Jacob Wrestles with God (Gen 32:22-32)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 32:22-32.

This morning, we’re in a section of the text that almost seems out of place. Remember during last week’s sermon, we focused on Jacob’s fear as he starts heading to see Esau, his brother. Next week’s passage is actually the passage in which Jacob meets up with his brother.

Wedged between the two is almost what seems like a side-note event that seems like it’s completely out of the blue, but it’s a very, very important text—that I argued has been misappropriated in various different ways.

We’re going to read an unusual situation that completely changes Jacob’s life in a number of different ways because it connects Jacob back to the Covenant.

Keep this in mind as we read Genesis 32:22-32.

Genesis 32:22–32 ESV

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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into three parts: (1) The Setting (22-25), (2) The Blessing (26-30), and (3) The Result (31-32). This passage shows us a decisive event in Jacob’s life in which he quite physically wrestles with God throughout the night. And, it would be rather easy for us to moralize this and make a statement that just like Jacob, we ought to wrestle with God, but I think that actually misses the point of the passage. Yes, we could talk about the need to spiritually wrestle with God, but I think to only focus on the idea of wrestling with God, would be detrimental to us. Keep this in mind, we’ll pray together and we’ll jump in.

Prayer for Illumination

The Setting (22-25)

So, remember, Jacob is on his way to see his estranged brother Esau and there’s a significant amount of fear that he’s dealing with as part of this journey.

You can understand this fear as Jacob didn’t leave his brother on good terms.

He had stolen Esau’s blessing and his inheritance—everything that ought to have gone to Esau as the first-born has been given to Jacob—and it wasn’t done in a polite way.

Jacob had tricked and deceived—he had essentially force his own desires on everyone around him.

So, it’s really now wonder why he would be so afraid to see his brother—especially since he had no contact with him over the decades that he served his father-in-law—Laban.

With that said, Jacob is headed back to his homeland—thus, he has to interact with his brother Esau.

And to prepare, he’s already sent ahead a delegation and in vv. 22-23, he does something that seems like it’s just an added detail, but it’s worth considering. Jacob takes his wives, his servants, and his children and he has them cross the stream with everything that they had while he stayed behind.

Now, commentators have postulated as to why exactly he does this—and they’ve come up with everything from:

He’s preparing for the night because he knows something is about to happen—I don’t think this is likely because there is no indication that he knows something is about to happen.

He’s sending them ahead for their own safety—I don’t think this is likely either because the only danger that could come to them on the side of the creek that he’s on would be from Laban, but Laban had already sent all of them off safely and returned home.

Or (and I think this is the most likely one)—he’s sending them ahead, just in case his brother still seeks to harm him maybe as a buffer between him and his brother.

Hopefully, that by seeing the kids and the wives first, Esau has compassion and doesn’t try to kill Jacob.

Regardless, Jacob sends all his wives and children along with his property and he stays on the opposite side of this creek. The Bible then immediately goes into the next scene in vv. 24-25, “Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 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.” And already, we need to pause and ask a few questions:

First off, you notice that Jacob didn’t initiate this interaction—this was an interaction initiated by the other person, who we simply know as a man.

This man essentially attacks Jacob and they both wrestle each other until the breaking of the day.

Second, notice that through this attack, Jacob actually holds his own, but notice also, that he only prevailed because the other person let him.

You really see this fact midway through v. 25 that the man “touched [Jacob’s] hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint.”

If this man could just touch Jacob and his hip is put out of joint, which we find out later results in a permanent injury, then surely he wasn’t really struggling through the wrestling match—he was letting Jacob prevail in this match.

And that makes sense, when we find out who this man is—later in the text.

In the midst of this wrestling match, the two have a brief conversation and there’s actually a lot to unpack in this conversation. Look at vv. 26-30.

The Blessing (26-30)

Genesis 32:26–30 ESV

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.”

The man says this statement, “Let me go, for the day has broken,” but Jacob insists on not letting him go for a very specific reason.

And we already have a few ideas that we need to think about:

First, remember, this man just popped Jacob’s hip out of socket with a touch—the fact that he’s now saying, “let me go” seems a bit unusual.

Second, consider the “day has broken” phrase. There’s something of note that we have to consider—daybreak does not necessarily mean that it is bright enough to see detail yet.

It’s still dark enough that Jacob cannot see well and that’s important when dealing with v. 30—so keep this in mind.

The day has broken, the man tells Jacob to let him go, and Jacob responds with “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” This gives us insight into who Jacob thinks this is.

The reason we know this is because he had already received multiple familial blessings—he’s essentially received all the normal blessings that an individual would receive (even beyond his status as the youngest son).

The only reason he would continue to ask for a blessing in this situation is if he recognized that this individual is (1) someone who had a blessing in which he could bless him and (2) someone who actually had the authority to bless him.

The person continues the conversation by asking for Jacob’s name in v. 27 before making it clear who he is and what the purpose of this event is.

By asking for Jacob’s name—the person isn’t saying he doesn’t already know. He’s essentially following social custom. In a way, by asking for Jacob’s name, this person is showing that he knows that he is above Jacob—authority-wise, personhood-wise, even in just general strength and power-wise.

And, again, it makes sense when you consider who he is—though, we don’t know who he is in the narrative yet and neither does Jacob.

The person asks for Jacob’s name, which implies a higher status and then in v. 28, he makes a profound statement with many implication. “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Again, this man has authority over Jacob, which is why he can rename Jacob without hesitation. Jacob’s new name is Israel—and the man describes it like this, “for you have striven [or contended] with God and with men.”

That’s actually what Israel means—to strive or to content—and I think you can see the meaning of the name played out throughout Jacob’s life. In addition, you’ll notice some significance in the fact that Jacob meant trickster or deceiver. This man literally changed the very name of Jacob now Israel and it shows the vast difference between who he used to be and who he is now.

Now, by implication, this man has revealed who He is—that He is God and that is who He has striven or contended with through this night.

And that’s how Jacob really understands it as you continue in the text. In vv. 29-30, Jacob asks for His name, but remember in their cultural setting, it’s really not Jacob’s place to ask for this person’s name.

Why not?

Because of the societal conventions—Jacob does not have the authority to ask of this person really anything because Jacob is less than or subordinated to this man. And it’s not hard to imagine how Jacob is lower than this man because He is God—every man is lower than God.

Now, some have argued that in making this request, Jacob is trying to exercise authority over this man, who we now know is God in the flesh; however, I don’t think that’s the case. In my thinking, it just seems as if Jacob wants to actually know for certain who this individual is.

Nevertheless, His name is never revealed, but He does bless Jacob; and Jacob renamed the place, “Peniel, saying, ‘For i have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’”

The word Peniel means Face of God, so you can see why Jacob would make that statement by renaming the location.

Now, I do have to bring up a question, how can Jacob say that he has seen God face to face; and yet, the Bible maintains that no man has ever seen God face to face? There are two answers to that question:

The Bible is clear that no one has seen God, the Father face-to-face—part of this is due to God’s non-corporeal nature—He is a spirit—thus, we can easily respond by simply saying that Jacob didn’t see God, the Father face-to-face.

There is a person of the Trinity that is visible, that is corporeal—that has flesh—and His name is Jesus. He’s still God, thus, Jacob can rightly say that he has seen God face-to-face and be correct in his assertion and the Bible could still make the statement that no one has seen God face-to-face.

This is, what theologians call a Christophany—a moment in which Jesus comes in the flesh prior to His birth in the New Testament.

So, Jacob renames the place in honor of or to commemorate the moment that he met Jesus and experienced Jesus’ blessing on him.

The text then wraps up with vv. 31-32 by showing us what the results of this encounter are. Take a look at the last two verses:

The Result (31-32)

Genesis 32:31–32 ESV

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, after the sun does rise—Jacob gets up and goes on his why through Penuel. In v. 32, we’re told an interesting fact about the nation of Israel, that due to what happened to Jacob, “the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he [meaning God] touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.”

It seems like a quirky statement to end the passage on, but what it shows us is that this event had a life-changing effect on Jacob-now-Israel.

It influenced his life so much that future generations—his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. knew about the event.

It influenced his life so much that future generations of his seed made a life affecting decisions to not eat a certain part of the animals that they butchered.

And you don’t really have to ask why to figure out why they chose to do this—it’s because Jacob-now-Israel had been radically changed to the extent that you told his family of all the things that happened repeatedly enough that they remembered it and could tell their children about it—and so on and so forth.

The result of Jacob and God wrestling is someone, who formerly was identified as a liar and a cheater, as a deceiver becoming one who sees God face-to-face.

The result of Jacob and God wrestling is someone radically being changed—not of their own volition, but because God chose him, worked in him, and changed him.

Note how throughout Jacob’s life—God has been the initiating agent or cause throughout the whole process—it’s God who initiates contact with us and not the other way around, remember we only love Him because He first loved us.

With that said, let’s take the remaining few minutes to tie all this together for our application:

Application

We’re looking at a passage that brings up a ton of questions. For instance, one of the most debated questions in this passage is—why would God do this? And the reality is, to answer that question, I don’t know—no one does. In addition, there are several other questions that could be raised, why did God allow Jacob to prevail so long before “touching his hip?” Why did God touch Jacob’s hip and not something else? Why didn’t he give Jacob a bum arm rather than a bum hip?

All of those questions—and really several more—are interesting, but I think to hyper-fixate on those sorts of issues distract us from seeing the main idea at play. In addition, we could overly analyze this in a way that we moralize it—that’s where you get the idea that just like Jacob wrestled with God, you need to wrestle with God, but again, I think there’s more to it that could easily be missed if we focus too much on moralizing the text.

So, let me remind you of the narrative’s context.

Throughout the life of Jacob—he has been a deceiver who hurt his own family to get what he wanted—in particular, he deceived his brother and his father to take his brother’s birthright and to take Esau’s blessing.

God had been working on him through the last twenty years by means of Laban—who tricked and deceived Jacob over and over again.

Because of Laban’s not-too-pleasant way of dealing with Jacob and with a little prompting from God, Jacob eventually decides to return home.

Except, over the past twenty years, Jacob hasn’t really had contact with his brother Esau—and he’s fearful that when he does return home, his brother Esau, still holding a grudge, will seek to hurt him.

Just before this incident in which he wrestles with God—Jacob prays a prayer, in vv. 9-12. In particular, take a look at vv. 11-12, “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 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.’”

Essentially, save me from my brother who I think will harm me; and, by the way, I’m trusting You because of the promise that you made me.

And then, Jacob wrestles with God—do you think that his wrestling with God was precipitated by this prayer?

After Jacob prays this prayer in which he basically says that he’s going to trust God, he then sends his family ahead without him—quite probably to act as a cushion or a buffer before Esau gets to Jacob.

It sounds like, even though Jacob said that he was trusting on the Lord who had made him a promise—that he was still acting as if he needed to fix the problem himself.

That’s when he wrestles with God and in doing so, though he prevails, what actually ends up happening is that God breaks Jacob down enough that Jacob wholly depends on the Lord—we can tell because from this point forward, the way that Jacob speaks changes.

When Esau asks about his family—Jacob specifically says that this is the family that God has given to him. (Gen 33)

When Esau tries to reject Jacob’s gift (for good reasons—Esau says that he has enough and doesn’t need more)—Jacob responds with Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough,” which by the way, if you think of it—Jacob’s life epitomized a life in which he always wanted more, and now he recognizes that he has everything that he needs because he has seen God. (Gen 33)

Later in life—God speaks to Jacob again and Jacob responding to God’s demand says to his people, “Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” (Gen 35:3)

After Jacob cried out to the Lord—God radically changed him, which is notable through the name change given to him by God.

Now, let’s think this through in our own context. Very few, if any, of us will ever be able to say that we have wrestled with God in a physical sense—like Jacob did, but many of us act just like Jacob does throughout this passage (and really, throughout his life). For instance:

Throughout our lives—we live in a way that’s epitomized by our own sin.

God works through our lives in various different means in order to draw us to repentance and bring us to a point in which He changes us.

Even after that initial change, which occurs in salvation, many of us still attempt to live life as if God doesn’t exist—we essentially act like deists even when we claim to believe in the personal God of the Bible.

We try to “fix” the problems of our lives ourselves instead of just obeying God and following Him.

And, often in life, we’re in this metaphorical spiritual battle or wrestling match with God except and we’re wrestling for the same things that Jacob wanted—an additional blessing from the Lord, despite already receiving a blessing from the Lord.

I think what’s happening in Jacob’s situation is ultimately what needs to happen in our situation.

Many of you claim to believe, claim to follow the Lord, claim to trust in Him, claim to believe that He is sovereign and providential, but then live completely contrary to these truths.

So, you claim to believe, but you don’t live like the Bible tells you that believers of Jesus Christ ought to live.

You claim to follow the Lord, but every time something seemingly better shows up, you follow it or them rather than God.

You claim to trust in Him, but when it comes down to it—you’re trying to wrestle control from the Lord and solve the problems by yourself.

You claim to believe that He is sovereign and providential, but you try to be sovereign and you live like everything is outside of the control of God’s sovereignty and providence.

Jacob apparently needed to physically wrestle with the Lord for him to finally break down enough to wholly rely, depend on, follow, and obey God.

You don’t need to physically wrestle with the Lord, you just need to obey.

You don’t need to wrestle with the Lord in the same sense, you just need to rely on Him and depend on Him.

You don’t need to wrestle with the Lord like this, you need to follow Him.

With that all said, let’s think about some simple application for this text:

In God’s sovereignty, He will providentially purge you of the desire to act in your own will and He will redirect you to His own.

Often this isn’t pleasant—because honestly, we tend to be stubborn a foolish. So, often, the culling of our own willful desires is painful and messy and it’s often done despite us wanting it to stop.

The reality is that in our sin, we’ll constantly be tempted to revert back to our sinful life and our own desires.

We need to be cognizant that sin pulls our focus from God and seek to counteract that by rejecting our sinful desires and obeying Jesus.

Often this process of purging is slow—it’s essentially part of the process of sanctification, which means, that as we continuously grow in Christlikeness, our desires for ourselves, for our flesh and our own will, will slowly dissipate as our desires for Him and His will will grow.

In other words, you’re not going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly only desire Jesus. You won’t walk out of worship this morning and suddenly never struggle with your own desires again. You won’t find yourself randomly in the week as if a switch just switches and you never struggle with sinful desire again. It doesn’t work like that.

We need to be aware that this process of our desires or our affections changing is slow.

Often this process of purging can seem never-ending—because on this side of eternity, it actually is never-ending, but Jesus has promised to finish this work within us and that ought to give you hope.

Meaning, despite the slow progress of sanctification (of this purging in your life), you don’t have to despair. We tend to think, “oh, if only life had been different” — maybe if I believed in God earlier in life, maybe if I only did this or that, maybe if I did things differently, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

When we do this, we cause ourselves to shift our focuses off God and back on ourselves. And anytime our focus isn’t on God, we will fall into this self-defeating cycle.

However, if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we’ll recognize that He is sovereign and providential, that He has a plan, we only need to trust Him and obey Him.

Essentially, in His grace, He builds up a desire within you for Him and His will.

We see this idea in Jacob’s account—again, note how it is God who initiates everything with Jacob.

Jacob wasn’t originally a person seeking after God. Even after hearing from God, he struggled to obey God and trust Him.

It was God who kept pursuing him.

Likewise, it’s God who initiates everything with you.

You didn’t originally seek after God. Even after hearing from His Word, I’m sure you’d admit that you often struggle to obey and trust Him.

It’s God who keeps pursuing you.

That doesn’t negate the fact that you should be pursuing Him, but it does help you see that God is more committed to the relationship that you have with Him than you are.

And whereas you keep allowing your sinful desires to overshadow or distract you from Him—He is still actively and passionately pursuing you.

So, what exactly does this mean? How do we apply this?

Recognize that God is pursuing you—everyday, more than you pursue Him

Realize that in grace, He is changing you to desire Him more—slowly, over time through the remainder of this side of eternity

And reflect on His pursuit of you and His grace in changing you to pursue Him—regularly, actively, and passionately. You might ask, how do I do that? It’s simple:

Read, hear, and meditate on His Word—after all, this is how God primarily reveals Himself to us today.

Actively, confidently, and fervently pray to God—after all, this is primarily how we communicate to Him—to confess our sins, seek His guidance, and give thanks for His blessings.

Regularly, thoughtfully, and reverently participate in the ordinances that Jesus has given to us—after all, it is through baptism that you identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection; and it is through the Lord’s Supper as you’re reminded of His death, burial, and resurrection while being strengthened and encouraged by Him.

Recognize that God is pursuing you, realize that He is changing you and your desires, and keep pursuing Him.

Pastoral Prayer