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.
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