Focal Passage: Genesis 32:22-32
Jacob wrestled with God and lived! Yes, he walked with a limp because of his injury, but his life had been spared. He came face to face with God and lived. This was no dream and no accident. Alone until daybreak, Jacob wrestled with God. His hip socket dislocated in the struggle did not stop Jacob from wrestling with all his strength and might. In the end he was given a new blessing, not one that came from deception, a new name, Israel, and a limp.
Jacob deceived his brother and father to receive the patriarchal blessing reserved for the eldest son. He wanted what was not his to receive. Now as he wrestled with God, he yearned and desired, for his own blessing from God. He could not and would not escape. He demanded to know the name of his opponent, but none came.
He fought and fought. But no name came. Yet, by clinging to God, he received that blessing, long sought. As his father and grandfather before him had been blessed by God, now, also, Jacob received God’s blessing to continue to fulfill the Abraham covenant of being a great nation.
Jacob had a new name. He was given the name Israel. Following Abram and Sarai who had been given new names, now Jacob was given his new name because he had struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.
Lloyd
The first part of the phrase reveled his current wrestling event with a man. Now the identity of the man was revealed to be God himself or at least a representative of God. Jacob was wrestling with God! The second part of the phrase and with men could represent his struggles with his brother and father and signaled a renewed relationship could be coming. It is the third part of the phrase that sheds light on Jacob’s plight.
A wrestling contest demanded a winner. There was no evidence that Jacob won the contest, other than the words and prevailed.” Did he win? He was walking with a limp; did he really win? One must conclude that in a way yes. He won as he was now clinging to God with God’s blessing and now a new name.
Finally, Jacob would now walk with a limp. Would a dislocated hip heal and then be forgotten and as a result, even that night when he was alone and wrestled with God be forgotten?
Perhaps. Jacob’s limp, maybe much like the rainbow following the flood or the 12 stones taken from the Jordan River after the children of Israel crossed over would serve as a reminder of God’s presence, guidance, and strength. Jacob’s limp pointed to God’s promise of blessing, of Jacob’s new name and purpose, and most of all, that he had wrestled with God and lived!
I have found a quiet peace in Jacob’s wrestling with God. It has allowed a space for me to have my wrestling event with God when the events of my life and circumstances come interrupting my personal space and solitude.
I, too, have found that I walk with that metaphorical limp. I, too, have found that when I cling to God in the midst of my tears, anger and frustration, I have found a new name, so to speak, and a renewed purpose. I have found when I wrestle with God, I come face to face with him. And live! B&R
