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Laban tricked him and gave him Leah instead of Rachael. He loved Rachael but didn’t really want to have Leah. “And he…”-that is, “Jacob”-“…arose that night and took his two wives.” They were Rachael and Leah. The first scene is Jacob trembling, verses 22-23. We are starting in the middle of a story, but I want to give you four parts or four scenes. And then when he was going back over the brook Jabbok, in verse 31, he was limping, as he was going to meet his brother, Esau. Then the angel of the Lord asked, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” The angel of the Lord then said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” When He touched Jacob’s hip, it dislocated it. It was exhausting wrestling all day in the yard.īut I think all night long Jacob was wrestling with God until the angel of the Lord said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So Jacob is hanging on to Him maybe he had Him in a headlock. I can still remember the itchy grass all over me. We would go all day wrestling in the grass. So they wrestle all night long.īy the way, Jacob is in his 90s, a 90-year-old man wrestling with God all night long! I remember when I was a boy, we used to wrestle in the front yard. Talk about a mind-blowing thing! God takes the appearance of a man, He grabs Jacob in the middle of the night, maybe in a head lock, and maybe Jacob wiggles out of it and grabbed Him. Then Jacob comes to the realization that he was actually wrestling with God. So the Man Jacob was wrestling with that night by the brook Jabbok is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. This is not an Incarnation, but it’s a manifestation. It’s what theologians call a “Christophany” or a pre-Incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. He was wrestling with an angel, and he’s actually wrestling with the angel of the Lord, which is a reference to Jesus. It was Jacob wrestling with a Man in the dark of night. It is a story of a nighttime wrestling match. This night-scene story is one of the most loved and one of the most mysterious stories in the Bible.
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And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.” And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked, saying, ‘Tell me Your name, I pray.’ And He said, ‘Why is it that you ask about My name?’ And He blessed him there. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. Then Jacob was left alone and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. “And he…”-that is, “Jacob”-“…arose that night…”-here’s our night scene-“…and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.” That means “emptying.” “He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. This passage is in the middle of a story in the life of Jacob, the great patriarch. I want to read the whole passage, then we’ll come back and unpack it, section by section.
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30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. 26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" 27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." 28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 24 Then Jacob was left alone and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 32:22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.