But from now on, he would be known by a different name. Jacob replied with his name which means “usurper” or “deceiver.” He had lived up to his name at this point. So the man responds by asking for the man’s name. As the greater blesses the lesser, Jacob must have known it was the LORD. Jacob refused to let him go unless this man blessed him. Why daylight is mentioned is somewhat of a mystery, unless this was the LORD wrestling with him, and no one can see the LORD and live. We know this because at the break of day, the man he was wrestling with asked to end the contest as daylight was breaking. But he did not give up.Īt some point, Jacob must have realized that this was no mere man. This wrestling match lasted for some time, and Jacob must have been quite tired. Jacob was a herder, so he had to have some physical strength. But we must realize that angels do not necessarily have wings and could appear quite human. That night, Jacob was assailed by what the Scripture here calls a man. ![]() He could lose it all, but he himself would be spared the carnage. Not only this, but Jacob showed how selfish he really was. On the appearance of it, it shows that Jacob was the ultimate coward. In doing so, he exposed his wives, his children and his servants to danger. Jacob sent everyone and everything he had over the stream called Jabbok. Jacob’s cunning would not be the way out either. There is no way Jacob could have prevailed. Esau was coming to meet him in battle with hundreds of armed men. Yet Jacob must have thought that he had to devise the way the LORD would work. The LORD had assured him that al would turn out well. He should have been afraid, for Esau felt cheated out of the patriarchal blessing of the firstborn. In the previous passage, we saw that Jacob dreaded meeting his twin brother, Esau. It’s a picture of God’s patience, but also of a love so great that God will break us if that is what it takes to bless us. It’s a lesson on the lengths God is willing to go to make us into the kind of people he wants us to be.The Angel’s Touch: An Exposition of Genesis 32:22-32 This week we come to the famous scene pictured in the image we have been using for the study series. The treacherous Laban might be behind him and the murderous Esau before him, but in the middle he must wrestle with God – literally. Sadly, she died while he was away and for all Jacob knows, Esau is just as ready to dispatch him like a wounded deer as the day he left.īut what Jacob doesn’t know is this: Laban and Esau are the least of his worries. Now his mother, Rebecca, had said that when Esau cooled off she would send word for him to come back. ![]() ![]() As a result of his deception he had to run for his life. Twenty years before he had cheated Esau out of his birthright. But ahead of him is a hard place: the territory of his twin brother. The deal was that if either of them crossed the boundary marker left at Gileed, the other would regard that as an enemy invasion.Īs a result, Jacob has his back up against the rock of this binding covenant. ![]() If there was ever a man who found himself between the proverbial “devil and the deep blue sea,” it’s Jacob between the day he leaves behind his father-in-law, Laban, and the day he meets up with his brother, Esau.At the end of Genesis 31 Laban is behind him and he can’t go back.
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