And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
24. And Jacob alone ] It is natural to suppose that Jacob remained behind to think and to pray at this crisis of his life. He was given over to anxious fears; the darkness and loneliness intensified them. The thought that God had left him, or was opposed to him, overwhelmed him.
there wrestled a man ] The brevity of the account leaves it unexplained, who the man is, how he appeared, and how the contest began.
The word for “wrestled,” ybk, is very possibly intended to be a play on the name of the river Jabbok as if it meant “twisting.” In Gen 32:28, and in Hos 12:4, a different word, “to strive,” is used for the “wrestling” of Jacob. It is this scene of “wrestling” which has become, in the language of spiritual experience, the classical symbol for “agonizing” in prayer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 32:24
Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him
The crisis in Jacobs life
From this description of a day and a night in the life of Jacob we learn three things.
1. This is a crisis, a turning-point in his career. His experience at the ford of Jabbok is his conversion from the craft and cunning and vulturous greed of years to the sweet subjection of his will to the Eternal, and consequent victory over himself and his brother.
2. God is in this crisis from first to last and at every moment of these twenty-four hours.
3. The crisis closes in the victory of the patient and loving Lord over the resisting selfishness of Jacob. Note these points:–
I. It must have been a welcome fore-gleam of approaching victory, and a pledge of the sustaining presence of Jehovah in the valley of the shadow of death, that as this day of crisis broke on the pilgrim the angels of God met him.
II. What is the significance of this terrific conflict? It means this assuredly. Jacob having gone to God in quaking fear, God holds him and will not let him go; goads and harrows his soul, till his heart swells and is ready to break; urges him to such a relentless and soul-consuming struggle with his self-will that he feels as though he is held in the grip of a giant and cannot escape. He resists, he struggles, he writhes, and in his furious contortions is at last lamed and helpless, and therefore compelled to trust himself and his all to God.
III. Jacob wrestled against God, but at last yielding, his soul is suffused with the blessedness of the man whose trust is in the Lord. Faber asks, with mingled beauty and force, What is it will make us real? and answers, The face of God will do it. It is so. Israel is a new creation: Jacob is dead. Dark as the night was, Jacob passed through it, saw the face of God at day-dawn, and became himself, met his brother with serenity, and spent the rest of his days in the love and service of God. (J. Clifford, D. D.)
The change in Jacob
I. In what position do we find Jacobs spiritual state up to the time of this second incident in his life? During the first period of his life he was simply a man of the world. After the vision at Bethel he was a religious man; the sense of religious influence was seen in his life; after the conflict at the ford Jabbok he became a spiritually minded man. He was going home with his sin yet weighty on his soul, unpardoned, unforgiven, uncleansed by the Divine power. Bethel was the house of God, to teach him that he could not set his foot upon a single acre of soil without finding that the Governor of the world was there; here we have the unfolding of the wider thought of the intercommunion and personal relationship between the soul of man and his Maker.
II. Those who trust in the God of Bethel and providence are looking to Him for what He gives; but the aspirations of the spiritual man are wholly different. At Bethel Jacob said, If Thou wilt be with me and wilt do me good. At Jabbok his first thought was, Tell me Thy name. He desired to know more of God, not to get more from God. To gain further spiritual experience–this is the thirst of the spiritual man. To make a friend of God for the good that we can get–this is the idea of the merely religious man. (Bishop Boyd Carpenter.)
Jacobs struggle
I. All the evidence here goes to prove that the wonderful wrestler, who contended with Jacob, was the one only true God.
II. Being God and being man, we are right in calling Him Christ, and in placing this incident as the second of the anticipatory advents of the Messiah which lie scattered over the Old Testament.
III. As Jacob wrestled with God in human form, so it is with God in the Lord Jesus Christ that in all our spiritual conflicts, in all our deep repentances, in all our struggling prayers, we must wrestle.
IV. There were two things which Christ gave in this encounter–a wound and a blessing. The wound first and then the blessing. The wound was small and for a season; the blessing was infinite and for ever. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Jacob striving with God
We see here the supernatural appearing in the world of the natural. We see God veiling Himself in human form, as He veiled Himself in the form of Christ His Son in after years. We must look at this story of miracle in the light of the miracle of the Incarnation.
I. In this striving of the patriarch with God, and in the blessing he won at the end of the striving, we see the very height and picture of our life, if into that life has passed the life of Christ our Lord.
II. It is by wrestling that we win the Divine blessing, but whether in struggling against doubt, against temptation, or against the enemies of the Church, we must take heed that we fight wisely as well as earnestly. We may strive, and we must strive; but let us strive wisely and lawfully if we would win the blessing.
III. The homeliest, the least eventful life, may and should be a supernatural life-a life in which Christ dwells, a life which the Holy Spirit sanctifies. If we can thus strive and wrestle on, the dawn comes at last, and we are blessed of God. (Bishop Magee.)
Jacobs crisis-night
I. Any attempt to make Jacob a hero, or even a good man, at the time of his deception of his father, must fail. At that time he represented the very lowest quality of manhood. We can call him a man only by courtesy; while Esau, a venturous and kind-hearted child of nature, stands up as a prince, uncrowned indeed, but only because a thief had robbed him of his crown. In the fact that God chose Jacob we find the germ of the redemptive idea at work.
II. Jacob was not at once promoted to his high place. As a wanderer and a stranger, he underwent most humiliating discipline, and on this night his old and wretched past was replaced by a new name and a new hope.
III. There must be such a night in every life–a night in which the sinful past shall go down for ever into the depths of unfathomable waters. The wrestling of Jacob was
(1) long,
(2) desperate,
(3) successful.
IV. The night of wrestling was followed by a morning of happy reconciliation with his brother. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Jacob wrestling with the angel
Consider this incident–
I. AS TO ITS OUTWARD FORM.
II. AS TO ITS SPIRITUAL MEANING.
1. That the great struggle of life is to know and feel after God.
2. That God reveals Himself through mystery and awe.
3. That God reveals Himself to us in blessing.
4. That Gods revelation of Himself to us is intended to change our character.
5. That God is conquered by prayer and supplication. (T. H. Leale.)
The features of the development of revealed faith in Jacobs wrestling
1. The germ of the Incarnation. Godhead and humanity wrestling with each other; the Godhead in the form of a man.
2. The germ of the atonement. Sacrifice of the human will.
3. The germ of justification by faith. I will not let Thee go, etc.
4. The germ of the new-birth. Jacob, Israel.
5. The germ of the principle of love to ones enemies. The reconciliation with God, reconciliation with the world. (J. P,Lange.)
Guilt all alone
I. His EXPERIENCE is singularly transparent, though seriously mixed.
1. We know, for one thing, he was in positive fear.
2. There was solicitude in his experience.
3. There was reminiscence in his experience.
4. There was remorse in his experience.
II. THE INGENIOUS PRECAUTIONS HE TAKES. He made the best disposal of all his affairs that he could under the circumstances. Four things there were on which he grounded some hope.
1. One was his late vision of the angels at Mahanaim.
2. His vast worldly wealth.
3. Disposition of forces.
4. Prayer.
III. HIS LONELINESS. (C. S Robison, D. D.)
Jacobs wrestle
I. THE CONFLICT.
1. Its loneliness.
2. Its earnestness.
(1)Earnestness which absorbed Jacobs sense of material danger.
(2) Earnestness which even bore down Jacobs dread of God.
II. THE VICTORY. He blest him there. What was the nature of the Divine blessing?
1. A change in the mans state.
(1) Not that mere external deliverance for which Jacob first prayed.
(2) An inward deliverance. Symbolized by the new name.
(3) Outward token of the change. Jacobs history in the after ages purer than before.
(4) Imperfection even in the new man Israel.
In more than a physical sense, Jacob halted on his thigh. Whoever spends half a lifetime in sin, must not be alarmed if traces of old habit remain.
2. A change in the mans relations.
(1) Power with God.
(2) Power with man. (S. Gregory.)
The history and mystery of Jacobs life
I. OF THE COMBAT ITSELF.
1. In the general, it is one of the most famous combats recorded in Scripture; we read, indeed, in that Divine record of sundry eminent conflicts carried on after the manner of a duel. As of that combat betwixt little David and great Goliath (1Sa 17:40, &c.); but in that the match was only made betwixt man and man, there was only one mortal against another, though the one was a great giant, and the other was but, in comparison of his antagonist, a little dwarf. Here is a rare show indeed. Go along with me, I beseech you, both to see and hear this great wonder in some sense, the greatest wonder that ever was in the world, that God Himself, as will appear after, should come down from His throne in heaven to wrestle a fall with man, a poor worm (Isa 41:14; Psa 22:6), upon his foot-stool on earth.
2. But more particularly, in the second place, what kind of combat this was, whether corporal only, or spiritual only, or both together, is our next inquiry. There be some who say that it was only spiritual by way of vision, or in way of a dream, imaginary only. So Thomas, Rupertus, and Rabbi Levi, who thinketh that Jacobs thigh might be hurt by some other means, as by the weariness of his tedious travel, or by his catching cold while he lay that cold night upon the cold ground, rather than by any real wrestling; and he further added, that Jacob dreamed of that same hurt upon his hip. How improbable this is may be easily urged. Assuredly Jacob had little either list or leisure for sleeping, much less for dreaming, while he was so struck even with a panic fear of his bloody brother. It was, therefore, a real and corporal combat, not visional or imaginary, which appears by many reasons.
(1) Because it is said, Jacob rose up that night and sent his family before him, after both which he is described to be immediately engaged, even that same night he rose up in, to wrestling work (Gen 32:22-24), which must be when he was waking.
(2) Jacobs valour and victory are both highly applauded even by God Himself; whereas, had both these been imaginary only, and transacted in a dream, such fancies are but a laughter to men.
(3) The luxation of his loin, or lameness of his leg was undoubtedly real and corporal. Who will complain of an imaginary hurt?
(4) As there is a reality in Jacobs valour, victory, and lameness, so there is no less in the change of his name from Jacob to Israel; it was not done in a dream or vision, or in imagination only. Accordingly must his wrestling be not visional but corporal. Yet there is a third sense, to wit, that Jacobs wrestling was both corporal and spiritual, for he did certainly contend with Christ by the force of his faith as well as by the strength of his body. The prophet Hosea gives a plain testimony that Jacob won the blessing here by weeping as well as by wrestling. He wept and made supplication with his soul as well as wrestled with his body (Hos 12:3-4).
II. The next part or particular of this famous history is JACOBS VALOUR, which is conspicuously demonstrable in several circumstances.
1. It is a clear discovery hereof, if his antagonist be well considered, that he was no less than the Omnipotent Jehovah.
2. Discovery of Jacobs valour is drawn from the circumstance of time when he wrestled, as the first was from the person with whom he had his conflict. The time when was the most timorous time of all times, it was in the night time, which is accounted a time of fear.
3. Wherein Jacobs courage and valour carries a high commendation, is, in respect of the length as well as lonesomeness of it, even all the night until the dawning of the day (Gen 32:24-25). Though wrestling work be most wearisome work, stretching every sinew in the flesh, and every jointbone in the body, and requiring the very utmost of a mans strength and skill.
4. The fourth circumstance, which higher illustrates Jacobs valour, is the sad posture he was now in, a lame and limping man, who had but one sound leg to stand upon while he wrestled with his adversary. As his place was a solitary and disconsolate place, so his posture was a discouraging and disadvantageous posture.
5. The fifth circumstance, which further commends Jacobs courage and valour, is the lastingness of his valour, the ever and everlasting noble temper of his mind under this wounding hurt, and under all other wonderful discouragements.
III. NOW come we, from Jacobs valour, thus demonstrated, unto that which was the royal wage thereof, to wit, HIS VICTORY. Though this was, secondarily, but the just reward of his right, noble resolution. Yea, Jacobs victory and prevailing over God here was symbolical, as it was a predicting sign–
1. That his person should prevail over Esau.
2. That his posterity should prevail over Esaus offspring, the Edomites or Idumeans.
3. That Christ, springing from Jacob, should subdue all His enemies, that every knee should bow to Christ (Php 2:10).
4. It was also a symbol or sign that every true Christian, who are Israelites indeed (Joh 1:47), and the right new and now Israel of God Gal 6:16), should likewise conquer all their temporal and spiritual adversaries, the flesh, the world, and the devil.
IV. Though God granted Jacob the victory, yet must he have something with it to humble him, to wit, HIS LUXATION OR LAMENESS, as before, that he might not be too much puffed up with the glory of his victory, nor, as it were, drunk with his success in this single combat. The conqueror here cannot come off with his conquest alone, but he must come off halting from it. He must be made sensible both of his antagonists potency, in being lamed by him, whereby he understood him greater than himself, therefore desired he his blessing, for the lesser is blessed of the greater Heb 7:7), and also of his own impotency, and to have low thoughts of himself while he came off with flying colours in the most glorious triumph. He must, even when he had overcome the great God, understand himself to be but a sorry man, otherwise he could not have been so lamed. He was, therefore, lamed that he might not ascribe the victory to his own strength, and that he might not, notwithstanding his overcoming God, be overcome by the pride of his own heart. Pride is a weed that will grow out of any ground–like mistletoe, that will grow upon any tree–but for the most part upon the best–the oak. Of all sorts of pride, that which is spiritual is most venomous, and far worse than temporal. That pride which grows out of the ground of our own graces and duties, is more poisonous than that which flows from honour, treasure, or pleasure. The holiest have their haltings, which they carry, as Jacob did his, along with them to their dying day. God hath His redder at every mans foot, and His bridle upon all mens spirits, to rein them in from self-exaltation, that they may not mount too high by having the victory. Oh, that our former haltings may be sanctified to us, so as to work savingly in us some future humblings. Thus, holy Jacob, in this holy contention with this holy angel, by those holy weapons obtains those holy things.
1. Holy honour.
2. The holy blessing. (C. Ness.)
Penuel
I. THE CONFLICT.
II. THE VICTORY.
III. THE RESULTS. (T. S. Dickson.)
Jacob at Penuel
I. How GOD PREVAILED WITH JACOB In regard to this Divine conflict, think of–
1. Its condescension.
2. Its necessity.
3. Its success.
II. How JACOB PREVAILED WITH GOD.
1. Jacob prevailed when he had been made to feel his own weakness.
2. Jacob prevailed, not by the exercise of natural strength, but by the purely spiritual force of trustful and earnest prayer.
III. THE RESULTS THAT FOLLOWED FROM THIS MEMORABLE CONFLICT.
1. Jacob received a new name.
2. Jacob received new spiritual power.
3. Jacob received a blessing which fully compensated for unexplained mystery. (G. J. Allen, B. A.)
Jacob at Penuel
I. JACOBS WRESTLING.
1. A personal contest.
2. A protracted contest.
3. A contest with an unknown person.
II. JACOBS VICTORY.
1. A partial victory.
2. A victory by which he obtained a better name.
3. A victory ever to be remembered. (Homilist.)
Human lonelihood
Man is lonely–
1. In his profoundest thoughts.
2. In his moral convictions.
3. In his greatest sorrows.
4. In his dying moments. (Homilist.)
The wrestling of Jacob
I. JACOBS WRESTLING.
1. Of course I need hardly say that the wrestling of Jacob was not physical but spiritual, and that it refers to importunity in prayer, to great earnestness and perseverance in that duty. It is presumed all Christians know this much even from their cradles, Now, the time and place where this transaction occurred are worthy of notice. The time was during the night season. The place, very likely the tent of Jacob, fixed in the open country, in the spot from which the little village of Penuel, so called from this event, derives its interest. It was when all was still and hushed, and no voice was heard, perhaps, save the lowing of the cattle and the bleating of the sheep. It was on the eve of Jacob meeting his brother when the mind of Jacob was full of anxious thought and fears.
2. Consider the Infinite Being to whom Jacob addressed his prayer, and the manner or mode of His presence. God. Spiritually present to all who seek and love Him.
3. The intense earnestness of the prayer of Jacob is called a wrestling with God; it was so importunate, so full of feeling, and so bent upon obtaining its request. And the felt nearness of the Divine presence; the assurance of the power and willingness of the Infinite to bestow what was wanted; and of the very simple, gentle, and loving attractiveness of the Presence, drew out all that intensity of feeling and word so fully expressed in the language of the Patriarch, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. Such earnestness as here expressed, forms a striking contrast to the cold dead religious conventionalism of the age. There is great naturalness too in this earnestness of entreaty. It is what is felt oftentimes in some of our earthly affairs. For instance, let us suppose a person bent upon obtaining some particular object: say it has engaged his thoughts by night and by day, ever pressing itself upon his attention; an object of all others most desirable to be obtained. Well, let us further suppose that the moment has arrived when your wishes and hopes may be fulfilled; when he who can accomplish this is close beside you. Can you not imagine that as the person referred to becomes more and more friendly, and familiar, and endearing, that the earnestness of expectation will rise in proportion, and the determination to obtain what is longed for more and more fixed? Such too is the case with the heart in prayer with God.
II. THE RESULT OF THE PRAYER.
1. The change of Jacobs name to Israel, a prince and a conqueror, and also a change of character. The change of character is the most important, and his altered name is the sign by which that is forestalled. Henceforth he is no longer to be known as a subtle supplanter, but as an ennobled conqueror, who has waived all intrigue and treacherous design, and fought the battle bravely, openly, and honestly.
2. To conclude, know we anything of this inner life of the soul, of this earnest and intense struggle of a praying heart, of this deep and solemn communing with the Almighty? Do we feel that He is so near us at all times in the restless, and busy, and anxious seasons of life, that we have only just to turn our hearts towards Him to realize the power and comfort of His presence? Brethren beloved, who is in reality your God and mine? Is He the God of the wrestling Jacob, drawing us into close and earnest fellowship with Himself, and inspiring us with a feeling of trust that clings to Him, that yearns after Him, and that will not let Him go until He answers our petitions? Or is it some other idol we worship–some god of this world we obey? (W. D. Horwood.)
Jacobs example in prayer
I. IT BRINGS TO VIEW THE HUMAN SIDE OF PRAYER. Communion with God. No true or prevalent prayer where Christ is not laid hold of.
II. GENUINE PRAYER IS ACTUAL PERSONAL CONTACT OF THE SOUL WITH GOD IN CHRIST.
III. Note THE MEANS BY WHICH JACOB PREVAILED. Only when he ceased to rely on his own strength, and resorted to the weapon of prayer, did he succeed. So it is ever with the Christian.
IV. Note THE REWARD OF IMPORTUNATE PRAYER.
V. EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS POWER TO PREVAIL WITH GOD IN PRAYER.
VI. How SUGGESTIVE JACOBS MEMORIAL NAME. Penuel. I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
Jacobs prevailing prayer;
I. THE REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTER OF JACOB AT PRAYER.
1. He represents the true Christian in that he prayed.
2. He represents the true Christian in the characteristics of his prayer.
(1) Assurance.
(2) Promises pleaded.
(3) Sense of unworthiness.
(4) Gratitude.
(5) Supplication.
3. He represents many a Christian in his anxiety.
4. He represents the judicious Christian in using all proper means that lie in his power.
II. THE REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTER OF JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL.
1. It represents the purpose of God in all His disciplinary measures.
2. It represents the means by which faith grows to its maturity.
(1) Divine permission to carry out our own plans, to realize how vain they are.
(2) God is often compelled to bring His child into absolute helplessness before faith will take hold of Gods strength.
Lessons:
1. God graciously deals with each of His children according to their circumstances and temperament.
2. Wrong-doing ever brings anxiety, weakness, failure.
3. To prevail with God, faith must rely only on Him. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Jacob wrestling with God
I. THE NATURE OF ACCEPTABLE PRAYER.
1. There must be a deep sense of personal unworthiness (Gen 32:10).
2. We must cherish confidence in the word and the goodness of
God.
3. Perseverance should distinguish our prayers.
II. THE BLESSINGS WHICH BELIEVING PRAYER SECURES.
1. Gods special protection.
2. The sensible enjoyment of an interest in Gods love.
3. A blissful anticipation of glory.
Conclusion:
1. A word to the sinner. Prayerless sinner, what will become of you?
2. A word to the saint. Encouragement. It is said God blessed him there. He blessed him in the very place in which He had lamed him. And does not this intimate that when we are sunk the lowest in discouragement, that relief is just at hand that the darkest hour is the prelude to the brightest day, and that holy earnest petitions overcome heaven itself, and bring down to earth the odours of immortality and the supports of Omnipotence. Oh! believer, cleave to the example of Jacob–say, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. (W. Hodson.)
Wrestling Jacob
I. THE BELIEVER IN HIS DIFFICULTY. Rest on the promises of a loving Jehovah, and go through all your trials honouring God, and experiencing patience and peace in your souls. But, moreover, you children of God, who have had trouble, and have it at this moment, do not be cast down.
II. THE BELIEVER IN HIS INSTRUMENTALITY.
1. You will perceive in the conduct of Jacob, in the first place, peculiar wisdom. There was no presumption in the conduct of Jacob. He made use of every variety of means to appease the anger of Esau; and after he had made these most providential arrangements, he remained with God alone. Having made these arrangements, he did not depend on them; he flew to his great resource, his only sure instrumentality, and that which, after all, must be that on which all must rest–namely, prayer to God.
2. You will perceive that this prayer, from the few words in which it is presented to our notice, is remarkable for its earnestness. Further, we mention that this prayer is remarkable for its perseverance, its persevering earnestness–I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
III. THE BELIEVER IN HIS BLESSING. (H. Allen, M. A.)
Penuel
I. We have here A STRIKING ILLUSTRATION OF THE LONELINESS OF ALL REAL DISTRESS. There is a certain solitariness about every man. The proverb says that there is a skeleton in every house, and it is equally true that there is a secret closet in every heart where the soul keeps its skeleton, and to which, after sending wife and children across the brook, it retires in times of sadness and insolation. There is something in every soul that is never told to mortal, but which, as if to make up for its being withheld from others, has a strange fascination for ourselves; and in every moment of silence it is heard sounding in our secret ear. Even those nearest and dearest to us know not of these hidden things. They are kept for solitude; nay, such is some their power over us that they draw us into retirement that they may speak to us awhile. Different exceedingly in their character may those things be that are hidden thus in the secret chamber of mens hearts. They differ in different individuals, and in the same individual at different times. In the case of Jacob here, guilt and suspense were the troubles of his soul.
II. But the narrative before us teaches us that in this dreary solitude our ONLY EFFECTUAL RESOURCE IS INCARNATE GOD. For as this mysterious one came to Jacob, so Jesus came to earth, a human brother, and, at the same time, a divine helper. And herein does He not precisely meet our need? As a man He comes, and so we need not be afraid of Him. You know the beautiful story which Homer tells in connection with the parting of Hector and Andromache. The hero was going to his last battle, and his wife accompanied him as far as the gates of the city, followed by a nurse carrying in her arms their infant child. When he was about to depart, Hector held out his hands to receive the little one, but, terrified by the burnished helmet and the waving plume, the child turned away and clung crying to the nurses neck. In a moment, divining the cause of the infants alarm, the warrior took off his helmet and laid it on the ground, and then, smiling through his tears, the little fellow leaped into his fathers arms. Now, similarly, Jehovah of hosts, Jehovah with the helmet on, would frighten us weak guilty ones away; but in the person of the Lord Jesus He has laid that helmet off, and now the guiltiest and the neediest are encouraged to go to His fatherly embrace, and avail themselves of His support. But while thus His humanity emboldens us to apply to Him, His divinity furnishes us with the help we need. That which I cling to for strength must be something other than myself, and something stronger than myself, otherwise it will be time as worthless as a broken reed. When in the howling hurricane wave after wave is breaking over the ship and sweeping the deck from stem to stern, it will not do for the sailor to depend upon himself; neither will it avail for him to grasp his fellow, for they may together be washed into the deep; but he lays hold of the iron bulwark, making the strength of the iron for the moment to be as his own, and is upheld. So in the surges of agony that sooner or later sweep over every man, it will not do for him to depend upon himself, or even to hold by a fellow-mortal. He needs one who while, he is a brother, is mightier than any human brother; and here in Jesus Christ, the God-man, the great necessity of his heart is met; for is the omnipotence of divinity added to the accessibility of humanity. Nor is this all. Jesus Christ as God, is omniscient as well as omnipotent. He knows, therefore, precisely what is wrong with us.
III. But the narrative before us teaches us further, THAT OUR FIRST APPLICATION TO THIS DIVINE FRIEND MAY BE MET WITH SEEMING REPULSE, BUT THAT RELIEVING IMPORTUNITY WILL ULTIMATELY PREVAIL.
1. When our earnest applications to Him appear to be met with indifference, when our repeated importunity seems only to call forth repeated repulse, when in the yearning earnestness of our entreaty, our hearts feel as if they had lost all strength, even as Jacobs limb went from beneath him when the angel touched it, let us remember that His design is either to bring our faith to the birth, or by the discipline of resistance %o develop it into greater strength, and let us cling to Him all the more, saying, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
2. But it is not alone for the strengthening of our faith that the answer to our application may be deferred. Jesus may design thereby to open our eyes to our real need. For observe, though it was suspense concerning Esau that was at first oppressing Jacob, there is no mention of that in this wrestling. He has discovered that he needs something far more important than reconcilation to his elder brother. He wants to know Gods name, that is, his relation to Him, and he desires a blessing from Him. Thus through the apparent denial of the minor request, he is brought to feel his need of something greater than he had thought at first of asking. Now is it not thus very frequently with Gods children still?
IV. I hasten to add, in the last place, that such an experience as that which we have been tracing always LEAVES ITS MARK ON THE INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS PASSED THROUGH IT, AND RENDERS MEMORABLE THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS UNDERGONE. Jacob halted upon his thigh–that was literal fact.
But that was not the only permanent memorial of his night of wrestling which Jacob bore upon him. That was, in truth, but the corporeal indication of a spiritual result. The rocks beneath us bear the marks of the flames, to the actions of which, millenniums ago they were exposed; and in the mountain ridges of our planet we may see the record of those terrible convulsions and upheavels to which in former ages it was subjected. In like manner the spirit of a man is marked by the fires of those trials through which he has been made to pass; and we may see in the character and disposition of an individual, the indications or results of those inner struggles through which he has been brought. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Jacob alone
What happens to any one left alone is better worth thinking about than is anything else about him. We all live much of our lives before the world: I mean before that part of mankind which is to each of us our world. But we all live some part of our life alone. We may be utterly alone in a crowd, or even in what is called society. Anywhere, unless you are conscious of more or less sympathy, you are alone. But there are times when we are alone in body, as well as in mind. Jacob was not alone in a crowd. He was alone out of a crowd–alone literally–alone in every sense–alone with God. That which is described occurs every day to a serious and thoughtful man when he is alone. What is it? I can describe it thus. A strife between God and man, which is real but not hostile. It teaches us, if I read aright, that there is a conflict between man and God-or that there may be–which is not one of hostility, but of friendship–a conflict in which God overthrows, but only to raise us the higher. He prevails; lie weakens us; He humbles: but we get the blessing. There is a seeming contradiction in the storys teaching; but the story is true to experience. He prevails and we prevail. It is with the thought of God as with the sight of the ocean. Look at it as you see it first roll up easily upon the shore. It refreshes and it charms. But sit down and look out alone upon the unmeasured waste of desert water beyond. Think of the terrific might that slumbers in that vast water-power. Your mind will be held spell-bound and amazed by the overwhelming grandeur of the object. It will be paralysed. And so it is with that Almighty Power of which the ocean is the fittest symbol. The first shallow thought of God sustains and comforts the soul. It affords a standing-ground and a resting place to the reason, which is embarrassed by the problem of existence. It gives the mind a centre and point of view. It gives the explanation which man requires as a rational being. There is wanting a reason for all things that exist, and God is that reason. We go through the reasoning of first cause of laws of lawgiver. To me, and perhaps to you all, this much is clear. There must be God or nothingness: but some one may say, or think when alone–Why, then God? and why not nothingness? That is the wrestle. God strikes the soul. He is asked to tell what He is–Tell me Thy name. Wherefore is it thou askest after My name? How crushing an answer from God to man! But He blessed him there. This is what I have called a strife between God and man, real but not hostile. We are taught about God in our childhood. We learn afterwards to have a reason of the hope that is in us and to be able to give it. We are satisfied that God is intelligible, and, so to speak, reason, let us say, is satisfied: Revelation confirms what reason has declared. (J. C. Coghlan, D. D.)
Jacob at Penuel
After Jacob had prayed to God, a happy thought strikes him which he at once puts in execution. Anticipating the experience of Solomon, that a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, he, in the style of a skilled tactician, lays siege to Esaus wrath, and directs against it train after train of gifts, which, like successive battalions pouring into a breach, might at length quite win his brother. This disposition of his peaceful battering trains having occupied him till sunset, he retires to the short rest of a general on the eve of battle. As soon as he judges that the weaker members of the camp are refreshed enough to begin their eventful march, he arises and goes from tent to tent awaking the sleepers and quickly forming them into their usual line of march, sends them over the brook in the darkness, and himself is left alone, not with the depression of a man who waits for the inevitable, but with the high spirits of intense activity, and with the return of the old complacent confidence of his own superiority to his powerful but sluggish-minded brother–a confidence regained now by the certainty he felt, at least for the time, that Esaus rage could not blaze through all the relays of gifts he had sent forward. Having in this spirit seen all his camp across the brook, he himself pauses for a moment, and looks with interest at the stream before him, and at the promised land on its southern bank. This stream, too, has an interest for him as bearing a name like his own–a name that signifies the struggler, and was given to the mountain torrent from the pain and difficulty with which it seemed to find its way through the hills. Sitting on the bank of the stream, he sees gleaming through the darkness the foam that it churned as it writhed through the obstructing rocks, or heard through the night the roar of its torrent as it leapt downwards, tortuously finding its way towards Jordan; and Jacob says, so will I, opposed though I be, win my way by the circuitous routes of craft or by the impetuous rush of courage, into the land whither that stream is going. With compressed lips, and step as firm as when, twenty years before, he left the land, he rises to cross the brook and enter the land–he rises, and is seized in a grasp that he at once owns as formidable. But surely this silent close, as of two combatants who at once recognise one anothers strength, this protracted strife does not look like the act of a depressed man, but of one whose energies have been strung to the highest pitch, and who would have borne down the champion of Esaus host had he at that hour opposed his entrance into the land which Jacob claimed as his own, and into which, as his glove, pledging himself to follow, he had thrown all that was dear to him in the world. It was no common wrestler that would have been safe to meet him in that mood. Why, then, was Jacob thus mysteriously held back while his household were quietly moving forward in the darkness? What is the meaning, purpose, and use of this opposition to his entrance? These are obvious from the state of mind Jacob was in. He was going forward to meet Esau under the impression that there was no other reason why he should not inherit the land but only his wrath, and pretty confident that by his superior talent, his mother-wit, he could make a tool of this stupid, generous brother of his. And the danger was, that if Jacobs device had succeeded, he would have been confirmed in these impressions, and have believed that he had won the land from Esau, with Gods help certainly, but still by his own indomitable pertinacity of purpose and skill in dealing with men. Jacob does not yet seem to have taken up the difference between inheriting a thing as Gods gift, and inheriting it as the meed of his own prowess. To such a man God cannot give the land; Jacob cannot receive it. He is thinking only of winning it, which is not at all what God means, and which would, in fact, have annulled all the covenant, and lowered Jacob and his people to the level simply of other nations who had to win and keep their territories at their risk, and not as the blessed of God. If Jacob is then to get the ]and, he must take it as a gift, which he is not prepared to do. And, therefore, just as he is going to step into it, there lays hold of him, not an armed emissary of his brother, but a far more formidable antagonist–if Jacob will win the land, if it is to be a mere trial of skill, a wrestling match, it must at least be with the right person. Jacob is met with his own weapons. He has not chosen war, so no armed opposition is made; but with the naked force of his own nature, he is prepared for any man who will hold the land against him; with such tenacity, toughness, quick presence of mind, elasticity, as nature has given him, he is confident he can win and hold his own. So the real proprietor of the land strips himself for the contest, and lets him feel by the first hold he takes of him, that if the question be one of mere strength he shall never enter the land. This wrestling, therefore, was by no means actually or symbolically prayer.
Jacob was not aggressive, nor did he stay behind his company to spend the night in praying for them. It was God who came and laid hold on Jacob to prevent him from entering the land in the temper he was in, and as Jacob. He was to be taught that it was not only Esaus appeased wrath, or his own skilful smoothing down of his brothers ruffled temper, that gave him entrance; but that a nameless Being, who came out upon him from the darkness, guarded the land, and that by His passport only could he find entrance. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Jacob and the angel
I. JACOB PRAYING.
1. He was alone when God came out of His eternity to wrestle with him. There are some whom the Omnipresent can never find alone; He has seldom or never the opportunity of revealing Himself to them.
2. It was night. That is the time the Infinite is best revealed to us.
3. He was sunk in a deep fear. When in health and prosperity you may frame elaborate theories to demonstrate the absurdity of prayer; but let death stare you in the face, let a heavy sorrow or bereavement overtake you, and you cannot help praying.
II. JACOB WRESTLING.
1. There was bodily wrestling on that memorable night.
2. There was mental wrestling.
3. It was a long struggle: lasting all night. Why?
(1) Jacob wanted to be set right with his brother; he is taught that he must first be set right with his God. The moral relations must be first rectified, and they cannot be rectified but on condition that the whole moral nature of the man be stirred to its depths, completly turned upside down, and the roots of sin be mortally bruised.
(2) Jacob possessed a vast, profound, capacious nature; there were in him, underlying his glaring faults, immense possibilities for good, dormant powers which required to be stimulated into activity. Now a crisis had arrived in his life. His dormant faculties were to be roused; his bias to evil was to receive a mighty check. It was a terrible conflict. He felt as if his nature was dissolving, and his whole existence becoming a shattered wreck. His sinews shrivelled under the touch of the Almighty.
III. JACOB PREVAILING. He desired a blessing. God granted his request–giving him a change of nature, an elevation of character–making him a better, truer, more sincere man. This is the chiefest blessing He can bestow. (J. C. Jones, M. A.)
Mahanaim and Penuel
1. The day and the night mutually act and react. A day of meeting with angels may well be followed by a night of wrestling with God. As you go on your way, through the toil and bustle of this life, remember the thousand eyes which watch you from heaven, and let speech and act testify that your heart is true to the sanctities and solemnities of being. So live and so move as those who know that they have come to an innumerable company of angels, and to God the Judge of all. Thus, when night comes, the veil which shuts out earth will be a glory to open heaven.
2. Lastly, earnestness is the condition of success. (Dean Vaughan.)
Certainty of retribution and possibility of reform
It strikes a great many persons with surprise that Jacob the supplanter should have been the chosen of God. The true answer to this marvel is, that God selects men for His work on earth, not on account of their personal agreeableness, but on account of their adaptation to the work that they have to perform. Now, the object in this case was to establish a nation. There was to be brought up a great seed to Abraham. They were to be established, and out of them was to issue the moral culture of the globe–as it has. Now, although Jacob was a man of many failings and of deep transgressions, yet with them he had a forecast, a shrewdness, a persevering wisdom, an organizing power, that pointed him out as the statesman. And so he was selected, not because in every respect his disposition was the best, but because he was the best instrument to execute the purpose which God had in view. The same thing is taking place continuously. God employs for His purposes instruments which are adapted to those purposes, although they may not be persons that are in harmony with Gods holiness. The crime which he committed against his brother banished him. And now he is returning to his country; and his very first act is to assume the manners of a servant, and to bow down, recognizing the chieftainship of his brother. Such transformation fear makes. And yet, in the midst of this, he is shrewd and self-possessed. Fear, and then calmness; anguish, and then again management. This fluctuation, how extremely natural it is in a moment of suspense. For of all things in this world there is nothing so painful as suspense. And here was this man kept in this fiery state, waiting to know what should be developed; wondering if he should be bereft of his household, and if his property should be swept away, wondering if his brother would be peaceable. Doubtless there were running through his mind all these possibilities. If he is, then what? And if he is not, then what? It was this fiery swinging from one side to another that was the chastisement of the Lord indeed, But now we come to the first step of that great change which passed upon Jacob at this time–for he had reached a crisis, as I shall show, in his lifes history, and in his character and disposition. See this man skulking in the shadow of his sin, and his sin breeding fear, and both of them exciting remorse in him- See how much this man had made by his wrongdoing! For he had struck at the confidence between man and man. He had undermined the very structure on which society stands. He had destroyed faith between brother and brother. It was a great crime, and greatly was he punished for it. How it takes hold of him through his wife, and through his children, and through all that he loves! And how has it been so since the beginning of the world! Hear this old patriarch saying, Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. This was a great grief. Few words were recorded; but ah! it was a great grief. After this prayer, you will see how strangely–not surprisingly, but yet strikingly–back comes his old politic spirit again. And he lodged there that same night, and took, &c. Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. What it was I do not know except that it was an angel-man–the angel of the covenant–that stood in Gods place, and was as God to him. That Jacob knew that it was a superior personage there can be no manner of doubt; but as to what this wrestling was–the whole mode of it–we know nothing. Neither here or in any subsequent Scripture, is therelight thrown upon it. He wrestled with the man until the breaking of the day. And when he–that is, the celestial personage–saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacobs thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. It is very plain that the patriarch understood that the crisis of his life had come. He had prayed to God, and here was the answer to his prayer; and it is very plain that he felt that on his persistent faith depended his whole safety. From this hour Jacob was another man. In the strength of this vision, and in the blessing which he received in this mysterious struggle, he advanced to meet his brother. The hand of the Lord was also on him. Strangely, I probably might say unexpectedly, to Jacob, he met him; and the old boyhood affection returned. They made friends; and they parted, one going one way after the interview, and the other going the other way. But that to which attention is more especially directed is, that from this hour Jacob is nowhere recorded as falling back upon his selfish, his politic, his managing career. From this hour out there is no trace of anything in him but largeness of mind, nobleness of purpose, and beauty of character. All the dross seems to have been purged away. He had met the crisis, and had risen, and gone through it; and he had come out a changed man. And now he was indeed a prince of God, and he was the principal founder of the nation of the Israelites. Jacob went, the civilizer, over into the promised land, and there established the economy for which he had been ordained, and lived revered, a beautiful specimen of an old man. And the last scenes of his life were transcendently beautiful. In view of this narrative, which I have conducted so far, let me say: Mens sins carry with them a punishment in this life. Different sins are differently punished. The degrees of punishment are not always according to cur estimate of the culpability. Many sins against a mans body go on in the body, reproducing their penalties from year to year, and from ten years to ten years. And the ignorant crime, or the knowing crime, committed when one is yet in his minority, may repent itself and repent its bitterness and its penalty when one is hoary with age. Mere repenting of sin does not dispossess the power of all sins. There are transgressions that throw persons out of the pale of society. There are single acts, the penalties of which never fail to reassert themselves. There are single wrongs that are never healed. This great trangression that seemed in the commission without any threat and without any danger, pursued this man through all his early life, and clear down until he was an old man, and returned from his exile. And even then he was quit of it only by one of those great critical transitions which take place, or may take place, in the life of a man, without which he would have gone on, doubtless expiating still his great wrong. And yet God bore no witness. It does not need that God should bear witness against a man that has committed a sin. A man may commit sins, and he may not himself be conscious that he is sinning; at any rate, he may not be conscious of the magnitude of his sins. A man may commit sins, and the customs of society may be so low that he shall not think that he is a great sinner. The sin does not depend upon your estimate of it, or on the estimate which your fellow-men put upon it, but upon its effect upon your constitution, and the constitution of human society. Jacob had had a good time, apparently. So far as his violation between himself and his brother and his fathers family was concerned, he had had twenty years of rest. And yet, as with all his abundance he came trooping back to the border to go over into the promised land and take possession of it, there, hovering, haunting the banks of the Jordan, was that old wrong. In that very hour when he could least afford to meet it, when he was most open to it, when all his possessions were in danger of being seized–worse than that, when all that his heart loved lay under the stroke of his adversary–that was the time that his old sin came back to meet him. And so it is yet. Mens sins find them out. And though you put as far as between Palestine and Assyria between you and them; though your sins slumber for years and years, they will have a resurrection on earth. I do not believe that any man commits in this world any sin against the fundamental laws of his body, or against the laws of human society, by which men are knit together in faith and love, and goes unpunished, even in this world. It does not touch the question of the other. This is a primary and lower and organized arrangement quite independent of Divine and arbitrary penalties in the life to come. It is not safe, therefore, for those who have choice in this matter to trifle with right or wrong. Finally, no man need ever despair of past misdoing who is in earnest. There is no man that is suffered to do wrong without check or hindrance. Ten thousand things stop men, interrupt them, throw them upon thoughtfulness. Ten thousand things oblige men to look back, to calculate; to look forward, to anticipate. And when these seasons from God come, if any man is in earnest to do better, there is no reason why he should not. The power of Gods angel, the wrestling of Gods Spirit, is not only in this far-off history of the patriarch. There is many and many a man with whom this mysterious Spirit of God wrestles; and if he be in earnest, if he will not let Gods Spirit go except He bless him; if he feels that his life is in the struggle and he will be blest of God, there is no man so bad, no man so wicked, but that he may become pure, and his flesh return to him again like the flesh of a little child–as in the case of Naaman the leper. (H. W. Beecher.)
Loneliness and communion with God
Here is–
I. SOLITARINESS OPENING AN OPPORTUNITY for a man to go face to face with God.
II. A CRISIS DISPOSING a man to go face to face with God.
III. A CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN SENDING a man face to face with God.
IV. A SENSE OF MYSTERY PERVADING a man while he is face to face with God.
V. INTENSE REALITY CHARACTERIZING a man while he is face to face with God.
VI. RICHEST BLESSING FOLLOWING from being face to face with God.
1. Elevation of his own character.
2. Reconciliation with men. (Homilist.)
Jacob wrestling with God
I. GOD WRESTLES WITH MAN TILL HE HAS PREVAILED WITH HIM.
1. The Divine desire to bless. This is the foundation of all Gods dealings with us.
2. But before this blessing could be given, Jacobs strength must be destroyed.
3. To destroy this, God wrestles with him apparently as an enemy.
II. WE SEE THAT WHEN MAN IS THUS SUBDUED BY GOD, HE CAN PREVAIL WITH GOD. IS it not strange that the Divine Conqueror in this story should say to him who is thoroughly in His power, Let Me go, for the day breaketh? It seems strange, but it is not; there is a sense in which God is in the hands of the soul He has subdued.
1. Notice that there is no prevailing with God till the spirit of resistance is destroyed, Until we yield to Him we can receive little from Him. That may explain much unprevailing prayer; the fact is it is not prayer: true prayer says Thy will be done.
2. Then we see that we prevail with God when we only cling to Him in trustful prayer. That is the pleader that prevails. Thy covenant promises, Lord! Thy nature, which is love, and thus delights to bless! Thy mercy in Christ Jesus, which can bless the worthless; Thy fatherly relationship, which makes us trust Thy sympathy and depend on Thy resources, and which cannot cast Thy child back into the dark without a blessing!
3. Now to trustful prayer like this the delayed blessing is sure. But did God delay? We get an impression from this story (as I said) that God delays to bless and must be striven with, but did He delay, is there any sign of delay in the case of Jacob? None whatever after Jacob was subdued.
III. Then, we find that HAVING PREVAILED WITH GOD, MAN PREVAILS WITH ALL. Prevailing with God does not mean that we persuade Him to give us what we ask, but simply that we secure His blessing: He blessed Him there. That may be the gift, the deliverance, the supply we desire, but it may not; it may simply be power to endure–to endure cheerfully, enrichingly, and so as to glorify Him, but it involves that in some way we prevail over the trial. There is a great truth here. If we would prevail over our trials, we must first prevail with God; we may go to meet them bravely, but there will be no enrichment, no peace, no conquest, if that be all; we must prevail with heaven if we would conquer on earth. See how then we conquer!
1. In prevailing with God, Jacob prevailed over his own troubled heart. From that time he was a new creature with a new name, and I suppose in nothing was this change more apparent than in the tranquility which possessed him.
2. Jacob also prevailed over his dreaded foe. Esau came, the Esau that he feared, with his four hundred men. But what then? Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him. Gods blessing turns the foe into a friend. (C. New.)
Jacob wrestling
I. SOLITARY MUSINGS. Jacob was left alone. Before him was the river Jabbok. Beyond the river his wives and children. Still beyond them, on the march to Esau, were the presents he had sent. The servants full of wonder and fear for their masters sake. The wives and children anxious. Jacob once more alone, as many years before he was when passing the same spot (Gen 32:10). He would think of the past. How greatly he had been prospered. How little he had deserved. Now he feels how entirely he is in the hands of God. The disposing of his wealth is with God. It is a question whether God will own the means he has so far employed. Jacob is doubtful and perplexed. He has prayed already (Gen 32:9-12) and exhausted all his arguments. He can now only cast himself on the undeserved mercy of God. Night a good time for such reflections. David often meditated thus in the night watches. Jesus also spent His nights in meditation and prayer. In darkness and silence there is less to divert attention than in the daytime.
II. MIDNIGHT WRESTLING. Jacob thus musing, becomes aware of the presence of some mysterious person. Called a man because in human form and nature. The angel of the covenant in disguise. Jacob perceives who his companion is. Seizes this mysterious personage, and declares he will not let him go unless a blessing is granted. The angel struggles to be released, doubtless intending by thus wrestling to teach that prayer should be bold, earnest, importunate, persevering. Physical wrestling a type of wrestling in spirit. The angel prevailed not. He had put forth only sufficient strength to excite resistance and earnestness, without causing discouragement to Jacobs mind. Unable to release himself, he touches and disables Jacob. Thus weakened, Jacob still clings to the angel. Will not let him go without a blessing. Jacob conquers. His name is changed. Hitherto he had been a mere supplanter by human methods, now he shall prevail on higher principles. As a Gods fighter he shall fight Gods battles with spiritual weapons. Faith, prayer, &c.
III. MORNING SUNSHINE. The sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel. The brightest day in his life was that in which the sun rose upon him a man blessed of God, and acknowledged to be a prevailer. With his bodily infirmity, he was a stronger man than he had ever been before. Clothed with might by His Spirit in the inner man, he was strong though weak. He felt better able to meet Esau, a lame man, than he had felt before in the pride of strength. Strength of soul the highest form of strength. Without this how weak are the strongest (illus. Samson, Goliath). Learn:
1. Select fit times and themes for profitable meditation.
2. Our affairs should be all placed in the hands of God.
3. Saying a prayer not truly praying. Wrestling importunity
4. The dark hour of earnest humble prayer is followed by sunshine in the heart. (J. C. Gray.)
Jacobs wrestling
1. Then this wrestling warned and forewarned as it were Jacob that many strugglings remained for him yet in his life to be run through and passed over, which were not to discomfort him when they happened, for as here so there he would go away with victory in the end.
2. It described out the condition not only of Jacob but of all the godly also with him, namely, that they are wrestlers by calling while they live here, and have many and divers things to struggle withal and against; some outward, some inward, some carnal, some spiritual, some of one condition, some of another, which all, yet through God they shall overcome and have a joyful victory over in conclusion, if with patience they pass on and by faith lay hold upon Him ever in whom they only can vanquish, Christ Jesus.
3. It discovered the strength whereby Jacob both had and should overcome ever in his wrestlings, even by Gods upholding with the one hand when He assaileth with the other, and not otherwise; which is another thing also of great profit to be noted of us, that not by any power of our own we are able to stand, and yet by Him and through Him conquerors and more than conquerors.
4. It is said that God saw how He could not prevail against Jacob, which noteth not so much strength in Jacob as mercy in God, ever kind and full of mercy. Lastly, that Jacob saith, He will not let Him go except He bless him. It teacheth us to be strong in the Lord whensoever we are tried, and even so hearty and comfortable that we as it were compel the Lord to bless us ere He go, that is, by His merciful sweetness to comfort our hearts and to make us more and more confirmed in all virtue and obedience towards Him, yielding us our prayer as far as it may any way stand with the same; which force and violence as it were offered on our parts to the Lord He highly esteemeth and richly rewardeth evermore. (Bp. Babington.)
Saints wrestling for the blessing
The way to get the blessing is to go to the Lord for it, resolved not to take a denial, nor to part with Him even till we get it. In prosecuting this doctrine, I shall–
1. Open up this way of getting the blessing.
2. I will show what it is that makes some souls so peremptory and resolute for the blessing, while others slight it.
3. I will show that this is the true way to obtain the blessing, and that they who take this way will come speed. I am, then–
I. To OPEN UP THIS WAY TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING, WHICH YOU MAY TAKE UP IN THESE PARTICULARS. If we would have the blessing, then–
1. We must have a lively sense of our need of it.
2. We must by faith lay hold on Christ the storehouse of blessings for it. God blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.
3. We must by fervent prayer wrestle with Him for it. How did Jacob obtain it? Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto Him.
4. We must by believing the promise, keep a sure hold of the blessed Redeemer. He had said to Jacob, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered. And we find Jacob reminding Him of this promise (Gen 32:12). Now what way can we hold Him and not let Him go, but holding Him by His Word? They who hold Him by His Word, they have sure hold.
5. We must by hope wait for the blessing. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait I say on the Lord.
6. We must leave no means untried to procure it.
7. No discouragements must cause us to faint.
8. If at any time we fall, we must resolutely recover and renew the struggle.
9. We must resolve never to give over till we get it, and so hold on. I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. This is the resolute struggle, this is the way to the blessing.
Motives to urge you to this way–
1. Consider the worth of the blessing. Whatever pains, and struggles, and on-waiting it may cost, it will far more than repay the expense of all. Gods blessing is Gods good word to the soul, but it is big with Gods grace and good deeds to the man that gets it; and that is enough to make one happy for ever.
2. Consider the need you have of it. You are by nature under the curse, and unless you get the blessing, you must for ever be under the curse.
3. If you will not be at this pains for it, you will be reckoned despisers of the blessing; and that is most dangerous, and will bring on most bitter vengeance. And you will see the day you would do anything for it when you cannot get it.
4. If you will take this way you will get the blessing.
II. To SHOW WHAT IT IS THAT MAKES SOME SOULS PEREMPTORY AND RESOLUTE FOR THE BLESSING, WHILE OTHERS SLIGHT IT.
1. Felt need engageth the soul to this course.
2. Superlative love to and esteem of Christ engageth them to this.
3. Without the blessing all is tasteless and unsatisfactory to them.
4. They see not how to set out their face in an ill world without it. They say with Moses, If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.
5. They see not how to face another world without it.
III. THAT THIS IS THE TRUE WAY TO OBTAIN THE BLESSING, AND THAT THEY WHO MAKE THIS WAY WILL COME SPEED. And He blessed him there. Such as come to Christ for the blessing, they shall get it, if they hold on resolutely and will not be said nay.
1. We have many certain instances and examples of those who have obtained the blessing this way. Jacob in the text. The spouse (Son 3:1-11). The woman of Canaan (Mat 15:22 and downwards; see also Lam 3:40-50 and downwards). Would you know how to get the blessing? There is a patent way, behold the footsteps of the flock, not the footsteps of lifeless formal professors, who cannot go off their own pace for all the blessings of the covenant; but the footsteps of wrestling saints, who were resolved to have the blessing cost what it would
2. We have Gods word or promise for it. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall hath abundance.
3. It is the Lords ordinary way to bring great things from small beginnings by degrees.
4. Consider the bountiful nature of God, who will not always flee from them that follow Him, nor offer to go away from them that will not let Him go, except He bless them.
5. None coming to Christ for the blessing ever got a refusal, but they that court it by their own indifference.
6. Our Lord allows and encourages His people to use a holy freedom and familiarity with Him, yea a holy importunity, as He teaches us (Luk 11:8-9).
7. As importunity is usually in all cases the way to succeed, so it has special advantages in this case, which promise success.
(1) Our Lord does not free Himself of such as thus hold Him, and is not this promising?
(2) Nay, our Lord commands them to keep the hold which they have gotten. Strive, says He, to enter in at the strait gate. And is not this promising?
Use 1. This lets us see why many fall short of the blessing. They have some motions of heart towards it, and if it would fall down in their bosom with ease, they would be very glad of it. They knock at Gods door for it, and if He would open at the first or second call, they would be content, but they have no heart to hang on about it, and so they even let Him go without the blessing.
Use 2. I exhort you all to hold on. You that have received a blessing, wait on resolutely for more. And you that are going away mourning, take up with no comfort till you get it from Himself; and be resolute that you shall never let Him go till He bless you. (T. Boston, D. D.)
Gods revelation to Jacob
1. It does not appear to be a vision, but a literal transaction. A personage, in the form of a man, really wrestled with him and permitted him prevail so far as to gain his object.
2. Though the form of the struggle was corporeal, yet the essence and object of it were spiritual. An inspired commentator on this wrestling says, He wept and made supplication to the angel. That for which he strove was a blessing, and he obtained it.
3. The personage with whom he strove is here called a man, and yet in seeing Him, Jacob said, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Hosea, in reference to his being a messenger of God to Jacob, calls him the angel: yet he also describes the patriarch as having power with God. Upon the whole, there can be no doubt but that it was the same Divine personage who appeared to him at Bethel and at Padan-aram, who, being in the form of God, again thought it no usurpation appear as God.
4. What is here recorded had relation to Jacobs distress, and may be considered as an answer to his evening supplications. By his power with God he had power with men: Esau and his hostile company were conquered at Penuel.
5. The change of his name from Jacob to Israel and the blessings which followed signified that he was no longer to be regarded as having obtained it by supplanting his brother, but as a prince of God, who had wrestled with Him for it and prevailed. It was thus that the Lord pardoned his sin and wiped away his reproach. It is observable, too, that this is the name by which his posterity are afterwards called. Finally, the whole transaction furnishes an instance of believing, importunate, and successful prayer. (A. Fuller.)
Gods interpositions
Sometimes God interposes between us and a greatly-desired possession which we have been counting upon as our right and as the fair and natural consequence of our past efforts and ways. The expectation of this possession has indeed determined our movements and shaped our life for some time past, and it would not only be assigned to us by men as fairly ours, but God also has Himself seemed to encourage us to win it. Yet when it is now within sight, and when we are rising to pass the little stream which seems alone to separate us from it, we are arrested by a strong, an irresistible hand. The reason is that God wishes us to be in such a state of mind that we shall receive it as His gift, so that it becomes ours by an indefeasible title. Similarly, when advancing to a spiritual possession, such checks are not without their use. Many men look with longing to, what is eternal and spiritual, and they resolve to win this inheritance. And this resolve they often make as if its accomplishment depended solely on their own endurance. They leave almost wholly out of account that the possibility of their entering the state they long for is not decided by their readiness to pass through any ordeal, spiritual or physical, which may be required of them, but by Gods willingness to give it. They act as if by taking advantage of Gods promises, and by passing through certain states of mind and prescribed duties, they could, irrespective of Gods present attitude towards them and constant love, win eternal happiness. In the life of such persons there must therefore come a time when their own spiritual energy seems all to collapse in that painful, utter way in which, when the body is exhausted, the muscles are suddenly found to be cramped and heavy and no longer responsive to the will. They are made to feel that a spiritual dislocation has taken place, and that their eagerness to enter life everlasting no longer stirs the active energies of the soul. In that hour the man learns the most valuable truth he can learn, that it is God who is wishing to save him, not he who must wrest a blessing from an unwilling God. Instead of any longer looking on himself as against the world, he takes his place as one who has the whole energy of Gods will at his back, to give him rightful entrance into all blessedness. (M. Dods, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 24. And there wrestled a man with him] This was doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ, who, among the patriarchs, assumed that human form, which in the fulness of time he really took of a woman, and in which he dwelt thirty-three years among men. He is here styled an angel, because he was , (see the Septuagint, Isa 9:7,) the Messenger of the great counsel or design to redeem fallen man from death, and bring him to eternal glory; see Ge 16:7.
But it may be asked, Had he here a real human body, or only its form? The latter, doubtless. How then could he wrestle with Jacob? It need not be supposed that this angel must have assumed a human body, or something analagous to it, in order to render himself tangible by Jacob; for as the soul operates on the body by the order of God, so could an angel operate on the body of Jacob during a whole night, and produce in his imagination, by the effect of his power, every requisite idea of corporeity, and in his nerves every sensation of substance, and yet no substantiality be in the case.
If angels, in appearing to men, borrow human bodies, as is thought, how can it be supposed that with such gross substances they can disappear in a moment? Certainly they do not take these bodies into the invisible world with them, and the established laws of matter and motion require a gradual disappearing, however swiftly it may be effected. But this is not allowed to be the case, and yet they are reported to vanish instantaneously. Then they must render themselves invisible by a cloud, and this must be of a very dense nature in order to hide a human body. But this very expedient would make their departure still more evident, as the cloud must be more dense and apparent than the body in order to hide it. This does not remove the difficulty. But if they assume a quantity of air or vapour so condensed as to become visible, and modified into the appearance of a human body, they can in a moment dilate and rarefy it, and so disappear; for when the vehicle is rarefied beyond the power of natural vision, as their own substance is invisible they can instantly vanish.
From Ho 12:4, we may learn that the wrestling of Jacob, mentioned in this place, was not merely a corporeal exercise, but also a spiritual one; He wept and made supplication unto him. See the notes there. See Clarke on Ho 12:4.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In some private place, it matters not on which side Jabbok, that he might more freely and ardently pour out his soul unto God.
There wrestled a man with him, an angel, yea, the Angel of the covenant, the Son of God, as it is plain from Gen 32:28,30; Ho 12:3,4, who did here, as oft elsewhere, assume the shape and body of a man, that he might do this work; for this wrestling was real and corporeal in its nature, though it was also mystical and spiritual in its signfification, as we shall see, and it was accompanied with an inward wrestling by ardent prayers joined with tears, Hos 12:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24, 25. There wrestled a man withhimThis mysterious person is called an angel (Ho12:4) and God (Gen 32:28;Gen 32:30; Hos 12:5);and the opinion that is most supported is that he was “the angelof the covenant,” who, in a visible form, appeared to animatethe mind and sympathize with the distress of his pious servant. Ithas been a subject of much discussion whether the incident describedwas an actual conflict or a visionary scene. Many think that as thenarrative makes no mention in express terms either of sleep, ordream, or vision, it was a real transaction; while others,considering the bodily exhaustion of Jacob, his great mental anxiety,the kind of aid he supplicated, as well as the analogy of formermanifestations with which he was favoredsuch as the ladderhaveconcluded that it was a vision [CALVIN,HESSENBERG, HENGSTENBERG].The moral design of it was to revive the sinking spirit of thepatriarch and to arm him with confidence in God, while anticipatingthe dreaded scenes of the morrow. To us it is highly instructive;showing that, to encourage us valiantly to meet the trials to whichwe are subjected, God allows us to ascribe to the efficacy of ourfaith and prayers, the victories which His grace alone enables us tomake.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jacob was left alone,…. On the other side of Jabbok, his family and cattle having passed over it; and this solitude he chose, in order to spend some time in prayer to God for the safety of him and his:
and there wrestled a man with him; not a phantasm or spectre, as Josephus e calls him; nor was this a mere visionary representation of a man, to the imagination of Jacob; or done in the vision of prophecy, as Maimonides f; but it was something real, corporeal, and visible: the Targum of Jonathan says, it was an angel in the likeness of a man, and calls him Michael, which is not amiss, since he is expressly called an angel, Ho 12:4; and if Michael the uncreated angel is meant, it is most true; for not a created angel is designed, but a divine Person, as appears from Jacob’s desiring to be blessed by him; and besides, being expressly called God, Ge 32:28; and was, no doubt, the Son of God in an human form; who frequently appeared in it as a token and pledge of his future incarnation: and “this wrestling” was real and corporeal on the part of both; the man took hold of Jacob, and he took hold of the man, and they strove and struggled together for victory as wrestlers do; and on Jacob’s part it was also mental and spiritual, and signified his fervent and importunate striving with God in prayer; or at least it was attended with earnest and importunate supplications; see Ho 12:4; and this continued
until the breaking of the day: how long this conflict lasted is not certain, perhaps not long; since after Jacob rose in the night he had a great deal of business to do, and did it before this affair happened; as sending his wives, children, servants, and cattle over the brook: however, this may denote, that in the present state or night of darkness, wrestling in prayer with God must be continued until the perfect state commences, when the everlasting day of glory will break.
e Antiqu. l. 1. c. 20. sect. 2. f Morch Nevochim, par. 2. c. 42. p. 310.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Jacob Wrestles with an Angel. | B. C. 1739. |
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
We have here the remarkable story of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel and prevailing, which is referred to, Hos. xii. 4. Very early in the morning, a great while before day, Jacob had helped his wives and his children over the river, and he desired to be private, and was left alone, that he might again more fully spread his cares and fears before God in prayer. Note, We ought to continue instant in prayer, always to pray and not to faint: frequency and importunity in prayer prepare us for mercy. While Jacob was earnest in prayer, stirring up himself to take hold on God, an angel takes hold on him. Some think this was a created angel, the angel of his presence (Isa. lxiii. 9), one of those that always behold the face of our Father and attend on the shechinah, or the divine Majesty, which probably Jacob had also in view. Others think it was Michael our prince, the eternal Word, the angel of the covenant, who is indeed the Lord of the angels, who often appeared in a human shape before he assumed the human nature for a perpetuity; whichsoever it was, we are sure God’s name was in him, Exod. xxiii. 21. Observe,
I. How Jacob and this angel engaged, v. 24. It was a single combat, hand to hand; they had neither of them any seconds. Jacob was now full of care and fear about the interview he expected, next day, with his brother, and, to aggravate the trial, God himself seemed to come forth against him as an enemy, to oppose his entrance into the land of promise, and to dispute the pass with him, not suffering him to follow his wives and children whom he had sent before. Note, Strong believers must expect divers temptations, and strong ones. We are told by the prophet (Hos. xii. 4) how Jacob wrestled: he wept, and made supplication; prayers and tears were his weapons. It was not only a corporal, but a spiritual, wrestling, by the vigorous actings of faith and holy desire; and thus all the spiritual seed of Jacob, that pray in praying, still wrestle with God.
II. What was the success of the engagement. 1. Jacob kept his ground; though the struggle continued long, the angel, prevailed not against him (v. 25), that is, this discouragement did not shake his faith, nor silence his prayer. It was not in his own strength that he wrestled, nor by his own strength that he prevailed, but in and by strength derived from Heaven. That of Job illustrates this (Job xxiii. 6), Will he plead against me with his great power? No (had the angel done so, Jacob had been crushed), but he will put strength in me; and by that strength Jacob had power over the angel, Hos. xii. 4. Note, We cannot prevail with God but in his own strength. It is his Spirit that intercedes in us, and helps our infirmities, Rom. viii. 26. 2. The angel put out Jacob’s thigh, to show him what he could do, and that it was God he was wrestling with, for no man could disjoint his thigh with a touch. Some think that Jacob felt little or no pain from this hurt; it is probable that he did not, for he did not so much as halt till the struggle was over (v. 31), and, if so, this was an evidence of a divine touch indeed, which wounded and healed at the same time. Jacob prevailed, and yet had his thigh put out. Note, Wrestling believers may obtain glorious victories, and yet come off with broken bones; for when they are weak then are they strong, weak in themselves, but strong in Christ, 2 Cor. xii. 10. Our honours and comforts in this world have their alloys. 3. The angel, by an admirable condescension, mildly requests Jacob to let him go (v. 26), as God said to Moses (Exod. xxxii. 10), Let me alone. Could not a mighty angel get clear of Jacob’s grapples? He could; but thus he would put an honour on Jacob’s faith and prayer, and further try his constancy. The king is held in the galleries (Cant. vii. 5); I held him (says the spouse) and would not let him go, Cant. iii. 4. The reason the angel gives why he would be gone is because the day breaks, and therefore he would not any longer detain Jacob, who had business to do, a journey to go, a family to look after, which, especially in this critical juncture, called for his attendance. Note, Every thing is beautiful in its season; even the business of religion, and the comforts of communion with God, must sometimes give way to the necessary affairs of this life: God will have mercy, and not sacrifice. 4. Jacob persists in his holy importunity: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me; whatever becomes of his family and journey, he resolves to make the best he can of this opportunity, and not to lose the advantage of his victory: he does not mean to wrestle all night for nothing, but humbly resolves he will have a blessing, and rather shall all his bones be put out of joint than he will go away without one. The credit of a conquest will do him no good without the comfort of a blessing. In begging this blessing he owns his inferiority, though he seemed to have the upper hand in the struggle; for the less is blessed of the better. Note, Those that would have the blessing of Christ must be in good earnest, and be importunate for it, as those that resolve to have no denial. It is the fervent prayer that is the effectual prayer. 5. The angel puts a perpetual mark of honour upon him, by changing his name (Gen 32:27; Gen 32:28): “Thou art a brave combatant” (says the angel), “a man of heroic resolution; what is thy name?” “Jacob,” says he, a supplanter; so Jacob signifies: “Well,” says the angel, “be thou never so called any more; henceforth thou shalt be celebrated, not for craft and artful management, but for true valour; thou shalt be called Israel, a prince with God, a name greater than those of the great men of the earth.” He is a prince indeed that is a prince with God, and those are truly honourable that are mighty in prayer, Israels, Israelites indeed. Jacob is here knighted in the field, as it were, and has a title of honour given him by him that is the fountain of honour, which will remain, to his praise, to the end of time. Yet this was not all; having power with God, he shall have power with men too. Having prevailed for a blessing from heaven, he shall, no doubt, prevail for Esau’s favour. Note, Whatever enemies we have, if we can but make God our friend, we are well off; those that by faith have power in heaven have thereby as much on earth as they have occasion for. 6. He dismisses him with a blessing, v. 29. Jacob desired to know the angel’s name, that he might, according to his capacity, do him honour, Judg. xiii. 17. But that request was denied, that he might not be too proud of his conquest, nor think he had the angel at such an advantage as to oblige him to what he pleased. No, “Wherefore dost thou ask after my name? What good will it do thee to know that?” The discovery of that was reserved for his death-bed, upon which he was taught to call him Shiloh. But, instead of telling him his name, he gave him his blessing, which was the thing he wrestled for: He blessed him there, repeated and ratified the blessing formerly given him. Note, Spiritual blessings, which secure our felicity, are better and much more desirable than fine notions which satisfy our curiosity. An interest in the angel’s blessing is better than an acquaintance with his name. The tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge. Thus Jacob carried his point; a blessing he wrestled for, and a blessing he had; nor did ever any of his praying seed seek in vain. See how wonderfully God condescends to countenance and crown importunate prayer: those that resolve, though God slay them, yet to trust in him, will, at length, be more than conquerors. 7. Jacob gives a new name to the place; he calls it Peniel, the face of God (v. 30), because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God. Observe, The name he gives to the place preserves and perpetuates, not the honour of his valour or victory, but only the honour of God’s free grace. He does not say, “In this place I wrestled with God, and prevailed;” but, “In this place I saw God face to face, and my life was preserved;” not, “It was my praise that I came off a conqueror, but it was God’s mercy that I escaped with my life.” Note, It becomes those whom God honours to take shame to themselves, and to admire the condescensions of his grace to them. Thus David did, after God had sent him a gracious message (2 Sam. vii. 18), Who am I, O Lord God? 8. The memorandum Jacob carried of this in his bones: He halted on his thigh (v. 31); some think he continued to do so to his dying-day; and, if he did, he had no reason to complain, for the honour and comfort he obtained by this struggle were abundantly sufficient to countervail the damage, though he went limping to his grave. He had no reason to look upon it as his reproach thus to bear in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal. vi. 17); yet it might serve, like Paul’s thorn in the flesh, to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of the revelations. Notice is taken of the sun’s rising upon him when he passed over Penuel; for it is sunrise with that soul that has communion with God. The inspired penman mentions a traditional custom which the seed of Jacob had, in remembrance of this, never to eat of that sinew, or muscle, in any beast, by which the hip-bone is fixed in its cup: thus they preserved the memorial of this story, and gave occasion to their children to enquire concerning it; they also did honour to the memory of Jacob. And this use we may still make of it, to acknowledge the mercy of God, and our obligations to Jesus Christ, that we may now keep up our communion with God, in faith, hope, and love, without peril either of life or limb.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 24-32:
Jacob sent his family across the Jabbok, and remained all night behind on the north bank of the stream. There he encountered a Divine messenger, the Angel of Jehovah (Ho 12:4), in an all-night wrestling match. Jacob recognized Him as such (verse 30). Jacob prevailed, and the Angel touched the “hollow of his thigh,” the hip-socket, throwing it out of joint. Still Jacob held on to the Heavenly Antagonist. As daylight approached, the Angel demanded that Jacob let go and let him leave. There was much Jacob needed to do that day; also, it is implied that this contest was intended only for Jacob’s eyes. Jacob persisted, and refused to let go the Angel until He blessed him.
The Divine blessing was: Jacob would be no longer the heel-catcher, the scheming trickster. From henceforth in God’s sight he would be Israel, prince or royal man of God. He had prevailed with Elohim, and thus would prevail with man.
Jacob then asked of the Angel his name. His reply was the same given to Manoah years later, see Jg 13:18, where He is identified as “secret” or “wonderful” (see Isa 9:6). Jacob then named the place Peniel (Penuel), “face of God,” for there He had seen God, face-to-face (see Ge 16:13; Ex 24:11; 33:20; Jg 6:22; 13:22; Isa 6:5).
As the sun rose over the scene, Jacob crossed the ford to join his family. The nerve in his leg was numb, and this caused him to walk with a limp. This experience led to a practice that continued to “this day” (the time of Moses), and centuries later. The “sinew that shrank” refers to the Achilles tendon. The Hebrews cut this sinew from the animals they kill to eat.
Jacob received the blessing he desired from Jehovah. But he was given a memorial of this blessing: a perpetual limp. This is like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” 2Co 12:7, given as a reminder to the flesh that God’s real blessings are spiritual and not material only.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
24. There wrestled a man with him (107) Although this vision was particularly useful to Jacob himself, to teach him beforehand that many conflicts awaited him, and that he might certainly conclude that he should be the conqueror in them all; there is yet not the least doubt that the Lord exhibited, in his person, a specimen of the temptations — common to all his people — which await them, and must be constantly submitted to, in this transitory life. Wherefore it is right to keep in view this designs of the vision, which is to represent all the servants of God in this world as wrestlers; because the Lord exercises them with various kinds of conflicts. Moreover, it is not said that Satan, or any mortal man, wrestled with Jacob, but God himself: to teach us that our faith is tried by him; and whenever we are tempted, our business is truly with him, not only because we fight under his auspices, but because he, as an antagonist, descends into the arena to try our strength. This, though at first sight it seems absurd, experience and reason teaches us to be true. For as all prosperity flows from his goodness, so adversity is either the rod with which he corrects our sins, or the test of our faith and patience. And since there is no kind of temptations by which God does not try his faithful people, the similitude is very suitable, which represents him as coming, hand to hand, to combat with them. Therefore, what was once exhibited under a visible form to our father Jacob, is daily fulfilled in the individual members of the Church; namely, that, in their temptations, it is necessary for them to wrestle with God. He is said, indeed, to tempt us in a different manner from Satan; but because he alone is the Author of our crosses and afflictions, and he alone creates light and darkness, (as is declared in Isaiah,) he is said to tempt us when he makes a trial of our faith. But the question now occurs, Who is able to stand against an Antagonist, at whose breath alone all flesh perishes and vanishes away, at whose look the mountains melt, at whose word or beck the whole world is shaken to pieces, and therefore to attempt the least contest with him would be insane temerity? But it is easy to untie the knot. For we do not fight against him, except by his own power, and with his own weapons; for he, having challenged us to this contest, at the same time furnishes us with means of resistance, so that he both fights against us and for us. In short, such is his apportioning of it is conflict, that, while he assails us with one hand, he defends us with the other; yea, inasmuch as he supplies us with more strength to resist than he employs in opposing us, we may truly and properly say, that he fights against us with his left hand, and for us with his right hand. For while he lightly opposes us, he supplies invincible strength whereby we overcome. It is true he remains at perfect unity with himself: but the double method in which he deals with us cannot be otherwise expressed, than that in striking us with a human rod, he does not put forth his full strength in the temptation; but that in granting the victory to our faith, he becomes in us stronger than the power by which he opposes us. And although these forms of expression are harsh, yet their harshness will be easily mitigated in practice. For if temptations are contests, (and we know that they are not accidental, but are divinely appointed for us,) it follows hence, that God acts in the character of an antagonist, and on this the rest depends; namely, that in the temptation itself he appears to be weak against us, that he may conquer in us. Some restrict this to one kind of temptation only, where God openly and avowedly manifests himself as our adversary, as if armed for our destruction. And truly, I confess, that this differs from common conflicts, and requires, beyond all others, a rare, and even heroic strength. Yet I include willingly every kind of conflict in which God exercises the faithful: since in all they have God for an antagonist, although he may not openly proclaim himself hostile unto them. That Moses here calls him a man whom a little after he declares to have been God, is a sufficiently usual form of speech. For since God appeared under the form of a man, the name is thence assumed; just as, because of the visible symbol, the Spirit is called a dove; and, in turn, the name of the Spirit is transferred to the dove. That this disclosure was not sooner made to the holy man, I understand to be for this reason, because God had resolved to call him, as a soldier, robust and skillful in war, to more severe contests. For as raw recruits are spared, and young oxen are not immediately yoked to the plough; so the Lord more gently exercises his own people, until, having gathered strength, they become more inured to toil. Jacob, therefore, having been accustomed to bear sufferings, is now led forth to real war. Perhaps also, the Lord had reference to the conflict which was then approaching. But I think Jacob was admonished, at his very entrance on the promised land, that he was not there to expect a tranquil life for himself. For his return to his own country might seem to be a kind of release; and thus Jacob, like a soldier who had kept his term of service, would have given himself up to repose. Wherefore it was highly necessary for him to be taught what his future conditions should be. We, also, are to learn from him, that we must fight during the whole course of our life; lest any one, promising himself rest, should wilfully deceive himself. And this admonition is very needful for us; for we see how prone we are to sloth. Whence it arises, that we shall not only be thinking of a truce in perpetual war; but also of peace in the heat of the conflict, unless the Lord rouse us.
(107) יאבק, yebek, from אבק, dust, because in wrestling the dust is raised. — Gesenius.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 32:24. Wrestled.] The Heb. word only occurs in this place. It seems to be derived from a word signifying dust, and the allusion is probably to the dust excited by the combatants in wrestling. A man. In Hos. 12:4-5, the man who wrestled with Jacob is called the angel, and the Lord of Hosts. In Gen. 32:30, Jacob calls him God.
Gen. 32:25. The hollow of his thigh.] Lit., the socket of the hip. It is not said that he struck it a blow (Knobel) (for it is God who is spoken of); needs but to touch its object, and the full result is secured. (Lange). And the hollow of Jacobs thigh was out of joint. This is explained more fully in Gen. 32:32. The sinews of his thigh (nervus ischradicus) were paralyzed through the extreme tension and distortion. But this bodily paralysis does not paralyze the persevering Jacob. (Lange).
Gen. 32:28. Israel.] Signifies, princely prevailer with God. One part of the word signifies the same as the name Sarah, princess. Such names in Scripture designate the character, rather than the common appellation of those to whom they are applied. (Isa. 9:6; Isa. 7:14). See also what our Lord says to His disciples, (St. Joh. 15:15). As a prince hast thou power with God. The same word occurs in Hos. 12:4; He had power with God; where the Heb. has, he was a prince with God.
Gen. 32:30. Peniel.] Heb. face of God, called also Penuel, in Gen. 32:31. But the two words have precisely the same import.
Gen. 32:32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank.] This custom is not mentioned elsewhere in the O.T., but the Jews rigidly observe it unto this day. Delitzsch says, This exemption exists still, but since the ancients did not distinguish clearly between muscle, vein, and nerve, the sinew is now generally understood, i.e., the interior cord and nerve of the so-called hind-quarter, including the exterior also, and the ramifications of both.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 32:24-32
JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL
Consider this incident:
I. As to its outward form. Jacob had sent his company on before, and is now left all alone. He entrusts his all to God on whom he had cast himself in prayer. A strange and mysterious being, having at first the form of a man, wrestles with him until the breaking of the day. (Gen. 32:24). When this man saw that he prevailed not, he touched the hollow of Jacobs thigh and put it out of joint. He confesses himself vanquished, and says, let me go, for the day breaketh, (Gen. 32:26) when Jacob replies I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Jacobs unknown combatant asks his name, when he changes that name in commemoration of Jacobs power with God, and prevailing with men. Jacob then turns towards his unknown antagonist and asks what is his name. He blesses Jacob, but refuses to tell his name. (Gen. 32:29.) This mysterious being is, at first called a man, then an angel, and then God. When the conquest is over Jacob declares, I have seen God face to face. (Gen. 32:30). We cannot take this incident as a dream, but must regard it as history. For it is stated as a fact that the sinew of Jacobs thigh shrank (Gen. 32:32). The features of this incident are true to all what we know of Jacobs character. He had been a taker of the heel from his very birth. He had contended successfully with adversaries. True to his character, he struggles with this mysterious combatant while any strength remains. And even when his strength is suddenly withered, he hangs upon his conquerer. He learns to depend upon one mightier than himself.
II. As to its spiritual meaning. This transaction is clearly intended to have a spiritual meaning. If the outward form of it seems strange to us, we must consider that God can adapt the mode in which He shall convey His revelation to the condition of the person receiving it. When God has things of a spiritual nature to reveal, it is not strange that He should begin with the senses. God takes man on the ground on which He finds him, and through the senses leads him to the higher things of reason, of conscience, of faith, and of communion with Himself. These are some of the spiritual truths and lessons to be learned from this incident:
1. That the great struggle of life is to know and feel after God. We know that we are in the hands of some mysterious and mighty Power. We want to know the secret of that Power, and who is that mysterious Being behind it all. Truly to know Gods name is to know the meaning of it, and not merely the ability to recite words. With the Hebrews of the old time, names stood for realities. To know Gods name was to know His nature. This is our great struggleour deepest desire. Jacob now stood in dread of his brother Esau, but says not a word regarding his danger. He requests only to be blest by God, and to know His nature. We, too, feel that this universe reposes upon a solemn mystery, and we ask, what is that Name above every name; who is that Being in whom all things have their beginning, and seek their end? Are all our aspirations after God and immortality, only the echo of our own minds and wishes; or, are they some living being outside of us?
2. That God reveals Himself through mystery and awe. The Divine antagonist seemed anxious to depart before the dawn, but Jacob held him, as if in fear, lest the daylight should rob him of the blessing. The darkness of the night was the favourable time. The light of day might dissolve the charm. God is felt more in awe and wonder than in clear conceptions. We feel God most when some dark mystery presses upon us. Darkness shows us more of God than the light. The infinite grandeur of heaven strikes us more by night than by day.
3. That God reveals Himself to us in blessing. God refused to tell Jacob His Name, but He blessed him there. This is the chief thing we want. Through blessing imparted to us we shall learn all of that great Name that we can possibly know. If we depend only on words, we may come to mistake them for knowledge. Jacob had to learn and to feel after God by the experience of His goodness, and not merely to satisfy himself with a name. Words would only have limited and circumscribed the Infinite.
4. That Gods revelation of Himself to us is intended to change our character. The name of Jacob was changed to that of Israel. He is no more supplanter (Jacob), but prevailer with God (Israel). He had now put off the old man, and put on the new man; and this change in his character is signified by a new name. He now walks in newness of life. Twenty years before this, God had appeared to him and Heaven was opened to him in forgiveness and blessing. But all through and since this the essential principles of his character were not altered. There was still something subtle in him, deep cunning and craft,a lack of reality. Jacob was tender and devout after his manner; but he was still the subtle supplanter, and only half honest. But now that he is overcome by the awful God, his subtlety departs from him. He becomes real and true. When God lays hold upon us, it is for the purpose of removing us from the old life to the new.
4. That God is conquered by prayer and supplication. When He saw that He prevailed not against him. (Gen. 32:25.) Here is the strange spectacle of Omnipotence unable to vanquish the worm, Jacob. But the strength by which Jacob wrestled was not the strength of bone and muscle, and the angels inability was nothing but the inability to withstand the power of faith in His own promises. The strength by which he prevailed was Gods own strength. Every true Israelite pleads the promises of God with an importunity that will take no denial, and God is pleased to suffer Himself to be thus overcome. Gods contest with us is friendly.
THE FEATURES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF REVEALED FAITH IN JACOBS WRESTLING
1. The germ of the incarnation. Godhead and humanity wrestling with each other; the Godhead in the form of a man.
2. The germ of the atonement. Sacrifice of the human will.
3. The germ of justification by faith. I will not let thee go, etc.
4. The germ of the new-birth. Jacob, Israel.
5. The germ of the principle of love to ones enemies. The reconciliation with God, reconciliation with the world.(Lange).
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 32:24. This strife was not only corporeal but spiritual; as well by the force of his faith as strength of body. He prevailed by prayers and tears. (Hos. 12:4.) Our Saviour also prayed Himself into an agony, (Luk. 22:44.) and we are bidden to strive in prayer, even to an agony. (Rom. 15:30.) Every sound is not music; so neither is every uttering petitions to God a prayer. It is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart. A man must wrestle with God, and wring the blessing out of His hands, as the woman of Canaan did. He must stir up himself to take hold of God. (Isa. 64:7.)(Trapp.)
Gen. 32:25. But what a wonder is this? Jacob received not so much hurt from all his enemies as from his best friend. Not one of his hairs perished by Laban or Esau, yet he lost a joint by the angel, and was sent halting to his grave. He that knows our strength, yet will wrestle with us for our exercise, and loves our violence and importunity.(Bp. Hall.)
This was the turning point in Jacobs life. Henceforth he will put less dependence on the flesh, and fleshly means, and more upon God his deliverer. He prevailed, indeed, but bore about in his body the marks of the struggle, and succeeded only by prayer and faith. The thigh is the pillar of a mans strength, and the hip-joint is the seat of physical force for him who would stand his ground as a wrestler.(Jacobus.)
In all the gains of godliness there is yet something inflicted to keep us humble.
Gen. 32:26. Jacob conquers at the moment his physical strength is crippled. (2Co. 12:10.) The All-powerful cannot go without Jacobs leave. And Jacob will not let Him go except He bless him. What loving condescension of the covenant God, binding Himself to the sinner! I will not leave thee nor forsake thee. (Heb. 13:5.) Concerning the work of my hands command ye me. What power of faith to hold on, and not to let go the Covenant Angel without a blessing!(Jacobus.)
This teaches us as our Saviour did, by the parable of the importunate widow (Luk. 18:1), to persevere in prayer, and to devour all discouragements. Jacob holds with his hands, when his joints were out of joint. The woman of Canaan will not be put off, either with silence or sad answers.(Trapp.)
The highest heroism of faith shines forth in these words. Doubtless the power of Jacobs antagonist was sufficient to have freed himself from this death-like embrace. But His omnipotence was limited in its operation by his promise to his servant to do him good. Nor did He really desire that Jacob should free him from the obligation to do him good. He rather aimed to have the pleasure of seeing how firm, by His grace, are the hearts of His children, even when many waters of affliction go over them, and how the seed of God remains in them. God Himself is the author of this constancy, and hence it is that it is so pleasing in His sight; for He takes pleasure in all His works.(Bush.)
Gen. 32:27. The mention of his name not only reminded him of his predicted ascendancy over Esau, but also of all the rich blessings and prerogatives of the covenant established with his fathers. And what could more tend to cheer and encourage him on this occasion than such refreshing recollections? Yet the ensuing words disclose a still deeper drift in the question.
Gen. 32:28. The new name is indicative of the new nature which has now come to its perfection of development in Jacob. Unlike Abraham, who received his new name once for all, and was never afterwards called by the former one, Jacob will hence be called now by the one, and now by the other, as the occasion may serve. For he was called from the womb. (Gen. 25:23), and both names have a spiritual significance for two different aspects of the child of God, according to the apostles paradox, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Php. 2:12-13.)(Murphy).
Proper names in scripture are frequently used to designate the character rather than the common appellation of those to whom they are applied. Thus it was predicted of Christ that His name should be called Wonderful, Immanuel, etc. (Isa. 9:6; Isa. 7:14), the meaning of which is, that His nature should be wonderful, should be Immanuel, etc. So our Lord says to His disciples, I have called you friends (Joh. 15:15), i.e., I declare you to be friends. Jacob should now be declared to be possessed of a new character by the significant designation assigned him. In allusion to his power with God, the Most High says by His prophet, I said not to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. (Isa. 45:19.) The seed of Jacob is specified rather than the seed of Abraham, from this eminent instance of Jacobs praying and prevailing in a season of extremity, and thus carrying an implication that his seed would inherit their fathers spirit in this respect.(Bush.)
No longer Jacob the supplanter, but Israel the Prince of Godthe champion of the Lord, who had fought with God and conquered; and who, henceforth, will fight for God and be His true loyal soldier; a larger and more unselfish manhonest and true at last. No man becomes honest till he has got face to face with God. There is a certain insincerity about us alla something dramatic. One of those dreadful moments which throw us upon ourselves, and strip off the hollowness of our outside show, must come before the insincere is true.(Robertson.)
All Gods Israel are wrestlers by calling. (Eph. 6:12.) As good soldiers of Jesus Christ, they must suffer hardness. (2Ti. 2:3.) The Lord Christ stands over us as He did over Stephen (Act. 7:53), with a crown upon His head and another in His hand, with this inscription, To him that overcometh. (Revelation 2, 3)(Trapp.)
Gen. 32:29. Names have a power, a strange power of hiding God. Speech has been bitterly defined as the art of hiding thought. That sarcastic definition has in it a truth. The Eternal word is the revealer of Gods thought; and every true word of man is originally the expression of a thought; but by degrees the word hides the thought. Words often hide from us our ignorance of even earthly truth. The child asks for information, and we satiate his curiosity with words. Who does not know how we satisfy ourselves with the name of some strange bird or plant, or the name of some new law in nature? We get the name, and fancy we understand something more than we did before; but, in truth, we are more hopelessly ignorant. We fancy we possess it, because we have got the name by which it is known; and the word covers over the abyss of our ignorance. If Jacob had got a word, that word might have satisfied him. He would have said, now I understand God, and know all about Him. Gods plan was not to give names and words, but truths of feeling. That night, in that strange scene, He impressed on Jacobs soul a religious awe, which was hereafter to develop,not a set of formal expressions, which would have satisfied with husks the cravings of the intellect, and shut up the soul:Jacob felt the Infinite, who is more truly felt when least named. Words would have reduced that to the Finite; for, oh! to know all about God is one thingto know the living God is another.(Robertson).
Gen. 32:30. Bethel, Mahanaim, Peniel, divine stations in the journey of the pilgrim of faith.(Lange).
To see God face to face and live is the marvel of human experience.(Jacobus).
The Christian also has his memorable places: Bethlehem, Capernaum, Jerusalem, Calvary, and the Mount of Olives, are among them. Every Christian has his particular Peniel, in which God revealed himself to him in an especial mannerhis closet, the sanctuary, a book, a sermon, a company, a solitary hour, which continue consecrated in his grateful memory.(Bush).
His words are equivalent to the declaration, I am preserved, and shall be preserved. Here, then, is the echo of faith, Although new tribulations may befall me, according to the will of God, yet I shall be preserved, and He will at length deliver me from all evil. Of this I am assured, for I know in whom I have believed. His subsequent history shows that his confidence was well founded.(Bush.)
Gen. 32:31. Nature without was in harmony with the new feelings awakened within his soul. The Sun of Righteousness, the day-spring from on high, had risen upon him. He went lame, but he was blessed. While he rejoices in the exceeding mercy of God, he is, at the same time, reminded of his own nothingness and humbled.
The wrenching of the tendons and muscles was mercifully healed, yet so as to leave a permanent monument in Jacobs halting gait, that God had overcome his self-will.(Murphy).
Gen. 32:32. This story contains three points which are specially interesting to every Jew in a national point of view. It explained to him why he was called an Israelite. It traces the origin of his own name to a distant ancestor, who had been a wrestler with God, from whence he had obtained the name Israel. It casts much deep and curious interest round an otherwise insignificant village, Peniel, where this transaction had taken place, and which derived its name from itPeniel, the face of God. And, besides, it explained the origin of a singular custom, which might seem a superstitious one, of not suffering a particular muscle to be eaten, and regarding it with a kind of religious awe, as the part in which Jacob is said by tradition to have been injured, by the earnest tension of his frame during the struggle.(Robertson.)
The preceding narrative teaches us,
1. That great trials often befall the people of God when in the way of commanded duty.
2. The surest way of prevailing with man is to prevail with God.
3. Prevailing at last will recompense all our striving.(Bush.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(24) There wrestled.This verb, abak, occurs only here, and without doubt it was chosen because of its resemblance to the name Jabbok. Its probable derivation is from a word signifying dust, because wrestlers were quickly involved in a cloud of dust, or because, as was the custom in Greece, they rubbed their bodies with it.
A man.Such he seemed to be to Jacob; but Hosea (Gen. 12:4) calls him an angel; and, in Gen. 32:30, Jacob recognises in him a manifestation of the Deity, as Hagar had done before, when an angel appeared to her (Gen. 16:13). There is no warrant for regarding the angel as an incarnation of Deity, any more than in the case of Manoah (Jdg. 13:22); but it was a manifestation of God mediately by His messenger, and was one of the many signs indicative of a more complete manifestation by the coming of the Word in the flesh. The opposite idea of many modern commentators, that the narrative is an allegory, is contradicted by the attendant circumstances, especially by the change of Jacobs name, and his subsequent lameness, to which national testimony was borne by the customs of the Jews.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. Left alone He doubtless sought to be alone with God that night, and called up the memories of all his past life. All the deception and wrong that had stained his record pressed sorely on his awakened conscience. He had all along leaned too much to his own devices, and had not fully relied on God. He probably repeated over and over again the prayer of Gen 32:9-12, until it became fixed in his soul; and then there came a tangible presence, as of a human form; there wrestled a man with him until the rising of the dawn; a fact which we can understand and explain only as a supernatural visitation of the angel of Jehovah. See note on Gen 16:7. The prophet Hosea (Hos 12:3-4) refers to this conflict, and his words may be rendered thus:
In the womb he took his brother by the heel .
And by his vigour he was a prince with God,
And he acted the prince towards the angel, and prevailed
He wept, and made supplication to him .
The exact nature of this struggle it is impossible for us to tell, but the whole drift of the narrative is against our explaining it as a dream, or an inner vision which had no external reality. The experience, however, may have gone on through alternate sleeping and waking, as often, when greatly agitated, the spirit of man rises above the weakness and weariness of the flesh. Doubtless Jacob’s praying wrought his soul into impassioned fervour. In such a state the coming of a man to him would have excited, comparatively, little or no additional alarm. In the first hours of struggle he as little apprehended the nature of his combatant as did Abraham and Lot when they entertained angels unawares; but towards the close of the struggle, as the morning drew on, he began to realize that he wrestled not with flesh and blood, but with Jehovah’s angel.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he did not prevail against him he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled with him.’
Jacob was left alone with his thoughts. The approach of Esau lies heavily on his mind and he feels the future is very much in doubt, the future that was linked with the covenant of Yahweh. This is why he has come here alone. This is something that he must resolve.
Then he experiences a vivid and continual theophany that makes everything else relatively unimportant. Very little of the detail is actually provided. This is one of those times in Scripture when euphemisms are used to indicate something far deeper. Jacob describes it in terms of wrestling with a man all night but we are probably wrong to totally literalise the description. It signifies some awesome experience of the presence and might of God, possibly appearing, as to Abraham, in human form (see Gen 18:2), or possibly appearing in some dream or vision of the night, an experience which we can never grasp or understand, possibly a combined physical and spiritual wrestling of awesome effect. Certainly he is aware that he is somehow wrestling with God and so powerful is the impact on his body that his thigh is put out of joint.
There can be little doubt that this wrestling is related to his seemingly doubtful future in the light of Esau’s approach. It is the depth of his uncertainly and fear about the future that brings him to this point. He had had such hopes for the future, but now he is fearful that they will all fail. It is this that results in this pneumatic experience.
To picture it in terms of some strange man who arrives and wrestles with him whom he afterwards discovers to be God is to trivialise the whole scene. It is quite clear that Jacob knows from the start that he is dealing with God Himself. Thus it may be that we are to see it as some vivid dream which portrays a spiritual reality that is unfolding. Jacob is clearly a man who receives dreams and visions (Gen 28:12; Gen 31:3 with Gen 31:10-11). Or it may be that God does appear physically in some unique way for some unique purpose. We remember how He so appeared to Abraham (Gen 18:2). We can never finally know. What we can know is that God came with an offer to Jacob that demanded extreme effort and sacrifice and that Jacob finally prevailed.
“When He saw that he did not prevail against him.” The first ‘He’ is God. This can hardly be in the wrestling. No one would suggest that God could not defeat Jacob. The point was that though Jacob could not defeat God he clung to Him and would not himself accept defeat. God could not, as it were, escape because Jacob was so desperate. He was clinging to God.
“He touched the hollow of his thigh.” That is, God touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh. The touch need not have been physical. It simply means that God disabled him to further bring home to him his weakness.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Struggle at Peniel
v. 24. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day, v. 25. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, v. 26. And he said, Let Me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. v. 27. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
v. 28. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. v. 29. And Jacob asked Him and said, Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? v. 30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel v. 31. And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. v. 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Gen 32:24
And Jacob was left alone (probably on the north bank of the Jabbok; but vide on Gen 32:23); and there wrestledthus assaulting in his strong point one who had been a wrestler or heel-catcher from his youth (Murphy). The old word , niph. of , unused, a dehorn, from , dust, because in wrestling the dust is raised (Aben Ezra, Gesenius), or a weakened form of , to wind round, to embrace (Furst), obviously contains an allusion to the Jabbok (vide on Gen 32:22)a mancalled an angel by Hosea (Gen 12:4), and God by Jacob (verse 30); but vide infrawith him until the breaking of the dayliterally, the ascending of the morning.
Gen 32:25
And when he (the unknown wrestler) saw that he prevailed not against him, he touchednot struck (Knobel)the hollow of his thigh (literally, the socket of the hip); and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with himliterally, in his wrestling with him.
Gen 32:26
And he (the man) said, Let me go (literally, send me away; meaning that he yielded the victory to Jacob, adding as a reason for his desire to depart), for the day breakethliterally, for the morning or the dawn ascendeth; and therefore it is time for thee to proceed to other duties (Wilet, Clarke, Murphy), e.g. to meet Esau and appease his anger (‘Speaker’s Commentary’). Perhaps also the angel was unwilling that the vision which was meant for Jacob only should be seen by others (Pererius), or even that his own glory should be beheld by Jacob (Ainsworth). Calvin thinks the language was so shaped as to lead Jacob to infer nocturna visions se divinitus fuisse edoctum. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. The words show that Jacob now clearly recognized his mysterious Antagonist to be Divine, and sought to obtain from him the blessing which he had previously stolen from his aged father by craft.
Gen 32:27
And he said unto him, What is thy name? (not as if requiring to be informed, but as directing attention to it in view of the change about to be made upon it) And he said, Jacobi.e. Heel-catcher, or Supplanter (vide Gen 25:26).
Gen 32:28
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more (i.e. exclusively, since both he and his descendants are in Scripture sometimes after this styled) Jacob, but Israel:, from , to be chief, to fight, though, after the example of Ishmael, God hears, it might be rendered “God governs” (Kalisch), yet seems in this place to signify either Prince of El (Calvin, Ainsworth, Dathe, Murphy, Wordsworth, and others), or wrestler with God (Furst, Keil, Kurtz, Lange, et alii, rather than warrior of God (Gesenius), if indeed both ideas may not be combined in the name as the princely wrestler with God (‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ Bush), an interpretation adopted by the A.V.for as a prince hast thou power with Godliterally, for thou hast contended with Elohim [Keil, Alford, &c.), (LXX.), contra deumfortis fuisti (Vulgate), thou hast obtained the mastery with God (Kalisch), rather than, thou hast striven to be a prince with God (Murphy)and with men, and but prevailed. So are the words rendered by the best authorities (Keil, Kalisch, Murphy, Wordsworth), though the translation (LXX.), quanto magis contra heroines prevalebis (Vulgate) is By some preferred (Calvin, Rosenmller, &c.).
Gen 32:29
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. A request indicating great boldness on the part of Jacobthe boldness of faith (Heb 4:16; Heb 10:19); and importing a desire on Jacob’s part to be acquainted, not merely with the designation, but with the mysterious character of the Divine personage with whom he had been contending. And he (the mysterious stranger) said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? Cf. Jdg 13:18, where the angel gives the same reply to Manoah, adding, “seeing it is secret;” literally, wonderful, i.e. incomprehensible to mortal man; though here the words of Jacob’s antagonist may mean that his name, so far as it could be learnt by man, was already plain from the occurrence which had taken place (Murphy, ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ Bush). And he blessed him there. After this, every vestige of doubt disappeared from the soul of Jacob.
Gen 32:30
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (i.e. “the face of God.” Its situation must have been close to the Jabbok. The reason given for its designation follows): for I have seen God (Elohim) face to face, and my life is preserved (cf. Gen 16:13; Exo 14:11; Exo 33:20; Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:22; Isa 6:5).
Gen 32:31
And as he passed over Penuelthis some suppose to have been the original name of the place, which Jacob changed by the alteration of a vowel, but it is probably nothing more than an old form of the same wordthe sun rose upon him,”there was sunshine within and sunshine without. When Judas went forth on his dark design, we read, ‘It was night,’ Joh 13:30” (Inglis)and he halted upon his thighthus carrying with him a memorial of his conflict, as Paul afterwards bore about with him a stake in his flesh (2Co 12:7).
Gen 32:32
Therefore the children of Israel cat not of the sinew which shrank,the gid hannasheh, rendered by the LXX. , the nerve which became numb, and by the Vulgate nervus qui emarcuit, the nerve which withered, is the long tendon or sinew nervus ischiaticus (the tends Achillis of the Greeks) reaching from the spinal marrow to the ankle. The derivation of hannasheh is unknown (Gesenius), though the LXX. appear to have connected it with nashah, to dislocate, become feeble; Ainsworth with nashah, to forget (i.e. the sinew that forgot its place), and Furst with nashah, to be prolongedwhich is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day:i.e. the day of Moses; though the custom continues to the present time among the Hebrews of cutting out this sinew from the beasts they kill and eat (vide Ainsworth in loco); but, according to Michaelis, eo nemo omnino mortalium, si vel nullo cognationis gradu Jacobum attingat, nemo Graecus, nemo barbarus vesci velitbecause he (i.e. the angel) touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
HOMILETICS
Gen 32:24-32
Peniel, or the mysterious contest.
I. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE STRUGGLE.
1. The scene. The north bank of Jabbok (vide Exposition).
2. The time. Night; the most suitable season for soul exercises, such as self-examination (Psa 4:4), meditation (Psa 63:6), devotion (Luk 6:12).
3. The circumstances. Jacob was alone. In solitude the human soul discovers most of itself, and enjoys most frequent interviews with God (Psa 77:6; Dan 10:8; Joh 16:32).
4. The combatants.
(1) Jacob: by nature the supplanter, by grace the heir of the covenant; who in early life by craft had overreached his brother Esau in the matters of the family birthright and theocratic blessing, and who had now, by the dispatch of his munificent present to “my lord Esau,” renounced both, so far at least as renunciation was possible, i.e. in respect of material and temporal advantages.
(2) A man, i.e. one who in outward appearance wore the form of a man, though in reality “the visible revealer of the invisible God” (Delitzsch); the angel of Jehovah, who had previously appeared in like guise to Abraham at Mature (Gen 18:1), and who subsequently, in the fullness of the times, incarnated himself as the Word made flesh (Joh 1:14).
5. The combat.
(1) Its commencement. When precisely this mysterious conflict began, and how Jacob was engaged at the moment of the unknown wrestler’s approach, are points upon which the narrative is silent, though it is probable that Jacob was employed in fervent supplication, and that, without knowing how, he suddenly became conscious of being involved in a close physical struggle with a powerful antagonist. Perhaps this was designed to suggest that God’s approaches to the praying soul are mostly sudden and inexplicable (cf. Joh 3:8).
(2) Its character. Though unquestionably depicted in the narrative as a veritable contest between two human beings, it is apparent that underlying the physical struggle, and related to it as the substance to the shadow, as the soul to the body, was another spiritual contending carried on by means of prayers and tears (Hos 12:4).
(3) Its continuance. Beginning probably at midnight, it was protracted until dawn, a circumstance suggestive of Jacob’s earnestness and determination, and yet attesting the severe character of all true spiritual conflicts, and the extraordinary difficulty of achieving victories with God (Mat 12:12).
(4) Its course. Four stages are discernible in this mysterious struggle.
(a) The wrestlers appear to be equally balanced in their strength and skill, so that the stranger finds himself unable to prevail against Jacob, and laying his finger on his adversary’s hip, puts it out of jointa hint to Jacob that though seemingly the victory inclined towards him, it was due not so much, or even at all, to his wisdom and prowess, but rather to the stranger’s grace and good-will.
(b) Jacob having thus been disabled, his mysterious antagonist, as if owning that the mastery remained with him, requests permission to depart, alleging as a reason that the ascending dawn proclaimed the day’s return, and called to other dutiesa valuable reminder that religion has other necessary works for God’s saints besides devotion and contemplation; but Jacob, who by this time recognized his antagonist as Divine, objected to his departure without confirming the blessing he had formerly received at Betheland this, the personal reception and enjoyment of the blessing of the covenant, should be the end and aim of all the saint’s contendings with God and communings with Heaven.
(c) Inquiring Jacob’s name, the Divine adversary now discovers his true personality by authoritatively changing that name to Israel, prince of El, in token of his victoryan outward symbol of the completed spiritual renovation which had taken place in Jacob since God first met with him at Bethel.
(d) Probably excited, or spiritually elevated, by what had just transpired, Jacob ventures, either with holy boldness or with unthinking curiosity, to inquire after his heavenly antagonist’s name, but is answered that in the mean time he must rest satisfied with the blessing Which was then and there pronounced. It was either a rebuke to Jacob’s presumption, or, and with greater probability, a reminder that even holy boldness has its limits, beyond which it may not intrude.
(5) Its close. Suddenly and mysteriously as the stranger came did he also disappear, leaving Jacob in possession of the blessing indeed, but also of a dislocated limb. So God frequently accompanies spiritual enrichment with material and temporal deprivation, in order both to evince his own sovereignty and to keep his saints humble (cf. 2Co 12:7).
(6) Its commemoration. By Jacob, who called the place Peniel; by Jacob’s descendants, who to this day eat not of the sciatic nerve in animals they kill for food.
II. THE REALITY OF THE STRUGGLE. The question arises whether the contest just described had an objective reality (Havernick, Kurtz, Murphy, Alford, &c.), or partook of a purely subjective character, being in fact an allegorical description of a spiritual conflict in the soul of Jacob (Kalisch), or a wrestling which took place only in a dream (Hengstenberg), or in an ecstasy (Delitzsch, Keil, Lange), for the idea of its being a myth (Bohlen, De Wette, Oort, Kuenen) may be discarded.
1. Against the notion of a dream-vision it is sufficient to remark that if Jacob’s wrestling was a dream, so also were his victory and his blessing dreams. Besides, limbs do not usually become dislocated in dreams.
2. To read the passage as an allegory is both forced and unnatural, and “little better than trifling with the sacred narrative” (Alford).
3. There is no insuperable objection to the idea of an ecstasy, provided it is not intended to exclude the objective manifestation yet.
4. There does not seem sufficient reason for departing from the obvious and literal sense of the passage, according to which there was a beret fide corporeal contest between Jacob and the angel of Jehovah in human form; for
(1) the narrative gives no indication that it was designed in this part to be interpreted otherwise than literally and historically, as in the surrounding context;
(2) unless on the hypothesis that the supernatural is the unreal, there is no imperative necessity why exception should be taken to the objective character of this remarkable struggle;
(3) the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh points to an actual physical contest; and
(4) the other events in the narrative appear to require that the historic credibility of Jacob’s wrestling be maintained.
III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STRUGGLE. That a momentous crisis had arisen in Jacob’s history is universally admitted. He was now returning to the land of Canaan a man of mature age, being in his ninety-seventh year, and of a singularly diversified experience, both natural and spiritual, In his early life he had twice supplanted Esau by means of craft, depriving him of his birthright and blessing, and now he was on the eve of meeting that formidable brother whom he had wronged. That the prospective interview filled him with alarm is explicitly declared (Gen 32:7); but it likewise drove him to take refuge in prayer, in which exercise it is scarcely doubtful he was engaged when his mysterious assailant approached. What then did this extraordinary combat signify in the spiritual consciousness of Jacob? Putting together those views which do not necessarily exclude one another, and which appear to contain an element of truth, it may be said that this remarkable experience through which the patriarch passed at Jabbok was designed to have a threefold bearing.
1. On his fear of Esau. Apprehensive of his brother, he now learns that not Esau, but Jehovah, was his real adversary (Keil, Kurtz, Gerlach, Candlish), and that before he can ever hope to triumph over Esau he must first conquer God.
2. On his retention of the blessing. Having previously, as he thought, obtained the birthright and its accompanying blessing by means of carnal policy and worldly stratagem, he now discovers that it cannot be received, or, if he renounced it in the act of homage done to Esau (Lange), cannot be recovered except directly from the lips of God, and by means of earnest cries and entreaties (Keil)a truth taught him, according to Kurtz, by the dislocation of his thigh, which caused him to discontinue his corporeal wrestling, and resort to prayers and tears.
3. On his personal character. Jacob during all his past career, from his birth, when he caught his brother by the heel, to his last years in Haran, when he overreached the crafty and avaricious Laban, having been a person who sought to overcome by means of self-reliance and personal effort, it was now designed to teach him that, as the heir of the covenant, the weapons of his warfare were not to be carnal, but spiritual, and that his advancement to the place predestined for him of pre-eminence over his brethren was to be brought about by earnest reliance upon God (Murphy).
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Gen 32:24-32
Peniel. The face of God.
The patriarchal revelation at its best. The main point, the personal wrestling of the believer with the angel of deliverance. Through that scene Jacob passed as by a baptism (ford Jabbok) into the full enjoyment of confidence in Jehovah, into the theanthropic faith. A man wrestled with him. The faith of Jacob was now to be a faith resting not upon tradition alone, nor upon promises and commandments alone, nor upon past experience alone, but upon a living, personal union with God. The wrestling was a type of that intimate fellowship which spiritually identifies the individual child of God with the Father through the man Christ Jesus. The pilgrim on his way is hence-forth the prince, having power with God and with men. It is a great lesson on prevailing prayer.
1. The prayer of faith.
2. The prayer of importunity.
3. The prayer of intense desire.
“I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” Bless me for myself, bless me for my family, bless me for the world. But Jacob was a type of the true Prince of God prevailing for his people. He wrestled, he wrestled alone, he wrestled to his own suffering and humiliation, although into victory. He obtained the blessing as the Mediator. Although the patriarch was not allowed to know the name of the angel, he was himself named by the angel. Although we cannot with all our searching find out God, and even the revelation of Christ leaves much unknown, still we are “known of him.” He gives us one name, and by that name we know him to be ours, which is the true saving knowledge. Peniel, the face of God, is the name not of God himself, but of the blessed revelation of God. We know where we may find him. We may each one start afresh from our Peniel, where we have been blessed of God, and have through Christ prevailed against the dark- ness of the future and the helplessness of our own impotence. Nor must we forget that this wrestling was reconciliationthe reconciliation between man and God, preceding the reconciliation between man and mare The lameness of the patriarch symbolized the life of dependence upon which he henceforth entered with much more entire surrender than before. “As the sun rose upon him, he halted upon his thigh.” It was the morning of a new lifethe life of man’s confessed nothingness and God’s manifested sufficiency. In such a light we can see light. The day may have dangers in it, but it will be a day of mighty deliverance, Divine blessedness, rejoicing in personal salvation and peaceful life.R.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
Gen 32:28
A new name.
“Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.” Twenty years before Jacob learned at Bethel to know God as a living and present Protector. This a great step in spiritual life; belief of God in heaven, becoming consciousness of God “in this place,” guiding all events. It is the first step towards walking with God. But his training not yet complete. Truth is usually grasped by degrees. Unbelief, cast out, returns in new forms and under new pretences. A common mistake at beginning of Christian life is to think that the battle is at an end when decision made. The soul may have passed from death to life; but much still to be done, much to be learned. Many a young Christian little knows the weakness of his faith. During these years Jacob shows real faith, but not perfect reliance (Gen 30:37; Gen 31:20). Returning home greatly enriched, he heard of Esau at hand. He feared his anger. No help in man; God’s promise his only refuge. Could he trust to it? His wrestling. We cannot picture its outward form; but its essence a spiritual struggle. His endurance tried by bodily infirmity (cf. Job 2:5) and by the apparent unwillingness of the Being with whom he strove (cf. Mat 15:26). His answer showed determination (cf. 2Ki 4:30). This prevailed; weak as he was, he received the blessing (cf. Heb 11:34). And the new name was the sign of his victory (cf. Mat 21:22; 1Jn 5:4).
I. THE STRUGGLE. Why thus protracted? It was not merely a prolonged prayer, like Luk 6:12. There was some hindrance to be overcome (cf. Mat 11:12); not by muscular force, but by earnest supplication. Where Scripture is silent we must speak cautiously. But probable explanation is the state of Jacob’s own mind. Hitherto faith had been mixed with faithlessness; belief in the promise with hesitation to commit the means to God. Against this divided mind (Jas 1:8) the Lord contended. No peace while this remained (cf. Isa 26:3). And the lesson of that night was to trust God’s promise entirely (cf. Psa 37:3). When this was learned the wrestling of the Spirit against the double mind was at an end. Such a struggle may be going on in the hearts of some here. A craving for peace, yet a restless disquiet. The gospel believed, yet failing to bring comfort. Prayer for peace apparently unanswered, so that there seemed to be some power contending against us. Why is this? Most probably from failing to commit all to God. Perhaps requiring some sign (Joh 20:25), some particular state of feeling, or change of disposition; perhaps looking for faith within as the ground of trust; perhaps choosing the particular blessingself-will as to the morsel of the bread of life to satisfy us, instead of taking every word of God. There is the evil. It is against self thou must strive. Behold thy loving Savior; will he fail thee in the hour of need? Tell all to him; commit thyself into his hands; not once or twice, but habitually.
II. THE NEW NAME (Cf. Rev 3:12). No more Jacob, the crafty, but Israel, God’s prince (cf. Rev 1:6). The token of victory over distrust, self-will, self-confidence. In knowledge of poverty is wealth (Mat 5:3); in knowledge of weakness, strength (2Co 12:10). That name is offered to all. The means, persevering prayer; but prayer not to force our will upon God, but that trust may be so entire that our wills may in all things embrace his.M.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Gen 32:24. There wrestled a man with him, &c. From the prophet Hosea, ch. Gen 12:5. it appears undeniable, that this man or person, who wrestled with Jacob, was the same with him who appeared to him at Beth-el; that is, the second Divine Person, who assumed probably a human form, and whom the prophet Hosea calls the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial. This is equally evident from the name which Jacob gives the place where this transaction happened, Peni-el, the face of God; from the reason of the name, for I have seen God (el) face to face, Gen 32:30 and from the name which that Divine Person gave to Jacob, Isra-el, Gen 32:28 of which we shall say more hereafter. Such being the person, we may reasonably inquire into the meaning of the transaction. Bishop Warburton (Divine Legation) observes, that information by action was at this time a very familiar mode of instruction, and the deficiences of languages were supplied by significative signs. If we turn back to Jacob’s prayer, and consider the circumstances he was in when it pleased God to wrestle with him, we may perceive that God’s intention was to inform him of the happy issue of his adventure, and that his petition was granted, by a significative action. But as this is not followed by an express explanation, this circumstance in Jacob’s history has afforded abundant mirth to illiterate libertines, and manifested their ignorance likewise. For this information by action concerning only the actor, who little needed to be told the meaning of a mode of instruction at that time in vulgar use, hath now an obscurity, which the Scripture relations of the same mode of information to the prophets are free from, by reason of their being given for the use of the people to whom they were to be explained.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Ver. 24. And Jacob was left alone. ] Purposely, for secret prayer: so the Church gets her into “the clefts of the rocks”; Son 2:14 Isaac, into the fields; Daniel, to the river’s side; Christ, into the mount; Peter, up to the roof, or house top; that they might pour out their prayers and solace themselves with God in secret. This a hypocrite may seem to do, either of custom or vain glory: as the Pharisee went up to the temple to pray solitarily, as well as the publican; the temple being then, in regard of ceremonial holiness, the place as well of private as public prayer. “But will the hypocrite delight in God? will he pray always?”. Job 27:10
There wrestled a man with him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a Man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14. Called “God” (verses: Gen 32:28, Gen 32:30), an “Angel”, and Jehovah Elohim, Hos 12:4, Hos 12:5.
breaking. Hebrew going up. Figure of speech Antimereia (of Verb Part, for noun).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 31
Jacob at Peniel
“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Gen 32:24-32
Though this passage of Scripture is often used as a picture of conversion, this was not Jacobs conversion experience. It teaches us many things about conversion, as we shall see. And we know that conversion to Christ is a life-long experience. We are continually coming to Christ (1Pe 2:4). Yet, this was not the point in Jacobs history when he first came to know the Savior. Christ was revealed to him twenty years earlier at Bethel as the only ladder by which God could come down to man and upon which man must ascend up to God. At Bethel, Jacob met Christ the Mediator and learned to worship him (Gen 28:10-22). This is the Mediator who was typified in all those blood sacrifices he had seen offered by his father, Isaac, as he worshipped God.
Frequently, this passage is also used as a picture of a man wrestling with God in fervent prayer. But that too is a mistake. In our text, it is not Jacob who wrestles with God, but God who wrestles with Jacob. Gen 32:24-32 sets before us a picture of the Lord God subduing the proud, sinful flesh of his believing people by his almighty grace.
Left Alone
And Jacob was left alone (Gen 32:24). Was there ever a man more alone than Jacob? His whole life had been filled with trouble and disappointment. Now, as he was returning home, he feared for his life. When he heard that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men, he was confused, and frightened, and alone.
Jacobs was a life of trouble and confusion. All his life long he had played second fiddle to his brother Esau. He was born second to Esau. He was, by all measures, an inferior man to Esau. His father, Isaac, preferred Esau, and Jacob knew it. Instigated by his mother, Jacob deceived his father on his deathbed and stole the birthright. He had lived with the guilt of his deeds in exile for twenty years.
When Esau threatened to kill him, Jacob fled into exile. As he fled from Esau, God met him at Bethel, promised his covenant blessings to him, and confirmed what I am sure his mother had told him from his youth (Gen 25:22-23; Rom 9:10-13). God himself made Jacob to know that he was loved and chosen by him from eternity . God saved him. God blessed him with his grace and assured him that he would yet be greatly blessed of him.
As he had deceived his father Isaac, so he had been deceived by his uncle Laban and tricked into marrying a woman he did not want (Gen 29:16-26). Then, the Lord God appeared to him and told him to return home with this promise: I will be with thee (Gen 31:3).
No sooner did he start home in obedience to Gods command than he discovered that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men (Gen 32:6-8). Earlier in the day, he kissed his wives and his children good-bye, took them across the brook Jabbok out of harms way and waited to die by the hand of his angry brother. Now, we read, And Jacob was left alone. He was now more alone than ever.
Alone, confused, helpless, and afraid Jacob sat down and waited for death. His plotting, scheming, and manipulating was over. He is shut up to the sovereign power and will of God. Like Israel at the Red Sea and Jonah in the whales belly, Jacob was totally dependent upon God to deliver him, and he now knew it (Exo 14:13; Jon 2:9).
God knows how to bring his Jacobs down; and he always does. Those whom God is pleased to save, to whom he will reveal his mercy and grace in Christ, must be brought down and made to know their utter helplessness and inability. Gods grace and Gods work leaves no room for boasting and glorying in the flesh (Psa 107:1-6; Psalms 11-13; 1Co 1:26-31). Jacob was left alone. He seemed to be in a miserable condition, helpless and alone; but he was truly in a most blessed condition.
To be left alone with God is the only true way of arriving at a just knowledge of ourselves and our ways. We can never get a true estimate of nature and all its actings until we have weighed them in the balances of the sanctuary, and there we may ascertain their real worth. No matter what we may think about ourselves, nor yet what man may think about us, the great question is, what does God think about us? And the answer to this question can only be learned when we are left alone. Away from the world, away from self, away from the thoughts, reasonings, imaginings, and emotions of mere nature, and alone with God, – thus and thus alone, can we get a correct judgment about ourselves (C. H. MacIntosh).
Isolation is always the forerunner of revelation, grace, salvation, and blessing. Before God saves, he separates (Hos 2:14; Joh 8:9; Act 9:3-8).
Wrestling
And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day (Gen 32:24). About the time the sun went down, suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere, laid hold of Jacob, and wrestled with him until the morning sun began to rise. This was not a vision, or a dream, but a real struggle, both physical and spiritual. It was not a brief encounter, but one that lasted all night long.
There is no question at all about the fact that this man was also God (Gen 32:30). This man who wrestled with Jacob was the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, the angel of the covenant (Hos 12:4), through whom all the blessings of covenant grace come to Gods elect[18].
[18] Christ frequently appeared to the saints of the Old Testament in human form. These pre-incarnate appearances were tokens and pledges of his incarnation.
This man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, wrestled with Jacob. We are not told that Jacob wrestled with the man, but rather, there wrestled a man with him. Those who use this story as an example of importunate prayer miss the mark. Jacob was not wrestling with this man to obtain the blessing. This man was wrestling with Jacob to give the blessing.
It is the object of a wrestler to bring his opponent down, to pin him to the ground, to render him helpless; and that was the object of our Lord here. He wrestled with Jacob to pin him down, to conquer his spirit, to subdue his flesh, to render him helpless. The Lord wrestled with Jacob to reduce him to a sense of his own nothingness, to make him see what a poor, helpless, worthless creature he was. You see, Gods purpose in all our trials is to make us strong in grace and strong in faith; and the way he makes us strong is to make us to know, recognize, and acknowledge our weakness – When I am weak, then am I strong (2Co 12:7-10).
This man wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of the day. There were issues involved which had to be resolved. They had to be resolved in Jacobs heart. They had to be resolved permanently. And they had to be resolved at this time. This was not a brief, passing encounter. It was not an indifferent decision made on the spur of the moment. Great issues were at stake. Eternal matters had to be settled. What were the issues? Jacob must acknowledge Christ as his Lord (Rom 10:9-10). He must bow to the will of God. Jacob had to lose his life to Christ. He had to surrender to Christ in all things, in his heart, willingly (Psa 110:3).
God was determined to bless and use Jacob. His purpose could not be defeated. But he would not grant his blessing and he would not use him until Jacob was conquered, broken, and subdued by his almighty grace. This conquering of the flesh, this breaking and subduing is not a once for all experience. It is a life-long battle. It continues throughout the night of our sojourn upon this earth. It is a warfare in our hearts (Rom 7:14; Gal 5:17). If we are his, our Lord will conquer us; and he will make us willing to be conquered. If we are his, Christ will prevail over us (Rom 7:25).
Made Willing
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacobs thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him (Gen 32:25). Without question, God could have easily subdued Jacob. This conflict was ordered and instigated by God. The outcome was never in doubt; but Gods people are not puppets or robots. We must be made to see, feel, and experience the frailty of our flesh, the emptiness of this world, and the glory of God in Christ, so that we desire his presence and his salvation above all things. Thy people shall be willing! Grace makes Gods elect willing, in the day of his power, to bow to him. This is the purpose of all that God reveals to us. This is the purpose of all the trials we endure. This is the purpose of all Gods dealings with us. Let us ever thank God for the sharp, painful blows of providence and grace that bring us down before him. At last, Jacob was brought to the end of his own resources. One swift stroke from the hand of God rendered him utterly powerless.
This is the purpose God has before him in his dealings with us. One of the principal designs of our gracious heavenly Father in the ordering of our path, in the appointing of our testings and trials, in the discipline of his love, is to bring us to the end of ourselves, to show us our own powerlessness, to teach us to have no confidence in the flesh, that his strength may be made perfect in our conscious and realized weakness (A. W. Pink).
Favor Sought
And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let the go, except thou bless me (Gen 32:26). Now, the Lord had accomplished his goal. Jacob was helpless. With his leg out of joint, he could no longer wrestle. All he could do was cling to his Master. Until now, Jacob had tried to order his own life, planning, scheming, devising, and deceiving to get what he wanted. Now, he is rendered helpless. All his strength was taken away; and he clings to Christ, saying, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee!
Not only did he say, I will not let thee go; he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. The battle is not over for Jacob until he is assured of the Lords permanent blessing upon him and his peace within him. This was a life or death struggle for Jacob, a battle that would not be fought again. He had heard the promises of Gods blessings. Now, he wanted them in truth. He was still Jacob, his past clouded with sin. He was a wanderer in a strange country and must still face Esau, his angry brother. He knew he was no better off for this experience unless the Lord gave him his approval, acceptance, and presence. – (Henry Mahan). The one great blessing Jacob sought from Christ was the assurance of Gods favor!
Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
More than all in Thee I find!
A New Name
And he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevailed (Gen 32:27-28). Jacob was compelled to confess his name. When the Lord said, What is thy name? it was not for his information, but for Jacobs humiliation and instruction. God forced Jacob to acknowledge who and what he was. My name is Jacob. I am a cheat, a supplanter, a deceiver. I hold the birthright by my own efforts. And all my efforts are sin. I am Jacob, the sinner.
God gave him a new name – Israel. This name, Israel, implies royalty, sonship, acceptance, and favor with God. It means, Prince with God. Israel is one who has power with God, because he has favor with God. This was not the result of Jacobs will, his works, or his worth. It was the gift of Gods free grace (Joh 1:11-13; Rom 9:15-16; Eph 1:3-7). The name Israel also means, God commands. Israel is one whose life is commanded and ruled not by self, or by Satan, or by the world, or by circumstances, but by God.
As a prince, Jacob had power with God and with men, and prevailed. His new name, Israel, was a constant reminder to Jacob that his success, his strength, his blessings, indeed, all that he had and experienced, which made him to differ with and prevail over men, was the gift of Gods grace, the result of Gods command, not the result of his own excellence (1Co 4:7).
And Jacob asked him, and said, tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there (Gen 32:29). Jacob was a subdued man; but his flesh was not yet destroyed. In curiosity, he asked and tried to pry into that which was not yet revealed. Pride dared to seek familiarity with the Almighty. God refused to tell him his name. Jacob must believe God within the scope of his revelation. Faith demands no more than God reveals. Yet, in spite of this sinful curiosity, the Lord confirmed his blessing to Jacob – The blessings of grace are unconditional and free!
Face to Face
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved (Gen 32:30). Jacob had met the living God. The hand of God had touched him. He had personally encountered his Redeemer. And God, who might have justly killed him, blessed him with life (Rom 8:33-34). What a small thing it would be for him now to meet Esau! He who has met God and lived has no need to fear anything or anyone!
And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh (Gen 32:31). As Jacob left Penuel the sun rose upon him. This was a token of Gods favor. The Sun of Righteousness rises and shines upon those who are blessed of God (Mal 4:2). The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Pro 4:18). Yet, while Jacob walked with God, he halted upon his thigh. The sinew of his thigh shrank, but it was not removed. And though God, by his grace, subdues our flesh, he does not remove it while we live in this world. We will go halting through this world, forcing us to lean upon Christ. God will not allow us to trust ourselves!
The chapter closes with a sad, sad fact. Religious men and women who never experience Gods grace will always substitute idolatrous superstition and works for the knowledge of Christ and his grace (Gen 32:32). John Gill informs us that the Jews have an entire chapter in the Misnah giving rules concerning the eating of the sinew of any animal which is upon the hollow of the thigh, telling men how to cut it out, and demanding that any who eat a piece, even the size of an olive, are to be beaten with forty stripes. Keep yourselves from idols (1Jn 5:21).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
and there wrestled
Jacob’s crisis. Cf. Jos 5:13-15; Job 42:5; Job 42:6; Isa 6:1-8; Jer 1:4-9; Eze 1:28; Eze 2:1-7; Dan 10:1-12; Act 9:1-6; Rev 1:13-18.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Spiritual Wrestling
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.Gen 32:24.
This is one of the strangest stories under which the Bible, in a fashion suitable to the age in which it was written, presents eternal truth to usstrange in itself, strange in its setting, yet charged with deep meaning and full of most consoling instruction for those who have insight to pierce the shell of its Jewish complexion and colouring, and to seize its underlying and essential features.
The narrative is of manifold attraction. The highest poetical interest gathers round that dark wrestling by the rushing brook, while
The sentinel stars set their watch in the sky.
Our historical interest also is excited: what was it, actually, that touch of God? But the spiritual interest of the scene is the intensest, as we inquire what the conflict signified for Jacobs inmost soul.
Let us take the subject in three parts
I.The Occasion of the Wrestling.
II.The Nature of the Wrestling.
III.The Result of the Wrestling.
I
The Occasion of the Wrestling
1. The past and the present.The time when this occurred was when Jacob was returning from the East to Canaan, in very different circumstances from those in which he left it. He went out with his staff in his hand; he came back increased to two bands. He went out alone, with life before him, hopeful perhaps of happiness, and full of aspirations, fresh and eager to run the race of life. He came back an altered and sobered man, with life behind him, with what there was to enjoy of it mainly enjoyed; and, perhaps, the cup did not now seem so sweet as he thought it would be, before he put it to his lips. At all events he had drunk it fully. He had lived a many-sided life. Of sensual enjoyments he might seem to have had his fill; and he was not averse to use the petty passions of others as the means of gratifying his own larger ones. In business he was always fortunate. In those higher things which mens hearts crave, though foiled at first, he was at last victorious.
Thus Jacob had lived a busy, clever, varied lifea keen, competitive, skilful, successful life; and, with the fruits of it now reaped and gathered, he would return to rest in the home of his fathers. It is sweet to dream in a foreign land of the place of ones childhood. Imagination gilds even the sordid hovel of ones birth. We remember but the good; we forget the evil, or change it into good. And so Jacob was using the necromancers art. The sunshine and shower of his early years he remembered but as sunshine. All the good stood out bright before him, and all the evil had disappeared. His own evil too was forgotten; or, if remembered, it was excused and forbidden to intrude itself. Our imagination of the past retains only the good; but God and conscience keep in reserve the evil. Jacob had not calculated on finding the beginnings of his life so visibly unaltered. Twenty years had passed since he did the evil. Surely the evil must have worked itself out of things long ere now. But it had not. It stood before him now, just as it stood when he fled from it twenty years beforeonly more formidable, grown in bulk and terror, with greater power to do him hurt, in proportion as he was now more susceptible of hurt. Then it was Esau, seeking Jacobs life; now it is Esau, with four hundred men, seeking, not Jacobs life merely, but all those other lives into which his has been partitioned, and which are dearer to him than his own.
It is a great spiritual crisis in Jacobs life. That life might well be called, with no injustice to Jacob, the History of a Sin. Perhaps it is this very fact that invests it with its enduring charm. A life like Abrahams, though far from perfect, is yet in many respects so august in its moral greatness, that, while we admire, we are liable to be somewhat discouraged; for, in the contemplation of so serene an altitude of faith, we are ready to say, It is high, I cannot attain unto it. But Jacob, so full of infirmities, and yet so desirous of better things; now overborne by temptation, and now strenuously contendingsuch a man is very near to us, and we are encouraged to believe that, if he conquered, we may conquer too. But with equal truth might Jacobs life be called the History of a Retribution. Almost from first to last we see retribution following and smiting him, as it winds itself into all the sinuosities of his career. Be sure your sin will find you out (Num 32:23)with what relentless severity did this law fulfil itself! And now at the last, when he has escaped from danger after danger, although suffering, withal, so many and sore woes that might not be escaped; and when, perhaps, he had thought the sufferings all ended and the dangers pastnow, once more, and more fearfully than ever, his old sin rises up to confront and condemn him, smiting him with all its terrors, as he cries out, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? It is one of those crises in which a whole eternity is compressed into an hour.1 [Note: T. F. Lockyer.]
I sent back memory, in heedful guise,
To search the records of preceding years;
Home, like the raven to the ark, she flies,
Croaking bad tidings to my trembling ears.
O sun! again that thy retreat was made,
And threw my follies back into the friendly shade!2 [Note: Christopher Smart.]
2. The expected meeting.Jacob had been guilty of a great sin at the outset of his career. He had deceived his father, had resorted to treachery to obtain the birthright, and the fact that that which seemed to be Esaus was really his own by promise, though it modifies our judgment, does not alter the sin. But, however much we may understand that what he got in a wrong way was really his own, Esau did not choose so to understand it. Esau from the first had considered himself a deeply injured man, as most men would, and during all these years, Jacob might reasonably expect that Esau had been nursing and cherishing the sense of his injury. Now they were to meet again. Jacob had just received the intelligence of Esaus approach, a meeting was inevitable, and the thought of it was sufficiently disturbing. How did Jacob prepare for the meeting?
(1) By prayer.After receiving the threatening report about Esau Jacob retired to the privacy of his tent, and poured forth the acknowledgment of his trouble and perplexity in the first-recorded words of human prayer. They are words which tell the want and vibrate with the passion of a human heart. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed to thy servant. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother.
(2) By taking thought for his family.Jacob, with a characteristic prudence that never forsook him, divided his Company into two bandsin the first which would meet Esau he sent those for whom he least cared, so that they might bear the brunt of Esaus attack if he did attack; and so that the second band, composed of those whom he loved most, might be able to escape.
This is remarkable in the mind, that it is steadied by extreme danger, while it is thrown into confusion by a little trouble. The physicians hand, which trembles when an insignificant sore has to be lanced, is steady and firm when an operation that may be fatal has to be performed. A petty encounter worries and excites the great military genius who is serene and master of himself in the thick of the conflict on which the fate of empires hangs. In this greatest trouble of his life, Jacobs mind comes forth with a grandeur and a decisive clearness that are scarcely credible in one habitually crooked, and timid almost to cowardice. He so arranges that, if the stroke fall, it will not fall on all at once; if it smite some, it will spare some, perhaps, and these the dearest. And these dispositions mademade for those for whom he never thought to need to make any such dispositions at all, and while they were ignorant of the menace hanging over them, and though he knows how unavailing all may behe leaves all in higher hands. But unwittingly this care about others, this greater earnestness for them than ever he had felt for himself, and this entrusting of them more sincerely into Gods hands than ever he had yet committed himself, have brought him nearer to God than ever he has yet been, or, perhaps, than he cared to be.1 [Note: A. B. Davidson.]
For now I live a twofold life: my own
And yet anothers; and another heart
Which beats to mine, makes glad the lonely world
Where once I lived apart.
And little lives are mine to keep unstained,
Strange mystic growths, which day by day expand,
Like the flowers they are, and set me in a fair
Perpetual wonderland.1 [Note: Sir Lewis Morris, Poems, 68.]
(3) By solitude.And Jacob was left alone. We can understand that he felt he must be alone before he met with one who recalled to him the bitterest reminiscence of his life. He had, so to speak, to formulate his position towards Esau; to consider his line of defence if he met him as an enemy; to consider how he could meet him at all. It was one of those moments that imperatively demand solitude. The past has to be revisited, the ghosts of old sins have to be faced. In exile they were thrust out of sight; change of scene, new interests, had almost obliterated the sense of his own wrong-doing, but Esaus face will bring it all back again, and Jacob must be alone before he sees himalone in the still darkness, alone by the silently flowing waters, to shape and to reshape his life, to focus his old self by the new lights which twenty years of living had brought to him. None could share his loadnone, not even Rachel, could be with him; he must bear his own burden.
II
The Nature of the Wrestling
i. A Spiritual Crisis
1. It should be observed at the outset that this crisis in the spiritual experience of Jacob took place when he was well advanced in years. Jacob was no longer a young man when he wrestled with the angel in the dark night by the ford of Jabbok. He was the father of many sons, a man of property, a man of experience; above all, he was a man who had long perceived the value of spiritual things, had long attached the highest importance to that Divine promise which had been transmitted to him by his father Isaac, and who had made a solemn vow at Bethel, twenty years before, that the Lord God of Abraham should be his God, and that he would serve Him all the days of his life.
2. There are those who would like to think that the crisis of the religious life is reached at a very early stage of spiritual experience, and that once passed there are no more grounds for apprehension or fear or care or caution. The story of the wrestling of Jacob teaches a very different lesson. First comes the vision of the ladderthe dream of glory, the sense of Divine protection and security. And then, long afterwardsafter many years of service and prayer and worship and endeavour, when Jacob is getting on in years, at the end of much experience and patient trustthere comes the struggleall alone in the darknessthe struggle that wastes and draws the strength of Jacob, the struggle in which the nature and character of the man are finally declared, and proved and sealed for ever.
Some may think the revelation given to Jacob at Bethel, on his way to Padan-aram, the most interesting event in his history. And to those beginning life it may be. There is an ideal brilliancy in it, attractive and fascinating. But that sombre, stern conflict, beyond the Jordan, in the grey, unromantic days of mid-life, is a profounder study, and there will always be found gathering round it those who know the imperfections of life, and the bright hues of whose early expectations have been toned down by the pale cast of experience.1 [Note: A. B. Davidson.]
3. In spiritual matters experience varies. The personal experience of each one of us differs in some respects from that of all others. There is no one rule that applies in every case. With some, the way of life is a way of peace and a path of pleasantness, leading the soul by green pastures and still waters. There are happy, sheltered lives that never know the burden of doubt, uncertainty, and inward distressnever are sifted like wheat with the fan of the Lord, or tried in the refiners fire of trouble and sorrownever feel the ache of shame and self-reproach, or the agony of a broken and contrite heart. But there are others for whom the way of life dips into what is dark and painful, and who have to fight their way through much tribulation towards the light of God,men and women who, from nature and circumstances, from the weakness and defects of their own character, or the faults and mistakes of early days, or a combination of causes which are known only to God, have to win the crown of life, if it is to be won at all, with wrestling and strugglingwith a stern, often-renewed, and persistent conflict with themselves and the world and the flesh and the devila conflict that ends only with life.
As men from men
Do, in the constitution of their souls,
Differ, by mystery not to be explained;
And as we fall by various ways, and sink
One deeper than another, self-condemned,
Through manifold degrees of guilt and shame;
So manifold and various are the ways
Of restoration, fashioned to the steps
Of all infirmity, and tending all
To the same point, attainable by all
Peace in ourselves, and union with our God.1 [Note: Wordsworth, The Excursion.]
ii. The Opponent
1. Why was Jacob thus mysteriously held back while his household was quietly moving forward in the darkness? What is the meaning, purpose, and use of this opposition to his entrance? The meaning is obvious from the state of mind Jacob was in. He was going forward to meet Esau under the impression that there was no other reason why he should not inherit the land but only his wrath, and pretty confident that by his superior talent, his mother-wit, he could make a tool of this stupid, generous brother of his. And the danger was that, if Jacobs device had succeeded, he would have been confirmed in these impressions, and have believed that he had won the land from Esau, with Gods help certainly, but still by his own indomitable pertinacity of purpose and skill in dealing with men. Now, this was not the state of the case at all. Jacob had, by his own deceit, become an exile from the land, had been, in fact, banished for fraud; and though God had confirmed to him the covenant, and promised to him the land, yet Jacob had apparently never come to any such thorough sense of his sin, and entire incompetency to win the birthright for himself, as would have made it possible for him to receive simply as Gods gift this land which was valuable only as Gods gift. Jacob does not yet seem to have found out the difference between inheriting a thing as Gods gift, and inheriting it as the meed of his own prowess. To such a man God cannot give the land; Jacob cannot receive it. He, in short, was about to enter the land as Jacob, the supplanter, and that would never do; he was going to win the land from Esau by guile, or as he might; and not to receive it from God. And, therefore, just as he is going to step into it, there lays hold of him, not an armed emissary of his brother, but a far more formidable antagonist.
2. From the first Jacob knows that it is a man that wrestles with him. It is a personit is with a personal will that he is grappling. But after a time both adversaries stand out more clearly. The morning begins to break, and with the light the spell of the Unseen over the patriarch will break too. The conflict must cease, lest its advantages be lost. The heavenly wrestler seeks to depart. He said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Ere now there had begun to break upon Jacobs mind some consciousness of the rank of his adversary; and perhaps to complete it He touched the nerve of his thigh and paralysed it. And then the conflict quite changed its nature, from using force, to mere supplication. And here the details supplied by Hosea come in: He had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him (Gen 12:4). God had put out His hand upon him at last, having allowed him to wrestle with Him for a nighta symbol of that obstinate struggle which, in his confident, unsubdued strength of nature, he had been waging against Him all his lifetime. His Spirit cannot always strive with him: some decisive stroke must be put forth upon him, to break him once for all, to touch him in the vital part, that, utterly disabled, he may know whom he has been opposing, and how vain such a conflict is.
We discuss this wonderful event, and take sides as to whether it was a real, outward thing, or only a transaction in Jacobs soul. Some think it important to hold it literal and outward, and unsafe to regard it as mental. It is characteristic of very many of the views for which men fight, that they are excellent things to fight about, because there is no means of deciding them. It is also occasionally a characteristic of them that no interest whatever attaches to their decision, one way of them being quite as good as another. If God presented a real, outward form to Jacob, so that he entered into a physical wrestling with it, it was very wonderful and Divine. If Gods Spirit of revelation and holiness so touched the conscience and the memories of Jacobs heart that the agitated spirit deemed itself wrestling through the body, and did indeed in its own awful agony agitate and dislocate the bodily frame, was it less wonderful or less Divine? The balance of probability perhaps lies on the side of the external reality of Jacobs adversary. Many a time in dreams the whole frame is agitated and wrestles. Men do rise weary after nights of conflict. They rise awestruck and terror-laden. Perhaps it cannot be shown that they have risen with bodily ailments, with sinews wrenched and joints displaced. Rather is the event to be held literal. An Angel entered Abrahams tent. He let His feet be washed;the same who in after days washed His disciples feet. He allowed meat to be set before Him;as in after times He asked, Children, have ye any meat? And a man He wrestled with Jacob; as now man for ever He wrestles with us all in love, though we oppose Him in earnest.1 [Note: A. B. Davidson.]
iii. Victory
1. Jacobs victory and the victory of the Angel were synonymous. When the Angel conquered Jacob, Jacob won the blessingand so it always is. When God conquers man, man is victorious over self. Jacob faced his sin and discovered that his controversy was not so much with his brother as with God. It was not Esaus wrath he had to dread so much as Gods; for the sin against his brother was in its ultimate ground a sin against God. Can he believe, despite of this consciousness of sin, that God is pacified toward him? And now, when all things seem against him, and God Himself sets Himself as an adversary to him, in this darkest hour, in this night of the soul, of which the actual night during which this conflict found place was but the outward sign, can he lay hold on the promises and still hope and trust and believe? That he can do this, that he is strong to contend, even when God seems to set Himself, and for the time does set Himself, as that adversary, against him, this it is that constitutes Jacob a prince with God, a champion who prevails with Him, and who therefore need not fear but that he shall prevail also with man.
After the loss of his wife, whom he had dearly loved and patiently tended through prolonged and severe affliction, Dr. John Brown wrote: I have been thinking much lately of Jacobs wrestling with the Angel, finding his weakness and his strength at the same time, and going on through the rest of his life halting and rejoicing. I believe this is the one great lesson of lifethe being subdued by God. If this is done all else is subdued and won.1 [Note: Letters of Dr. John Brown, 176.]
2. Until the breaking of the day.That night which was the eve of Jacobs meeting with Esau had seen a fierce struggle, but peace came with the break of day. Jacob was at peace with himself and God, and in a very short while he would know that he was at peace with Esau.
How naturally dawn wakes thoughts of victory and God! In her swift, gentle, noiseless triumph over night, she is tremulous with His presence. It was at the turning of the morning that the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And after a deliverance no less thrilling from a no less heartless foe, the Church of a later day sang
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.
God helpeth her at the turning of the morning.
But behind the victory lies a struggle always fierce and often lonely in the grey dawn. Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him till the rising of the dawn. Such a struggle in the dawn is the prophecy of a great and triumphant day.2 [Note: J. E. MFadyen.]
We weep because the night is long,
We laugh for day shall rise,
We sing a slow contented song
And knock at Paradise.
Weeping we hold Him fast who wept
For us, we hold Him fast;
And will not let Him go except
He bless us first or last.
Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;
We will not let Him go
Till daybreak smite our wearied sight
And summer smite the snow:
Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove
Shall coo the livelong day;
Then He shall say, Arise, My love,
My fair one, come away.3 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]
III
The Result of the Wrestling
1. One result is a changed name.What an epoch in his spiritual life this was, we understand best when we consider the name of Israel, which in this conflict he won, and which hereafter as a memorial of his victory he bore. For, indeed, we must contemplate this struggle as having left Jacob from that day forth a different man from what it found him. The new creature had by and in these painful throes extricated itself for ever from the old, won permanent form and subsistence, and thus demanded a new name to express it.
How does Jacob learn his own real character? What is thy name?that is the searching question which God is forcing down into the very depths of his soul. And what is he compelled to answer? I am Jacoba liar, a supplanter, a deceiver! How blackly does this name show, in the pure, burning light of that other name, the name of the Holy God! Thus does Jacob learn to know himself and sink appalled. But the very confession of the old namewhich indicates the old characteris the necessary preliminary to receiving the new namethe new character.
2. But a changed name means a changed man.The Supplanter becomes the Prince. He has a new name because he has a new nature. He becomes as noble as he had been false, worthy of the love and reverence of his children, worthy of standing in honour before kings; and a long train of genuine sorrow follows the embalmed remains of him who had once been a mean despicable boy. And yet he remains Jacob still. For the character is like the face which indicates it; the features do not change, though the expression does.
Think how this is with yourselves. If any one of you is changing for the worse, I tell you, you cannot help showing it. The shifty look of deceit, or the sneer of irreverence, or the absurd airs of vanity, or the dark lowering cloud of some secretly cherished sinthese, creeping over the features, do not change them, but they change the expression of the face. And so, on the other hand, if man or boy is passing from evil to good, it is as if the mists are rolled off some landscape by the sun as he climbs the heavens, and the gloomy scenery is lit up as with the joy of a new birth.1 [Note: H. H. Almond.]
3. There is no more confidence in the flesh.As the sun rose upon him, he halted on his thigh. Like St. Paul, his strength is made perfect in weakness. The result of Peniel is not elation; it is contrition. There is joy in God, but there is no confidence in the flesh.
Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till lifes short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness, I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature and Thy name is Love.
It is this recognition of conscious weakness that leads a man to grip the power of his higher self. When conscience wrestles with me, it is always in the form of a man. It is my higher self that strives with methe Christ within. We have all a higher selfa photograph which God took in some pure moment. We have left it behind, but it follows us. It meets us in our silent hours. It confronts us with the spectacle of what we might have been. It refuses to let us go until it has blessed us. It is the same thing as Paul felt when he spoke of the spirit lusting against the flesh. The spirit was his better photograph, his Christ, his hope of glory. It is not the actual man that makes us feel immortal; it is the ideal manthe man that might have been. That is the reason why to me conscience is precious even when it wounds. It is no foreign hand that strikes me; it is my higher self, my inner man, my likeness as God sees it. It is the image of me that is hung up in heaventhe picture on which my Father gazes to avert despair. It is not only with me that the man wrestles; he wrestles with the Father for me. He pleads my future possibilities. He suggests my coming glory. He tells what I would be in less vile raiment. He shows what I may be with the ring and the robe. He reveals how I shall look at the breaking of the day.2 [Note: G. Matheson.]
Lord, I have wrestled through the livelong night;
Do not depart,
Nor leave me thus in sad and weary plight,
Broken in heart;
Where shall I turn, if Thou shouldst go away,
And leave me here in this cold world to stay?
I have no other help, no food, no light,
No hand to guide;
The night is dark, my Home is not in sight,
The path untried;
I dare not venture in the dark alone,
I cannot find my way, if Thou be gone.
I cannot yet discern Thee as Thou art;
More let me see;
I cannot bear the thought that I must part
Away from Thee:
I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless;
Oh! help me, Lord, in all my helplessness!1 [Note: J. Sharp.]
Literature
Almond (H. H.), Christ the Protestant, 251.
Bramston (J. T.), Fratribus, 58.
Bright (W.), Morality in Doctrine, 199.
Chapman (J. W.), The Power of a Surrendered Life, 29.
Davidson (A. B.), The Called of God, 107.
Dods (Marcus), The Book of Genesis, 297.
Ewing (A.), Revelation considered as Light, 1.
Eyton (R.), The True Life, 385.
Greer (D. H.), From Things to God, 205.
Harrison (W.), Clovelly Sermons, 101.
Hutchings (W. H.), Sermon-Sketches, 2nd Ser., 95.
Lockyer (T. F.), The Inspirations of the Christian Life, 177.
McFadyen (J. E.), The Divine Pursuit, 17.
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, i. 193.
Matheson (G.), Searchings in the Silence, 108.
Mitchell (S. S.), The Staff Method, 135.
Moore (E. W.), Christ in Possession, 180.
Moorhouse (J.), Jacob, 35.
Nash (L. L.), Early Morning Scenes in the Bible, 75.
New (C.), The Baptism of the Spirit, 98.
Parker (J.), The City Temple (186970), 373.
Pentecost (G. F.), Bible Studies: Pentateuch and the Life of Christ, 96.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, i. 73.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, 1st Ser., 36.
Trench (R. C.), Sermons in Ireland, 1.
Vaughan (C. J.), The Family Prayer and Sermon Book, ii. 531.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), 2nd Ser., i. No. 251.
Churchmans Pulpit (Second Sunday in Lent), 456 (Watson).
Homiletic Review, xiii. 518 (Sherwood).
Treasury, xi. 1047 (Moment); xv. 762 (Kershaw).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
wrestled: Gen 30:8, Luk 13:24, Luk 22:44, Rom 8:26, Rom 8:27, Rom 15:30, Eph 6:12, Eph 6:18, Col 2:1, Col 4:12, Heb 5:7
man: Gen 32:28, Gen 32:30, Gen 48:16, Isa 32:2, Hos 12:3-5, 1Co 15:47
breaking of the day: Heb. ascending of the morning, Exo 14:27, Son 2:17
Reciprocal: Gen 16:10 – the angel Gen 35:3 – who answered Gen 35:9 – General Exo 24:11 – laid not Jos 5:13 – a man 1Ki 18:37 – Hear me 2Ch 20:3 – feared Psa 30:5 – in the Psa 119:55 – night Psa 143:8 – to hear Psa 146:5 – the God Jer 30:7 – it is Eze 1:26 – the appearance of a man Eze 10:1 – as the Dan 10:8 – I was Jon 2:2 – I cried Zec 1:10 – the man Mat 6:6 – enter Mar 10:48 – but Luk 6:12 – continued Luk 18:1 – that Joh 1:48 – when Act 7:30 – an Rom 12:12 – continuing Phi 2:6 – thought Heb 1:1 – at Heb 1:14 – sent
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DIVINE ANTAGONIST
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Gen 32:24
There are two decisive and determining moments in the life of Jacob. The wrestling with the angel of the Lord was the second of these, even as that marvellous vision in the field of Luz had been the first. The work which that began, this completes.
I. In that Let me go of the angel, and that I will not let thee go except thou bless me of Jacob, we have a glimpse into the very heart and deepest mystery of prayer,man conquering God, God suffering Himself to be conquered by man. The power which prevails with Him is a power which has itself gone forth from Him. Not in his natural strength shall man prevail with God,at the lightest touch of His hand all this comes to nothing,but in the power of faith; and the after-halting of Jacob, so far from representing his loss, did rather represent his gain. There was in this the outward token of an inward strength which he had won therein, of a breaking in him of the power of the flesh and of the fleshly mind; while the further fact that he halted not merely then, but from that day forth, was a testimony that this was no gain made merely for the moment, from which he should presently fall back to a lower spiritual level again, but that he was permanently lifted up into a higher region of the spiritual life.
II. The new name does not, in the case of Jacob, abolish and extinguish the old, as for Abraham it does. The names Jacob and Israel subsist side by side, and neither in the subsequent history of his life wholly abolishes the other. In Abrahams name are incorporated and sealed the promises of God. These evermore abide the same. Israel, on the other hand, is the expression not of the promises of God, but of the faith of man. But this faith of man ebbs and flows, waxes and wanes. Jacob is not wholly Israel, Israel has not entirely swallowed up Jacob, during the present time; and in sign and witness to this the new name only partially supersedes and effaces the old.
Archbishop Trench.
Illustration
(1) In times of trial we betake ourselves to God, and are justified in claiming His protection, so long as we can show that we are on His plan and doing His bidding. And it is in the agony of our dread that God achieves in us a revolution that dates a new era. Alone beneath the silent march of the everlasting stars, face to face with our hour of destiny, God draws near to search us and to show some wicked or selfish way which had alienated us from His gracious help. This must be exposed and dealt with and put away ere He can open to us all His hidden stores of help and deliverance. So the angel wrestles with us. At first we resist in the pride of our strength, but after awhile we are touched in the very sinew of that strength. It shrinks, and we are obliged to go from wrestling to resting, from struggling to trusting, from striving to clinging. Then we cry in an agony of desire, Thou shalt not go till Thou hast blessed as only Thou canst. It is so we conquer, and we who had before been Jacobs, schemers, cheats, become Israels, princes having power with God and man.
(2) I will not let thee go, except Thou bless me. If we should wrestle in that spirit with every incident and every accident, every person and every object, every angel and every devil, we meet in life, we should learn a wonderful secret. It would be that in each there is a sublime lesson and an eternal benediction. Try it. You are now facing some great disaster. Grapple with it, analyse it, ransack its secret, hunt for its concealed meaning. Say to it, If it takes me ten years or for ever, I will not let you go until I see the part you were sent to play in my life. You will find it. It will disclose itself at last. As surely as there is fire in every flint, there is blessing in every experience. There are some in which there are curses, and terrible ones at that. But even those, if a man grapples them as Jacob did, may be made to yield some blessing. Have you sinned? Choke it, throttle it, but see how evil it is, and learn to live righteously through your knowledge.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 32:24. Jacob was left alone In some private place, that he might more freely and ardently pour out his soul in prayer, and again spread his cares and fears before God. There wrestled a man with him The eternal Word, or Son of God, who often appeared in a human shape, before he assumed the human nature. We are told by Hos 12:4, how Jacob wrestled with him; He wept and made supplication: prayers and tears were his weapons. It was not only a corporal but a spiritual wrestling, by vigorous faith and holy desire; and this circumstance shows that the person with whom he wrestled was not a created angel, but the angel of the covenant; for surely he would not pray and make supplication to a creature. Indeed, in the passage just referred to, Hosea terms him Jehovah, God of hosts, and says, Jehovah is his memorial.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a {h} man with him until the breaking of the day.
(h) That is, God in the form of a man.