Genesis 32 - Jacob wrestles

Genesis 32

Jacob wrestles

I.                    Review

A.     Jacob stole his brother Esau’s blessing and fled from him to Padan Aram.

1.      He arrived empty handed

2.      He deals with Laban, his mother’s brother, who is a deceiver like Jacob

3.      He marries Leah and Rachel and has children

4.      He amasses wealth

B.     When the time comes he deceives his father in law Laban and flees with his wives and children and belongings back to Canaan, the Promised Land.

C.     Laban pursues him and catches up with him in the hill country of Gilead (just east of the Jordan River) but God does not allow the more powerful Laban to harm Jacob.

D.     Jacob and Laban part company with a word of distrust and with boundaries.

II.                 Gen 32 – the text

A.     32:1 – the chapter begins with the angels of God meeting Jacob at Mahanaim. 

1.      Mahanaim is located in Gilead near the Jabbok River not too far from where it joins the Jordan River.

2.      Jacob upon seeing the angels here says “This is God’s camp”.  This is the place where God’s army stays. 

a)      This may very well be the reason that Abner took Saul’s son here when David was made king and there was animosity between the house of David and the house of Saul.  2 Sam 2:8ff

b)      David also fled here for safety when Absalom usurped the throne -2 Sam 17:27. 

3.      The Lord led Jacob to the place where the army of his angles camped.  

4.      This phrase “the angels of God” appears only twice – here and when Jacob is fleeing from Esau and is in Bethel and sees the angels of God ascending and descending.  And in that place God makes a promise to Jacob to be with him and bring him back. 

5.      God is bringing him back and has placed him in a secure place for the time being - in the camp of the army of God. 

B.     Now Jacob begins to deal with the issue that caused him to flee to Padan Aram – his brother, Esau. 

1.      Gen 32: 3-6 - He begins by sending messengers to Esau.  He says “This is what you are to say to Esau”…

a.       I have been with Laban

b.      Now I am coming home and I have herds

c.       And I am sending you this message that I might find favor in your eyes.

d.      On the face of it, it sounds like Jacob is back in the manipulative mode.  Esau may not have known exactly what to think, but he was not taking any chances with his brother.  He gathers 400 mercenaries and heads to Jacob.  You will recall that Esau is a man who lives by the sword (Gen 27:40).  

C.     When Jacob’s servant returns to Jacob and tells him that Esau is coming with 400 men – 32:7 – Jacob is fearful and in distress.

1.      Jacob has donkeys, goats, cattle, and servants.  But he is not powerful.  Laban (Gen 31:29) reminded him of that. 

2.      Jacob feared that Esau was coming to attack him (32:8) and that fear caused the distress.  He knew what he had done to his brother and the day of reckoning was just down the road and headed his way.  What began as brother vs brother has now evolved in Jacob’s thinking into a war that involves his wives and children.

3.      Distress can make us imagine all kinds of things that aren’t true or real.  Our mind spins and at times can only see darkness and even hopelessness.  No way out.  Reality becomes to us what our mind convinces us is true.  

4.      And that is where Jacob was. 

5.      The situation he focused on led him to forget where he really was – in the camp of God.  And that is what fear, distress and depression can do to us.  It can cause us to so obsess over our situation that we forget that God’s Spirit is camped in our life. 

a.       To some degree depression is caused when our mind begins to imagine the worst; things that are not true; that things will never be the same again and I will never see the good life again.   

b.      It is important for us to get what is true in our minds when things are well.  God is with us through Christ.  We need that now so that we can find help us when things are not well. 

D.     Gen 32:9 – Now he deals with God

1.      NIV – “Jacob prayed”. 

2.      NASB, ESV, RSV, KJV – “Jacob said”. 

a.       The same word is used in vs. 4 when Jacob tells his servant “say to my master Esau”

b.      “said” may be the better translation in 32:9. 

c.       The same word is used reverently in other places when Abraham’s servants “says” to God and then uses the word “pray”(as it is translated in English)– Gen 24:12.  Jacob follows this pattern he “says” at the beginning of the statement and then uses the word “pray” in vs. 11.  The word “pray” here usually does not convey prayer, but is used to emphasize what is being said.  (BDB)

d.      Jacob has his theology right in this statement to God.  But he comes off like he is instructing God, as he did his servant, to make this happen.  Keep up your end of the deal.  I need you now to do this. 

e.       Prayer is not us telling God what he needs to do.  Genuine prayer comes from brokenness and humility.  It comes from the heart more than it does from the head.  Sometimes people who are genuinely praying – pouring out their heart - get their theology wrong – even in the Scriptures!  David in Ps 13:1 – asks the Lord, “Will you forget me forever?”

f.        Jacob is afraid.  He needs God’s help.  But he sounds like a man giving orders rather than a man humbly praying.  “God I have this. You keep up your side.”

III.               Jacob wrestles

A.     Who is Jacob wrestling?

1.      Gen 32:24 – The text says “a man” wrestled with him.

2.      Hosea 12:4 – The text says he struggled with “an angel”

3.      Gen 32:28 – The “man says” says struggled “with God” and with men.

4.      The “man” he is wrestling with gives him a new name.  He calls him “Israel”.  In most of our Bibles “Israel” will have a textual note that says “Israel” means “he struggles with God”

5.      When the wrestling is over Jacob names the place “Peniel”.  In most of our Bibles Peniel will have a textual note that says “face of God”.

6.      So, which is it? Does he wrestle with a man? With an angel? With God?

B.     There are three different answers given

1.      He is wrestling with Esau. – a man

2.      He is wrestling with an angel – he is after all where the angels of God are camped.

3.      He is wrestling with God.

C.     We need to remember as we read this story that it comes to us through the means of literature.  It is the story of Jacob that is being conveyed to a listening audience. 

1.      To sit down and read this story like you would read a systematic theology book would rip the passage out of its context and drive away the suspense, mystery and feeling in the story.

2.      If you were Jacob and were attacked in the night then it may take a little time to figure out who attacked you.  Mystery.  Suspense.

a)      Notice that Jacob asks the attacker after wrestling all night – “Tell me your name”.  Jacob at this point is still not sure.

b)      The attacker refuses to answer directly, but blesses him.

c)      And it is then that Jacob seems to finally realize who the attacker is – “I saw God face to face.”

d)      God takes on a human form or appears as a man and wrestles with Jacob.  We are not told this is an incarnation like it was with Christ.  The text is not that interested in getting into such detail.  And that may be why Hosea called the attacker an “angel”.  It certainly was not a mere man.  Jacob came face to face with God during the night. 

D.     God takes on a human form in order to make a point with Jacob.

1.      He wrestles with Jacob all night long.

2.      Jacob wrestles and overcomes with God and with men – vs. 28.

a)      The problem some have with Jacob wrestling with God is the fact that he is said to have prevailed over “God”.  And how can that be?  A man wrestles and prevails over the Almighty? 

3.      The reason Jacob prevails is because God is willing to become weak to make a point with Jacob. 

a)      And the point to Jacob as he prepares to meet with his brother and his 400 mercenaries is this: It is ok to be weak.  You do not have to be “strongest” all the time. 

b)      I am with you!

E.      When Christ in the upper room took off his garments and washed the disciples’ feet – he humbled himself and took the position of being a servant.  Peter initially could not fathom this humility.

F.      On the cross the people around Jesus cried out – If you are the Son of God then come down.  They thought that having the power to release himself from the cross would prove that he is God.  Powerful.  Almighty.

1. Christ stayed on the cross to get to the place where he could deal with death and defeat it.  Col 2:14-15

G.     Phil 2 – he humbled himself to death – death on a cross.  Christ took our nature (incarnation now) and became weak in order that God’s salvation, God’s justice and God’s power might be manifested. 

1. I Cor 15:43 – his body was sown in the ground in weakness.

H.     If we are in Christ, it is ok for us to be weak at times.  We might have the power. The authority.  The right. But that does not mean that we should always exert it.  If God is for us – If God is with us – and he is if we are in Christ then our weakness may very well be the means of his strength being seen.

1.      Heb 11:34 – the faithful have their “weakness” turned to strength.  Jacob has to risk being weak.  And he does not yet know the outcome of that weakness.  He will not know until the next story in chapter 33. 

2.      Faith is risky business in that regard.  But we know the one behind our faith.