Scripture Reading(s)
Genesis 32:22-31
32:22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.
32:24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
32:25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
32:26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”
32:27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
32:28 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”
32:29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”
32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Reflections
Jacob is at a point in his life where he went from feeling safe to panicking for the safety of his life and family. He receives word that his brother Esau is on his way to meet him with a large army. Fearing that his brother was coming to seek revenge for stealing his birthright, Jacob makes the informed decision to send his wife and family away.
Then, out what seems like a random sequence of events, we find an unknown opponent, wrestle Jacob. There is no indication as who this mystery man is until the very end of this passage. It is revealed as God being the one whom Jacob was wrestling with.
Jacob, for what seems like an eternity, was wrestling with the fact that he was going to one day face his brother. He was also trying to come to grips with what he had done to his brother. This has been a long time coming and now was the time in which God was calling Jacob to face what he had done and seek a way to reconcile with his brother.
Here we see God restoring Jacob from his past and setting him on a new path. His past decisions were no longer to affect his life and his relationship with his brother. God seeks to make right what was wrong and He is doing the same in our lives today. From here on out, Jacobs life would never be the same. He was physically weak but spiritually he was set on a new strong path.