a blessing because they push our hope off of ourselves and onto God. Whatever limps we have… physical weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities… may they lead us to pray, “God, may your power be made perfect in my weakness!”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Jacob spent much of his life grasping, scheming, planning, and manipulating. What are some ways we are tempted to do the same thing? Put another way, “What does self-reliance look like in your everyday life?”
Jacob was left alone before God dealt with him. Why might solitude and stillness be important for recognizing what is happening in our hearts?
Jacob’s hip was put out of joint, yet his response was not to let go of God but to cling to Him. What does this teach us about how we should respond when God allows us to experience weakness or hardship?
Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. What are some parallels between this text and Genesis 32? What application can we draw from those similarities?
What are some areas of your life where you would rather be strong without God than weak with God?
What does it look like for Christians to cling to God?