Jacob Wrestles With God

Jacob Wrestles With God (Gen. 32:22-32)

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 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. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

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

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

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

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Jacob Returns to Bethel (Gen. 35:1- 15)

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.

9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.

14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.

A Reflection

Previous to coming to these texts there is a little back-story. When Jacob’s father was on his deathbed, Jacob conned his older brother, Esau, out of his birthright. This did not make Esau very happy. Years later, after both now have families of their own, they are about to come face-to-face once again. To say that Jacob is a little scared that Esau will be looking for revenge might be an understatement.
Jacob, the conman, decides to send all of his possessions and family to meet his brother Esau before Jacob arrives. Jacob must be hoping that somehow this will appease Esau’s anger. That once Esau sees Jacob’s family that somehow his heart will go out to Jacob, that Esau will not take out his revenge on Jacob.

This now brings us to the first part of the story in Genesis 32:22-32. Jacob is alone at night, when a man whom we only know as “a man” wrestles with Jacob all night long. Finally, the two come to a stand still and the man asks Jacob to let him go. Jacob refuses to let the man go saying, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”

At this point, the reader should be reminded of how Jacob stole his brother’s birthright. Jacob, who followed his brother out of his mother’s womb by holding onto his heel, stole the birthright that he believed should have been his. This act is why Jacob was given his name, for in Hebrew “Jacob” means, “the heel.”
Again, Jacob fights for a blessing. The man finally gives in and blesses Jacob, saying, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with human beings and have overcome.”

Have you ever wrestled with God?

When I was growing up as a teenager I was told that I could not wrestle with God. That God was someone that I just had to trust in, no matter what life brought. This story flies right in the face of that false idea.

It is okay to wrestle with God because when you do, you are transformed.
Something that modern day readers might miss when reading this story is the power of “naming.” In the Ancient Near East, a name was a person’s identity, who a person was. So when the “man” changes Jacob’s name, the man literally changes Jacob’s identity!

Jacob goes from being “the heel” (Jacob in Hebrew), the man who conned his brother out of his birthright, to being “the one who wrestles with God” (Israel in Hebrew).
Not only is Jacob’s identity changed from this encounter with God, but God gives Jacob a permanent reminder of their encounter; Jacob now must live the rest of his life with a limp.

That is the harder part about wrestling with God: sometimes we are left with a permanent reminder of the encounter. Trust me when I say that it is all worth it; it is better to live life with a limp then to live life out of a false identity.
This brings us to Genesis 35:1-15. After Jacob’s encounter with Esau, God brings Jacob back to the place where they wrestled. In a way God reminds Jacob of his new identity, of what God has done.

This brings Jacob to worship God. As a sign of worship, Jacob builds an altar and purges all other gods from he and his family’s lives. Jacob and his family come together to worship the God that had transformed them.

Once Jacob does this, God then reminds Jacob of who he has become. He is no longer Jacob, but Israel. God reminds Israel of the promise God made to his fathers Abraham and Isaac, a promise that is retold to Jacob because he wrestled with God.

We have a promise given to us by God because we are his Children. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, through faith, we are given eternal life and our identity is now found in who we are as children of God.

In life, there will certainly be times where you will wrestle with God. My prayer is that as you wrestle with God, you will be transformed.

Reflection Questions

1. What stands out to you in this story? Why does this stand out?
2. Have you ever wrestled with God? Tell everyone about your experience.
3. How were you changed by your experience?
4. Why do you think wrestling with God helps to transform us?
5. How are you currently wrestling with God? What are the big questions you are asking God right now?
6. What is the promise(s) of God that you have to remember in this point of your life?
7. Pray for each other and the ways you are wrestling with God.