And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
This even occurred right before Jacob was reunited with his brother Esau. If you remember the narrative, Jacob betrayed Esau for both his birthright and his blessing from their father. Esau was so enraged that he was planning on killing Jacob (Gen. 27:41).
Jacob was coached by Rebecka to return to her family and live with them until Esau had cooled off and given up on revenge. If you remember Jacob married two sisters from his mom’s family and spent at least fourteen years serving Laban. Due to some jealousy and friction he departed to return home but that brought him face to face with his brother.
Like everyone else, Jacob’s last memory of his brother was his betrayal of his blessing. Since they have had no contact, that last memory is the burning image that continued to shape how he believes his brother thinks of him. If you remember, Jacob sent several massive gifts ahead to give to his brother when he heard his brother was coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob was deeply anxious about meeting his brother because he had no reason to believe that his brother was not still angry at him, even though he had not seen him for many years.
Jacob had striven with God and men and prevailed. The word striven means to contend or struggle with someone. This text acknowledges he had contended with God and men and “prevailed”. Prevailed means to endure or overcome. I like the concept of endure because in all these struggles he never gave up. No matter how challenging, he kept on pressing on and struggling through it.
He had endured and came out the other side in one piece. He endured and came out a different man on the other side. All these struggles changed him. He had not given up on himself; he had not given up with God. In spite of the risk, he did not run away from meeting his brother. He obviously was afraid but the fact that he sent these offerings to his brother to appease him, just in case, meant that he had not given up on that relationship either.
For some people, life is a wrestling match. In fact, for some people, life seems to be always filled with struggling with other people, and with God. I am not sure they plan this, but this seems to be the way their life rolls. Everything seems to be a struggle. Personally, this sounds exhausting but for some, there always seems to be some drama in their life, just like Jacob.
These folks are hard to deal with because everything is a struggle. But God blessed him and worked through him, and he became one of the most significant individuals in Israel’s history. Sometimes life is a struggle, but we need to remember that God does have a purpose, even through the struggles.
Pastor Brad
