Genesis 32:22-32 PART 2

I want to start today with a verse that Beth Moore refers to as it pertains to this last scene in Genesis 32:

But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. (Psalm 3:3 KJV)

I LOVE this verse! I need a shield around me - Someone protecting me not only from my enemies, but from myself and my foolish, disobedient heart. When I’ve fallen, when I’ve blown it in a relationship or completely damaged my witness because of something I’ve said or done, I feel so horrible - and Satan begins the condemnation. That’s when I cling to this verse! I love that He lifts my head! When I am bowed in shame before Him, He lifts my chin that I might look full into His face. What a tender and gracious Father we have! And this is the situation with Jacob here:

Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
   
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
 
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
   
“Jacob,” he answered.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”


Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”


But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.


So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. (Gen 32:26-31)

As Jacob is preparing to meet Esau, he has to be reliving his deception and the consequences that followed. And also anticipating the consequences that may be ahead of him in this reunion. Surely he must have felt guilt and shame. God knows this. Note that God asks Jacob what his name is. This is not because God is looking for the answer - He KNOWS with whom He is wrestling! He asks Jacob the question because He wants Jacob to think about the answer. Jesus used this technique of questioning all the time to bring people to a realization about their beliefs. [I do this as a teacher often when I’m trying to make a point with a student]. So when Jacob has to say his own name, what he is basically saying is, “I am Jacob - a liar, a conniving deceiver!”

And our gracious Father responds with a name change! He has already touched Jacob’s hip so that his walk will never be the same again, but now God changes Jacob’s name to Israel, which means struggles with God, so that Jacob, himself, will never be the same. God now sees Him through eyes of grace as one who works through all things with His God in a new, intimate relationship.

Note that Jacob wants to know God’s name, but God doesn’t respond. Jacob will learn all of the names of God throughout the rest of his lifetime. He’ll learn about Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides, Jehovah-Shammah, the God who is present, El-Roi, the strong God who sees, and El-Elyon, the Most High God who is all-powerful and holy. He’ll experience moments of great peace with Jehovah-Rohi, His great Shepherd, and Jacob will know the protection that comes from Jehovah-Sabbaoth, the Lord of Hosts.

And some of that will come through the struggles that Jacob will continue to have. But after this one encounter, Jacob is forever changed! And He has learned that even when it seems that God is against us, as in this wrestling match, He is really always FOR us! He WANTS us to become overcomers - which means we will be given plenty of opportunities in our lives which will require struggle and perseverance.
 
God wants to give us a new name. In fact we are told in Revelation 2:17 that one day each of us will be given a new name that will be known only to God and us. It will be a name that reflects our walk with God. It will be a name that does not condemn but one that lifts our head! I can’t wait to find out what mine will be!!!

 

Genesis 32:22-32

In today’s story from Genesis, Jacob has a need for a face-to-face encounter with God, because he is so fearful of seeing Esau’s face. If Jacob were meeting Esau with a clear conscious, he would not need to be fearful. However, increasing the fear is the shame he bears for his trickery with his brother. So, God has some work to do in Jacob this night, and He keeps him up all night in a wrestling match. What in the world is this all about? Well, with a little help from Hosea, Jon Courson, and Beth Moore, we’ll get a full picture of what God and Jacob are doing here. First read the passage in its entirety to see the the complete event.

Jacob has sent his wives and children and all of his possessions on ahead across the river. He is now all alone, with none of his people, no TV, no cell phone, no video games to distract him. When we are surrounded by people and sounds and gadgets, we don’t have to deal with what’s going on inside us. We can barely hear the sounds of nature, let alone the voice of God! There is definitely a need for us to “be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) And sometimes is takes clearing everyone and everything else out to be only with our Father. Jesus modeled this over and over when He would leave the crowds to pray.

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 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. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
   
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Gen 32:24-27)

In Hosea 12:3-5 we get more insight into this scene:

In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there— the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is his name of renown!


Jon Courson looks at this wrestling match as a lesson in persistence in prayer. He asks, “Why did God wrestle Jacob? Why does he want to wrestle with you and me?. . . It’s something called intimacy. God likes to wrestle things through with [us] because He enjoys us. It’s as if He says to us, ‘Let’s wrestle this thing through hour after hour, day after day, even month after month, because not only will you find that I’ll come through eventually - but in the process, we will develop a wonderful intimacy.’ “ (Courson’s Old Testament Commentary, Vol 1, P. 155)

What are the things that cause us to struggle with God? A deep loss - the loss of a spouse, a child, a friend, a home, a job, our health? Or maybe a persistent sin or feeling of worthlessness? If you have ever been through one of these devastating losses or inward struggles, you know that it causes you to agonize as you question God. My dear friend, Carrol, who had breast cancer several years ago, recently wrote me about that period in her life and how it caused her to really seek God like never before - and for that she is actually grateful for the cancer! I see my sister, Jodi, even now wrestling with God over the overwhelming events of the past few months, the loss of her son and the fight with multiple myeloma. This kind of struggling is done with great pain - even weeping and begging as we see in Jacob - but joy and blessing are the end result! I know that is where Jodi will end up, but I cry with her now in the struggle and pray for her as she wrestles. She’s already seen many blessings, but I know that the wrestling is not yet over.

Courson continues:

“God also invites us to wrestle with Him in order that we might discover things about Him and ourselves we could learn in no other way. As you wrestle in prayer, you might find that what God gives to you and does for you is entirely different than what you expected. Jacob asked to be blessed, instead he was broken - but the answer was better, because our Father knows best.” (P.155) I can hear Carrol shouting, “Amen!”

Jacob was never the same after this wrestling match! He walked with a limp forever after - a limp that reminded him that when God wins the match, WE win, too!

Tomorrow we’ll take a second look at this same scene with some insights from Beth Moore that bless my socks off!

Genesis 32:13-21

When we left off yesterday, Jacob had just prayed this great prayer to God asking for protection and reminding God of the covenant He had made with Jacob to prosper him. However, like so many of us, Jacob was not content to leave the matter with God. Just in case God did not come through for him, Jacob devised his own plan. He was determined to somehow get on Esau’s good side:

He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.” (Gen. 32:13-16)

So, Jacob sends three servants ahead of him, each going successively with the same instructions:

“When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’” (vs. 17-18)

Beth Moore, in the DVD that accompanies her study, The Patriarchs, spends a lot of time covering the reasoning that went into Jacob’s strategy here. Verses 20-21 tell us what Jacob was thinking:

For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.


Beth breaks down the phrases in this sentence with a more literal Hebrew translation like this:

“I will pacify him with these gifts” > “I may cover his face”

“with these gifts I am sending on ahead” > “gifts that go before my face”

“later when I see him” > “when I face him”

“perhaps he will receive me” > “he will raise my face”

“So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him” > “the gifts went on ahead of his face”

Beth points out that the real issue here was that Jacob was “terrified to face his brother.”

I alluded to it yesterday, but there are three people in my life that I DREAD facing. These are the most difficult people in my life. Not only because they have harassed me at times, but because I also have fault in the way I have dealt with them. So facing them is something I anticipate with great trepidation! I know I am COMMANDED to act in a loving manner toward those who persecute me (not FEEL warm and fuzzy toward them, but treat them with respect and in a manner that demonstrates Christ’s love and grace). But, it is not something I rush to do with great joy! It requires an act of my will to be obedient to Christ and interact with them at times. God has given me the understanding that I do NOT have to put myself in the line of fire - but when I face them, I am to act out love. I learned a long time ago that this is not hypocrisy, it is obedience.

So I’m fully feeling the fear of Jacob. Do any of you relate, as well? Esau had made a real threat 20 years earlier, and Jacob has no reason to believe that absence has made Esau’s heart grow fonder toward Jacob! So, back to his old tricks, Jacob, the schemer, is sending presents on ahead to butter up Esau, “just in case” God doesn’t protect him.

I wonder if any of us have been “hedging our bets” when we have prayed to God over some major item. What do we do “just in case God doesn’t come through?” Do we put a “Plan B” in motion and set up “safety nets?” I am often guilty of this at my job! We’ll see tomorrow that God wants us to believe in HIM and to take Him at His Word. If we struggle with this, and insist on working things out our own way, “just in case,” God will deal with us, because He loves us too much to let our old nature be in control! Just as Jacob had to quit being the “deceiver,” God wants us to quit being the “gossip,” or the “people pleaser,” or whatever role we play. Sometimes, in order to change our old patterns, we need a real encounter with God. Before Jacob faces Esau, he will come face to face with his God. That’s tomorrow’s study! It’s a good one!