Genesis 32.25b-The Significance of Jacob's Dislocated Hip
Wednesday September 6, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 32:25b-The Significance of Jacob’s Dislocated Hip
Lesson # 200
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 32:24.
This evening we will continue with our studies of Jacob’s wrestling match with the Son of God, which is recorded in Genesis 32:24-32.
In the first part of Genesis 32:24 we saw Jacob alone in prayer prior to his encounter with Esau and entrance into the land of Canaan, which was in obedience to the Lord’s command.
Then, in the second half of Genesis 32:24 we saw Jacob wrestling the God-Man, the preincarnate Christ.
This wrestling match between God and Jacob is a “microcosm” or “symbolic” of Jacob’s struggles in life with men, which in reality were with God.
The wrestling match with Jacob did “not” teach any spiritual lessons to Jacob but rather the divine discipline that he underwent in the form of the fourteen years of hard labor for his deceitful uncle Laban taught Jacob many spiritual lessons, which are symbolized in the wrestling match with the Lord.
Also, in Genesis 32:24, we noted the significance of Jacob’s wrestling match with the Lord taking place at night, which is that it is a picture or symbolic of the divine discipline he underwent in the form of his fourteen years of hard labor for his deceitful uncle Laban.
Then, in Genesis 32:24, we noted the significance of the wrestling match ending at daybreak, which is that it symbolized or was a picture of Jacob no longer under divine discipline but rather experiencing fellowship with God.
Last evening we studied Genesis 32:25a and noted the significance of the Lord not prevailing over Jacob in their wrestling match.
The Lord did not prevail over Jacob in the sense that the Lord could not refuse Jacob’s prayer requests because they were according to His will and because Jacob persevered in prayer.
This evening we will note Genesis 32:25b and the significance of the Lord dislocating Jacob’s hip.
The dislocation of Jacob’s hip symbolized that by means of the fourteen years of hard labor for Laban, which constituted divine discipline, the Lord had succeeded in getting Jacob to stop trusting in his own power to solve his problems and to depend upon the power of God.
Genesis 32:24, “Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.”
Genesis 32:25, “When he (the Lord) saw that he (the Lord) had not prevailed against him (Jacob), he (the Lord) touched the socket of his (Jacob’s) thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.”
Notice that Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit informs the reader that the Son of God did not overcome Jacob in the wrestling match rather than He “could” not since at any time, the Lord could have crushed Jacob during the match but did not since He is gentle.
“The socket of his thigh” refers to the ball and socket joint of Jacob’s thigh since “socket” is the noun kaph ([K^) (kaf), which denotes the “acetabulum,” the cup shaped socket in the hipbone that receives the head of the thighbone.
Jacob was physically very strong as witnessed by his moving the large stone from the well of water when Rachel appeared to him for the first time (See Genesis 29:10).
However, the fourteen years of divine discipline under Laban had taught Jacob that he was impotent to solve his own problems with Laban by means of his own physical strength and had to rely upon the omnipotence of God to solve his problems with Laban.
Therefore, the dislocation of Jacob’s hip during this wrestling match symbolizes what the Lord had accomplished in Jacob through the divine discipline in the form of fourteen years of hard labor for Laban, which was to demonstrate to Jacob his own impotence and God’s omnipotence.
During the fourteen years of hard labor for Laban, the Lord had broken Jacob’s confidence in his own strength and got him to acknowledge that God was all powerful and all sufficient and that he was helpless and hopeless and totally and completely dependent upon God.
The divine discipline in the form of fourteen years of hard labor for his uncle Laban humbled Jacob so that he acknowledged his own human weakness or impotence so as to experience the power of God in life and his right to appropriate that power by prayer and claiming the divine promises given to him.
The Lord taught the apostle Paul these spiritual principles.
2 Corinthians 12:1, “Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 12:2, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago -- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows -- such a man was caught up to the third heaven.”
2 Corinthians 12:3-4, “And I know how such a man -- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows -- was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.”
2 Corinthians 12:5, “On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.”
2 Corinthians 12:6, “For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.”
2 Corinthians 12:7, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me -- to keep me from exalting myself!”
2 Corinthians 12:8, “Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
2 Corinthians 12:10, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults (people testing), with distresses (thought testing), with persecutions (system testing), with difficulties (disaster testing), for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Therefore, the dislocation of Jacob’s hip was symbolic of the Lord breaking Jacob’s confidence in his own strength and ability to deal with problems with people.
The dislocation of Jacob’s hip would be a perpetual reminder or memorial to Jacob to not depend upon his own power and ability but rather to depend and rely upon the power of God to deal with problems with people and adversities in life.
The dislocation of Jacob’s hip is also a reminder to us here in the church age to never depend upon our own human power to solve our problems in adversity with people and circumstances but rather to depend upon the power of God, which is resident in the Word of God and our union and identification with Christ.
Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Philippians 4:10, “Now, I rejoiced greatly because of the Lord that now at last all of you have revived your consideration for me. In fact, before all of you were always considerate but all of you were always lacking an opportunity.”
Philippians 4:11, “Not that I ever speak because of want since I have learned for myself through the application of doctrine to experience how to be in a habitual state of contentment in whatever present circumstance.”
Philippians 4:12, “I have experienced not only poverty but also I have experienced prosperity. By means of every circumstance and by means of all kinds of situations I am intimately acquainted with not only satiation, but also starvation, not only prosperity, but also destitution.”
Philippians 4:13, “I possess the power to overcome all kinds of situations by means of the one whose doctrine empowers me.”
In Ephesians 1:19, Paul prayed that the Holy Spirit would enlighten the Ephesian believers regarding the exercise of the omnipotence through the resurrection, ascension and session of Christ that has been made available to them through their union with Christ, which gives them the capacity to overcome the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature.
Ephesians 1:18, “I make it a habit to pray that the eyes of our heart would receive enlightenment for the purpose of knowing for certain what is the confidence of His calling and what are the glorious riches, which is His inheritance distributed among the saints.”
In Ephesians 1:18, Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would enlighten the Ephesian believers so that they will know without a doubt what is the confident assurance of their election to privilege and their eternal inheritance that they possess because of their eternal union with Christ.
Every church age believer has the opportunity to receive his eternal inheritance if he fulfills the condition of being faithful in executing the Father’s will for his life and which can be forfeited due to unfaithfulness.
Although the believer’s salvation cannot be merited but is received when a person expresses faith alone in Christ alone, the believer’s inheritance on the other hand is meritorious meaning he has to fulfill the condition of being faithfully obedient to the will of God till physical death or the rapture (i.e. resurrection of the Church).
Ephesians 1:19, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His divine omnipotence directed towards all of us who are believers. This is in accordance with the operative power, namely, the possession of power to overcome (the sin nature, the devil and his cosmic system) originating from His manifested power (through the resurrection and session of Christ).”
“Power” is the noun dunamis, which refers the inherent power of God and thus it refers to God’s attribute called omnipotence.
“Working” is the noun energeia, which means, “operative power” and is a reference to the exercise of God’s omnipotence through the resurrection, ascension and session of Christ.
“Strength” is the noun ischus, which means, “possession of power to overcome” and refers to the 100% availability of divine omnipotence that has been made available to every church age believer because of their union with the Christ that provides them “the power to overcome” Satan and the kingdom of darkness and the old Adamic sin nature.
“Might” is the noun kratos, which means, “manifested power” and refers to the omnipotence of God that has been “manifested” in history through the resurrection, ascension and session of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:20, “Which He (the Father) exercised through the Person of Christ by raising Him (Christ) out from among the dead and by seating Him (Christ) at His right hand in the heavenlies.”
“In Christ” indicates that the Ephesian believer’s confidence, election, eternal inheritance and power to experience victory over the devil and the flesh are all found in their eternal union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:21, “Far above each and every ruler and authority and command and dominion and each and every rank that has been bestowed, not only during this period of history, absolutely not, but also during the coming one.”
Ephesians 1:22, “Furthermore, He (the Father) subjected each and every thing under His (Christ’s) feet and appointed Him as head over each and every thing for the benefit of the church.”
Ephesians 1:23, “Which (church) by its very character and nature is His body, the perfect complement and complete expression (of Christ) who (Christ) at the present time is fulfilling everything for Himself in every respect.”
Ephesians 1:20-22 teaches that the Father has demonstrated His omnipotence in history by promoting the perfect human nature of Christ in hypostatic union to the highest ranking position in the church and His kingdom as a result of His obedience to His will in going to the Cross to die for the sins of the entire world.
