In the movie “You’ve Got Mail,” Joe Fox writes: “Do you ever worry that you’re becoming the worst version of yourself?” Can you relate to what Joe was wrestling with? Why or why not?
Genesis 32 — The Brewery Ministries Paraphrase
“Dear God, please don’t let him kill me and my family.”
Years earlier, Jacob had swindled his brother Esau out of “firstborn” status, which included a double share of the inheritance. It gets worse. Later Jacob impersonated Esau and was made leader of the family. The incident sent Jacob running for his life.
Now Esau was coming to meet him — with four hundred men. So Jacob did what people often do when they’re terrified: he sent a “please don’t kill me” gift ahead of him. The gift consisted of more than 550 animals.
In the middle of the night, Jacob got up and sent his wives, children, servants, and everything he owned across the Jabbok River. But Jacob stayed behind. No family. No wealth. Just alone in the dark with his thoughts.
Then someone grabbed him. A mysterious man wrestled with Jacob all night long. The stranger was stronger. He didn’t seem to get tired either. He appeared to be unbeatable. But Jacob didn’t care. This time he would not take the easy way out.
As the sun was about to rise, the man reached out and knocked Jacob’s hip out-of-socket, ending the fight with a single touch. Suddenly Jacob realized this opponent could have ended things at any moment. But instead of running, this time Jacob stayed to face adversity — maybe for the first time in his life.
Jacob grabbed on to the man as he tried to leave. The man said, “Let me go. The sun is coming up.” Jacob gasped, “Not until you bless me.”
So the man asked, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. That name carried his whole story: it meant heel-grabber, struggler, schemer, survivor. The man said, “Not anymore. Your name will be Israel, because you have struggled with God and with people, and you have endured.”
Jacob asked, “Then tell me your name.” But the man said, “Why are you asking my name?” And he blessed him there.
So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning “face of God,” because he said, “I saw God face to face, and somehow I survived.”
Jacob crossed the river to meet Esau, but he was limping now. He was finally ready to face his past.
Jacob struggles against the angel
Discussion Questions
Back then, rivers marked the boundaries between territories. Jacob was crossing into God’s territory when the mysterious man appeared.*
*See the footnote at the bottom of this page for the full context.
The Old Testament people believed they would die if they saw God face to face.
Up to this point, Jacob had been known as a deceiver or trickster. The outcome of this night seemed designed to accomplish something very specific in Jacob’s character.
Remember the last thing Jacob said in this story. Then consider Hosea 12:4 (NIV): “(Jacob) struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there.”
What happened at Bethel? Jacob had a vision of God standing at the top of a ladder to heaven (Genesis 28:13). Hosea links the angel Jacob wrestled with the God who appeared at Bethel — identifying them as the same being.
A blessing in this context could also mean authorization — God’s “stamp of approval,” empowering someone to carry out their God-given purpose.
Why It Matters
If you’ve ever become tired of the person you’ve been and wanted to make a change, you can probably relate to Jacob. He’d been living as a fugitive and in a form of spiritual exile. But in Genesis 31, God told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers. So Jacob started heading toward Canaan — but Esau lived nearby in the south. He’d have to confront his past to go home.
This time Jacob broke the pattern. The mysterious man showed up seemingly to test him. The challenge created the conditions for Jacob to become the person he wanted to be. A younger Jacob would have probably given up the second he saw the angel. And notice that Jacob wrestles the angel after he sends his family and all of his belongings across the river — as if he earned everything illegitimately and is now being forced to earn it back. Symbolically, he’s returned to zero and asked to prove himself without cheating.
The proof of Jacob’s character change comes when he learns Esau is living nearby. Jacob could have run again. Instead, he initiates contact and tries to make amends. He didn’t know if Esau still wanted to kill him — which means this time, Jacob was ready to do the right thing even if it would cost him his life.
Sometimes the only way to change and grow is to face a challenge head-on. This story reveals a pattern found throughout the Bible: God consistently works through messy people, yet patiently prompts them to grow and change. If we respond to that, we can grow into the people that deep down we all long to become.
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
25 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. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 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.” 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.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Notes to Yourself
I learned this about myself…
I learned this about God…
* Deuteronomy 32:8–9 describes how God divided up the nations after the Tower of Babel and assigned them to the angels (sons of God). God kept Israel for Himself — which at this time was still the land of Canaan. Jacob was crossing into the land that would later become Israel.
(a) Dr. Ronn Johnson, AWKNG School of Theology. Genesis — Questions on Idols, Jacob and Joseph. youtu.be/BmOAIE_TLcY
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