Ysrael (Yis-Ri-el)

Israel - Ysrael - Yis-Ri-el: To struggle with or Wrestle with God.

What does the idea of wrestling with God make you feel?

For me when I heard the words wrestle with God I am transported to a time when my son thought he would like to wrestle…at first I was happy for him to give it a try…I was very familiar with wrestling…

when I was not much older than Caleb at the time I was involved in youth wrestling…I loved it…partly becuase I spent so much time watching my brother wrestle…It was for me a sign of growing up.

However I was mostly excited about it because I was pretty good at it. I had (Have) just enough of a stubborn streak that if I could not pin my opponet right off I would simply out last him.

I would flatten out my body so it was hard to turn me…I was pretty good at escaping most holds and pretty good at picking up points even if I was over matched.

I learned for me wrestling was simply being willing to endure the uncomfortable long enough for my opponent to make a mistake or just simply give up.

This is exactly what Jacob pulled off when God changed his name from Jacob to Israel.

Jacobs whole life up to this point has been a wrestling match with his father Isaac, brother Esau and God.

As the eldest son of Isaac, Esau should have inherited the covenant with God that Abraham had passed on to Isaac. But Esau traded his birthright (inheritance) to his younger brother, Jacob, for a “mess of pottage” (a meal of stew) when he was too hungry to consider what he was throwing away.

Not physical wrestling but ambitious wrestling.

Genesis 32:22-32

“22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.”

“24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.””

“27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.”

What is your initial reaction to this Passage?

Jacob’s ambition was both bad and good....This is something we all wrestle with at times…so what are some of the negative elements of ambition?

What are some of the good elements of ambition?

Ambition with a correct motive can be good as long as we keep our hearts connectd to God’s heart....

Why do you think Jacob Wrestled with God?

When Jacob was returning home to Canaan with his family after his many years of service under Laban, Jacob received the news that his brother, who had threatened to kill him for his past trickery, was on his way to meet him (Genesis 32:6).

Despite sending gifts of appeasement, Jacob was afraid for his life and family. He prayed to God for help and sent his family and possessions on ahead of him to protect them. Left alone in his camp, God came and wrestled with Jacob until daybreak (Genesis 32:24-29).

Jacob’s struggle with God is symbolic of his struggle with his inner self.

God wanted to enter into a relationship with Jacob, however, he couldn’t do so until Jacob admitted his weakness of self-reliance, deceit, and trickery.

When Jacob refused to surrender to God, a mere divine touch on Jacob’s hip forced him to surrender and admit his utter need for God (Genesis 25-26).

Why do you think God changed Jacobs name to Ysreal?

What about this thought?

God blessed Jacob and gave him a new name – Israel (Genesis 32:28) and with it a new identity. Jacob was no longer to be associated as the swindler and trickster of his past: He was a new creation, filled with God’s blessings with a divine purpose to establish the Israelite nation.

Names in the Bible have a bigger significance than they do now. Now, when we give someone a nickname, we do it for fun or because we enjoy a certain aspect of someone. (Tommy Boy Fire Name)

But when someone changed a name in the Bible, it was a massive deal. It determined their whole identity moving forward.

When Jacob said to God, “My name is Jacob,” he was doing more than merely stating his given name. Actually, Jacob was confessing that he was a deceiver, a liar, a cheater, and a manipulator.

Jacob's confession was a significant moment in his life and gave Him a new understanding of the heart of God.

If Jacob had not wrestled with God this would not have been pointd out to him…Jacobs ambition had blinded him to the truth…I wonder if some of the issues we deal with from time to time are connected with us being blinded by ambition or a variety of other emotions?

How is Jacob’s story relevant today?

Like Jacob, we can enter into a relationship with Christ today by asking forgiveness for our sins and declaring God to be our Savior and Redeemer.

Through admitting our brokenness to Him, God can give us a new life as His children, and we can enter into an eternal relationship with Him, full of His blessings and good promises over our lives.

Jacob was able to experience a new identity through his new name, Israel. In the same way, when we come to know Christ, we experience a transformation. It changes everything: our lives, our thoughts, our actions, etc.

We can also learn from Jacob's story that people throughout the Bible wrestled with God in not only a physical sense.

There's nothing wrong with questions and the need to explore the Bible more. Christian faith isn't blind, but rather, based on how God has come through for us in the past. We can wrestle with him and still emerge with a new identity.

How Can we or should we normalize wrestling with God?