Wrestling with God

Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2011


Wrestling with God

Have you ever had a “peak moment” in life? That is, a moment when everything you think you know is called into question, or at least is severely challenged? Some might call it an “existential moment” or maybe even a midlife crisis. No matter what one terms it, it is clear that one’s life is about to change, usually in a major way.

When one reads the passage taken for our First Lesson today, it is clear that Jacob has one of these experiences. If we step back and review the circumstances surrounding his “peak moment”, it helps to put it all in perspective. In the 32nd chapter of Genesis, Jacob and his company are at last leaving Laban’s area, where he has served him twenty years. They are traveling to a destination that brings him close to Edom, where his brother Esau lives. While he travels, Genesis says that the ‘’angels of God met him.” He names the place of Mehanaim, because he has met some of God’s host. Then, he sends messengers to Esau, telling him that he has sojourned with Laban for some time and has become quite substantial as a result. His messengers return the news that Esau is coming to meet his brother, bringing four hundred men with him, a small army.

Obviously, this causes Jacob no little concern. He knows that he wronged Esau in a very real way many years ago when he stole, first his brother’s birthright, and then his blessing. He also stole away from Laban without telling him. He has been deceptive and clever all his life. No doubt he knows that Esau remembers it too, and thus the very large welcoming committee. Yet, even though he is concerned, even fearful, the wily Jacob hopes to work out something to pacify his brother. He divides his company into two groups, putting a flock of sheep, cattle and goats between each one. He thinks that Esau might destroy one group and perhaps spare another. He also sends a rather large present of a few hundred animals to his brother as a peace offering. This, he hopes, will assuage his brother’s wrath. Once again, he puts a space between each drove, hoping that Esau might be appeased before actually meeting Jacob.

Before the actual meeting the next day, Jacob sends over all of his family and host across the ford Jabok, which is “
a pouring out, or a wrestling, one of the streams on the east of Jordan, into which it falls about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, or about 45 miles below the Sea of Galilee. It rises on the eastern side of the mountains of Gilead, and runs a course of about 65 miles in a wild and deep ravine. It was the boundary between the territory of the Ammonites and that of Og, king of Bashan (Josh. 12:1-5; Num. 21:24); also between the tribe of Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh (21:24; Deut. 3:16). In its course westward across the plains it passes more than once underground. "The scenery along its banks is probably the most picturesque in Palestine; and the ruins of town and village and fortress which stud the surrounding mountain-side render the country as interesting as it is beautiful." This river is now called the Zerka, or blue river.

Now Jacob finds himself alone, at night, at Jabok. It must have been both beautiful and terrifying in its beauty and its immense solitude. Imagine the wide open spaces under the Mid-eastern sky with absolutely no light pollution. The sky would be brilliant and the silence, except for the wind, would be complete. One is reminded of the night sacrifice Abraham offered in Gen. 15, when he first made covenant with God. In that scene, the sun goes down on the sacrificial animals, hewn in pieces. “A smoking furnace, and a burning lamp” passed between those pieces, obviously some sort of theophany in Abram’s sight. Afterwards, God made covenant with him and renamed him Abraham.

Similarly in Genesis 32:2, Jacob has a covenantal experience. It comes, however, after a struggle. In fact, Jacob “there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. “ We don’t know if “the man” was the Lord Himself, in physical form, or an angel, although considering the way the story ends up, it is highly likely that the Second Person of the Trinity wrestled with Jacob , Yet, we are given no clue as to why Jacob was wrestling with “the man” at all.

Or do we? If we look at the scene as a whole we get some idea why Jacob might have been receptive to a peak experience. First, he is in actual mortal fear for his life and that of his family. For all he knows, Esau and four hundred of his closest friends are coming to utterly blot them off the earth. He is in a heightened state of awareness, with virtually every nerve standing on end.

Now, he is at the ford of Jabok, at night, alone. Perhaps he is acutely aware of his past sins and their present consequences, as he fears some sort of rough justice at the hands of his wronged brother. Maybe he realizes that all of his life, cunning, at times sneaky, and always playing the angles, has its limits and its bad fruit. No doubt, he poured out his fears and his anxieties in their fullest form to God. No doubt he prayed like he never done before. Then, suddenly he is engaged in a titanic struggle with a mysterious being. The Scripture tells us the actual combat continued all night. It surely was an existential time for Jacob, for this particular night yields changes in his life that were completely unseen to him.

Whether this is purely a spiritual struggle in Jacob’s mind or soul is possible, and some commentators think so, but the plain words of Scripture put it differently. In fact, after
a night of wrestling, Jacob prevails against the being, or at least he is not defeated. He prevails and he perseveres in such a way that he demands a blessing before he will let the “man’ go. Yet, he suffers a physical effect that shows that, despite his victory, He is not God. He is merely a man who has encountered the Almighty in a real and intensely meaningful way. Perhaps this is why Jacob’s thigh is put out of joint, to remind him of his own humanity.

Now comes the heart of Jacob’s “peak moment.” At the moment the being sees that Jacob is not defeated, he asks his name. Jacob responds and the being tells him, “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.” Evidently, Jacob’s faith has been tested and he has persevered to the extent that the Lord has seen fit to change him.

This change begins with a new name. No longer will Jacob be known as the Supplanter, but instead Israel, which means, “God Prevails.” He will not be the slippery, cerebral, smooth tent-dwelling man any longer, but will assume his role in history as the Patriarch Israel. In the words of the angel, “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” God has indeed chsen to affect a change in Jacob, now Israel, which is real and meaningful. God does this for His glory and for his mysterious purposes.

This is a wonderful story of redemption and change. It is not just an isolated incident that happened to a shepherd clan-leader some few thousand years ago. It is immeasurably more. The story of Jacob’s change, as well as the appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ, is historic and monumental in its implications.

These implications are two-fold. They deal with both universal and individual issues. On a universal level, they are most certainly a pre-figuring of the universal forgiveness and redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ. Note that prior to this scene, Jacob is not especially worthy of this redemption, but is saved by the grace of God only. In fact, it looks like Jacob and his family will cease to exist on the following day. Yet, by God’s grace he is he saved.

On an individual basis, it shows us that earnest prayer, accompanied by heartfelt repentance, can result in a serious change through the grace of God. A thought that might strike us is simply this: if God can take a man such as Jacob and transform him into the Patriarch Israel, what can He do with us? The answer is: anything He chooses, as we allow Him to work his mighty and mysterious Will in and through us. God has a plan for us, for all of us. That plan may be glorious in terms of how the world sees us, or it may be a humble, quiet work for the glory of God. In the end result, in the long view of eternity, it doesn’t really matter. That is, as long as the work is dedicated to the glory of God, it will serve for eternity.

Perhaps this is why St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” We are merely the people of God, with all of our failings and foibles so plain in His sight. Yet, when we assent with our will and follow that assent with positive actions led by the Holy Ghost, we become so much more. After all, there really is something different about a committed, Spirit-filled Christian. There is a palpable “something” that sets that person apart from the World.

It was that “something” that set Jacob apart on the mysterious night at Jabok. He entered as Jacob and emerged from that experience as Israel. He was, in fact, re-invented into a new creature. Pray God that He does the same for us.

Genesis 32:28 “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.”