Jacob Wrestles with God

Alone

So many times in my life I have struggled with understanding and meeting the future. I have found that mostly the unknown is simply a scary thought that is waiting to be revealed much like the monster under my bed as a child. Jacob has come full circle and his past is haunting him. In Genesis 27 Jacob and his mother work together to trick his father into believing that he is Esau and giving him his inheritance. Does this seem like a deception? It is, so how is it that God condones or blesses this?

Jacob spends many years wrestling with what he had done to his brother Esau. It seems to be obvious that this is true. God always seems to find a way for us to come full circle in our journey. Have you ever done this, left something in your past only to find that you were not finished with it?

It seems to be the past events that cause Jacob to pray. In this passage he may wrestle with God, but I feel he has been wrestling with God for years. Have you been wrestling with the past, present, or future? 3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 32:3–5.

Notice this is what Jacob tells his people to tell his brother Esau. In other words he did not go with them but sent them to speak for him. The next verse gives little comfort, but adds to the anxiety that Jacob has for his brother. Why do you suppose we have such anxiety? Often times it is because we are guilty.

Our guilt can build until finally we find who the battle is really with. 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 32:22–24.

Like many others God finally gets Jacob where he wants him, alone and vulnerable. But as blessed people we often feel that we can handle things. Jacob is driven to prayer because of his guilt and anxiety. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 32:12. It is actually a good thing to remind God of his promises. Jacob’s sacrificial terms unconsciously illustrate the gulf between man’s thinking and God’s. The pagan approaches his deity as Jacob now approached Esau (cf. 33:10), reckoning that ‘a man’s gift maketh room for him’ (Prov. 18:16). But in the Old Testament, a man’s gift is first God’s gift to him, before ever it is his to God (Lev. 17:11). As Jacob would soon discover, grace, not negotiation, is the only solvent of guilt.

Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1967), 179.

In this passage, if we are to understand what Jacob is encountering, we must understand that the battle that rages around Jacob is not about his brother Esau. Esau, as Jacob finds out has really done fine and has been blessed himself. The real battle is between God and Jacob. We must all face God and be judged. Jacob wrestles with God and survives, but he does have consequences of his battle.

Conflict is a battle often times from within. It is a driving force that compels us to strive onward but never confront the issue.

The amazing thing is that we all must face God. Moses asked to see God but only was allowed to see his backside as God walked away. Jacob wrestled with God and asked for the name of the one who wrestled with him, but/ 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

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 32:26–30.