Articles
Jacob Struggles with God (Gen. 32:22–31)
Jacob Struggles with God (Gen. 32:22–31)
In my reading of the Old Testament, I often consult Wilbur Field’s book on the history of Israel. Concerning this episode in the life of Jacob, Field’s wrote:
“Beside the brook Jabbok that night Jacob was alone, apart from his family. (The Jabbok “jabs” into the Jordan River valley from the east, about halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.) There a “man” wrestled with him until daybreak (32:24).
Hosea 12:3–4 says of Jacob, “In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor.” (The verb struggled is the root word of the name Israel, which means “he who struggles with God,” or persists, and strives with God.)
Jacob faced a potentially life-destroying situation. After twenty years of frustrating service with Laban, now he must meet Esau! If God did not save Jacob that night, Jacob was doomed—or felt that he was. So Jacob prayed all night, and his prayer was combined with actual physical wrestling with God’s “man.” (Angels are frequently called men in Scripture.) Jacob hung on, and Jacob achieved deliverance. Jacob became an overcomer! [Old Testament History, Wilbur Fields, College Press Publishing, Logos edition]
With all of his bad choices, yet in the end Jacob learned to trust God, He learned that there were many things he could not control (Esau!). He recognized that with all his scheming, the worldly blessings he had were from God, as he told Esau: “Please take my agift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty” (Gen. 33:11). Thus, at the end of his life the Hebrew writer stated: “By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff” (Hebrews 11:21).
Have we struggled with God and come to recognize that all of our blessings come from Him? Have we learned to trust Him? Have we learned to praise Him and give thanks?
Hugh DeLong
