What is the meaning of Jacob wrestling with God?

The dread of Esau is upon Jacob's soul. His messengers bring him only the alarming news that his brother is on his way with four hundred men to meet him. He betakes himself to his devices, and then to God, and then once more to his planning. In solitude and in the night God meets him, — unknown, and as an antagonist, the attitude to which Jacob's own has forced Him; and when Jacob's stubbornness stands out against Him, He cripples his strength by dislocating his hip-joint. Then he can wrestle no more, but only cling in helplessness, and thus he prevails: when did man's weakness ever fail to constrain the power of God? He is blest; but God cannot yet disclose His name. He gives Jacob a new one. Crippled, he becomes Israel — a prince with God: the secret of power is disclosed to him; God is not: when the day breaks, He has disappeared.

v.24-32But it is well to remark, though it has been often noticed, that it is not set forth to the honour of Jacob that he wrestled with the man, for it was rather the man, or God Himself, who wrestled with him. There was still not a little in him with which God had a controversy for Jacob's good, not without his humiliation. In short God was dealing with and putting down His servant's dependence on his own strength, devices, and resources in any and every way. Hence, as the symbol of this, what was touched and shrank was the known sign of man's strength. The sinew of the thigh was caused to wither away. But the very hand which touched the seat of natural strength imparted a strength from above; and Jacob on this occasion has a new name given to him. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." He asked the name of God, but this could not, consistently with His character, be revealed yet. God keeps His name in secret now. Jacob struggles all night that he might be blessed. It was no question of peaceful fellowship, still less of earnest intercession for others. It was indeed most significant of divine mercy; but of God's mercy in the dark, where there could not yet be communion. Thus nothing could more truly answer to the state of Jacob. He was no doubt strengthened of God, but it was compassionate mercy strengthening him to profit by a needful and permanent putting down of all his own strength — love that must wither it up, but would nevertheless sustain himself.

Same word as angels. Yet when he said this, Peniel had intervened; and he had "called the name of the place Peniel, because [he said,] I have seen God face to face." How could he after that fail to distinguish between God's face and his brother's. He could not, had Peniel really answered to its name but how often do we misinterpret the significance of what has been (as Peniel was to Jacob) of most real importance to our souls! Had he seen God in reality "face to face," how could he have added to this as the wonderful thing (as we find him doing,) "and my life is preserved"? Who that has seen God's face but has found in it deliverance from self-occupation and from fear, such as controlled Jacob when he met his brother? God had indeed met Jacob, but met him by night and not by day: when the day broke He had disappeared. And correspondingly, though He blessed him finally, He refused to declare His name to Jacob's entreaty. Unknown He had come and unknown He departed. Jacob it was who had acquired a name at Peniel, and yet even this cannot be said without reserve; for at Bethel afterward he has afresh to receive it - there where Bethel itself for the first time really acquires its name. These two things are surely connected. What he has learned at Peniel is expresscd in his altar at Shechem, where he proclaims exultingly God to be the God of Israel - his God; but his altar at Bethel owns Him God of His own house, in which in subjection Israel must find his place in order to have really the power of his name. At Peniel God meets him (His face hidden) to make him learn the strength which is perfected only in weakness. With his thigh out of joint he prevails and is blessed. The secret of strength is learned, and yet, strange as it may seem, the power that he has with God he cannot yet find before man. He meets Esau with abject servility, practices still his old deceit, talks of following him to Seir, and as soon as freed from his presence, crosses into Canaan , building him a house at Succoth, and buying a parcel of ground at Shechem. There he proclaims God as God of Israel, when presently Dinah falls, and the massacre of the Shechemites makes him quake with fear because of the inhabitants of the land. No part of his history is so dark and shameful as that which follows the scene in which (and they are divine words) "as a prince he has power with God and with men, and prevails." If this be a mystery, it is one with which the experience of the saint is but too familiar. Power may be ours which yet we cannot manifest, or find for our emergencies. "I besought Thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not," says the father of the possessed. And those to whom this very power had been committed ask in perplexity, "Why could not we cast him. out?" And the Lord replies "Because of your unbelief" adding "Howbeit this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting." Even so he whose name is already Israel is practically Jacob still, as God says to him afterward (xxxv. io). Only in obedience can power be used; our meat and drink - our strength and refreshment - are in doing His will; grace, where realized, breaks the dominion of sin; and "sin is lawlessness," our own will and not His. Divine power must be realized in the divine ways. grace only establishes, never alters this. So at Bethel alone the promise of Peniel can be fulfilled. How many are there whose altars are to "God their God," and who exult in a grace which proves yet no practical deliverance; who dwell in an unpurged earth, and are reaping, and must be allowed to reap, the sure and bitter fruits! God's princess how far from knowing the dignity of their calling. In the extremity of his distress God's voice arouses Jacob to "go up to Bethel and dwell there;" and then we hear of strange gods in his household to be put away, and purification effected to meet Him "who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way I went;" and the terror of God falls upon the cities round about, so that they do not pursue after the sons of Jacob. At Bethel his wanderings really end; his new name is confirmed to him, and God declares His own, as at Peniel He could not; the blessing now is fully his; and Jacob bowed in gratitude recognizes the house of God, in which (the purpose of discipline being accomplished,) he finds at last his rest. Still he journeys on, for pilgrimage is not over, although in the land now, his portion. Sorrow still comes, for on the road to Bethlehem his beloved Rachel dies, but Jacob now shows his mastery over it. Him whom his dying mother names Ben-oni, "son of my affliction," his father calls Benjamin, "son of the right hand." We can easily discern the reflection of Christ in this, the glory fruit of the cross. With our eye on this, Mamre, which is in Hebron , (the "richness of communion,") Abraham's old resting place, is soon reached.

At Mahanaim, we have most significantly, an apparent duality of interests: Mahanaim (two camps), the hosts of God and his own camp. They are not here identical. The angels may indeed encamp about him and deliver him, but they are external to himself. His brother Esau, also, comes to meet him with a hostile force. Here again there is a division of interests. He then divides his own company into two camps, as though realizing his weakness and inability to cope with his brother, hoping at least that one of the companies may escape. But a further division must take place. He must separate himself from all his possessions, even his family, and is left alone while his entire company passes on before. The division, however, is not yet complete. Jacob must realize that he is not at one with God, nor indeed with himself, and in the struggle which follows we see the efforts of nature to win a blessing for itself by its own strength, until God shrivels all this up, and in perfect helplessness at last Jacob is made to realize that God must be all in all — self, nothing. Thus Mahanaim (two camps), in which diversity, division, alienation and weakness are manifested, is changed to Peniel (the face of God), where all is brought into harmony and blessing because the Lord has His true place. Thus are discords ever overcome by the power of God alone; discords in our own hearts, in our relationship with one another, and above all, in our attitude toward God. It is as we bow and confess our own nothingness, that we become as Jacob, "more than conquerors through Him that loved us." A new name is given. It is the name of victory, a "prince with God."

The night experience at Jabbok was not a dream, nor a vision, but an actual occurrence. The same person who appeared to Abraham at Mamre (chapter 18) appeared to Jacob that night. It is often stated that Jacob wrestled with the Lord who came to him that night; it is the other way, the Lord wrestled with Jacob. And He appeared in that memorable night as Jacob's enemy and opponent. Jacob uses the same carnal weapons with which he had in the past contended against God; he meets Him in his own natural strength. That stubbornness is overcome by the Lord touching the hip-joint of Jacob, dislocating it. In this way He completely crippled his strength and now Jacob could wrestle no more. In utter weakness and helplessness he could but cling to Him and ask a blessing. "By his strength he had power with God, yea he had power over the angel and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto Him" (Hos. 12:3-4). The weeping and supplication was his strength. His name is changed. From now on his name is "Israel"-a Prince with God. And the descendants of Jacob, at the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7), will make a similar experience and have their Peniel.

v.13-24Jacob's plan was to appease Esau with a present, as verse 20 records. All — even wives and sons — were sent over the brook at the ford Jabbok, and he was left alone, well to the rear. Not a very dignified or courageous proceeding! Yet God was in all this, for being left alone, the moment had come for him to be brought face to face with God Himself, that he might have an experience, the effect of which he would never lose. Up to this point his life had been mainly one of scheming against and wrestling with men. Now God by His Messenger was going to wrestle with him.

After Laban's departure "Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him." Jacob recognises them, he had seen them before in his dream, and said "This is God's host." Their appearing was God's reminding him of His promise, "I will never leave thee." It was to assure him of God's protection in the dreaded meeting with Esau. But his response to this grace is very feeble. His fear is overwhelming. How humble — we may say — how abject his message to his brother! He is reaping the fruit of his former conduct. Esau is coming with four hundred men. This drives him to God. He prays and confesses himself unworthy. (Gen. 32:10.) If by slow steps, he is advancing on the path of faith: as yet it is a stony road, but salutary and needful. God is wise in His teachings. Faith would lead through green pastures but for the flesh Our unbroken will strews the path with stones, making us weep when we should sing. But Jacob says he is unworthy; how different this from his vow to serve God, if God would only supply his wants; but what trial and sorrow to bring him to this point! It is a preliminary step to the being made a worshipper to which God was in His grace bringing him. But the breaking down of "old "Jacob is not yet complete. He cannot yet trust all to God, and so strong is the fear of Esau upon his soul that he sends all before him, his beloved Rachel too, over the brook. He sent his gift over, and "lodged that night in the company." But he could not rest, he rose up that night and sent "his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons, and [they] passed over the ford Jabbok." (Gen. 22:21-24.) He is left alone. It was so ordered by God, for another lesson of unspeakable grace was to be taught him that night, and he must be alone with God. Our most precious lessons of grace are learnt when alone with God.

After this we find the angels of God meeting Jacob. (Genesis 32) "And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host." They were the witnesses of the full providential care of God; but no such intervention can ever set the heart or conscience right with God. This was proved immediately afterwards. The messengers whom Jacob sent to propitiate Esau returned, saying, that the dreaded chief of Seir was coming to meet him with four hundred men. God's host then gave no comfort to Jacob against the host of Esau. He is alarmed more than ever. He sets to work in his own way. He makes his plan and then he makes his prayer; but after all he is not at ease. He devised with considerable skill; feeble was his faith, and where even generous self-sacrificing love for the family? All bears the stamp of anxiety as well as address, if not craft. This was his natural character; for though eminently a man of God, still it is not God who is prominent to his eyes, and leant on, but his own human resources. Ill at ease, he sends over — I am sorry to say — himself last of all! That which he valued most came latest. Jacob was not among the first! His flocks, herds and camels set first, wives and children next, Jacob last. The various bands in order were meant to serve as a breakwater between the offended brother Esau and trembling Jacob. But at length, when all were taken or sent over the ford Jabbok, comes another whom Jacob did not expect when left alone. A man struggled with him that night till break of day.

It was fully 20 years later that God spoke to Jacob again telling him to return to his kindred, and so Jacob left Padan-aram at night for fear of Laban. As he approached home Esau came out to meet him with 400 men and Jacob was greatly afraid. He tried to appease Esau by sending out his cattle first of all in several droves as presents for him, and he even separated himself from his family until he was left alone, and an angel wrestled with him all night, and he was humbled. Esau forgave him when they met soon after and for the first time we have recorded that Jacob worshipped (Gen.33:20). Finally, Jacob returned to where God had first spoken to him, Bethel, and there Jacob erected a pillar and poured a drink offering upon it, and poured oil upon it (Gen.35:14).

The careful reader will find that this passage, when taken as it stands, affords no foundation for the popular idea, namely, that it furnishes an instance of Jacob's power in prayer. That no such idea is set forth will at once appear from the expression, "There wrestled a man with him;" it is not said that he wrestled with the man, which would give an entirely different aspect to the scene. I believe that, so far from its proving Jacob's power in prayer, it rather proves the tenacity with which he grasped the flesh, and the things thereof. So firmly indeed did he hold fast his "confidence in the flesh," that all night long the struggle continued. "The supplanter" held out, nor did he yield until the very seat of his strength was touched, and he was made to feel indeed that "all flesh is grass."

Such is the obvious teaching of this very important Scripture. Instead of Jacob's patience and perseverance in prayer, we have God's patience in dealing with one who needed to have his "old man" crushed to the very dust, ere God could make anything of him. This momentous scene gives us the grand turning point in the life of this extraordinary man. We are here reminded of Saul's conversion; Jacob, with the hollow of his thigh touched, like Saul, prostrate in the dust, between Jerusalem and Damascus. We observe, on the one hand, the broken fragments of "a supplanter," and the elements of God's mighty "Prince;" on the other hand, the fragments of a persecutor and injurious one, and the elements of God's mighty apostle.

"Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him." Mark, it was not Jacob wrestling with a man; but a man wrestling with Jacob. This scene is very commonly referred to as an instance of Jacob's power in prayer. That it is not this is evident from the simple wording of the passage. My wrestling with a man, and a man wrestling with me, present two totally different ideas to the mind. In the former case I want to gain some object from him; in the latter, he wants to gain some object from me. Now, in Jacob's case, the divine object was to bring him to see what a poor, feeble, worthless creature he was, and when Jacob so pertinaciously held out against the divine dealing with him, "he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him." The sentence of death must be written on the flesh — the power of the cross must be entered into before we can steadily and happily walk with God. We have followed Jacob so far, amid all the windings and workings of his extraordinary character — we have seen him planning and managing during his twenty years sojourn with Laban; but not until he "was left alone," did he get a true idea of what a perfectly helpless thing he was in himself. Then, the seat of his strength being touched, he learnt to say, "I will not let thee go."

Delivered from Laban, Jacob pursues his journey towards Canaan; and God, to comfort and fortify him, sends an army of His angels to meet him. (Gen. 32:1.) Nevertheless, notwithstanding this encouragement from God, unbelief, which deliverance from danger does not destroy, renews Jacob's fear in the presence of his brother Esau. One does not get rid of the difficulties of the path of faith by trying to avoid them; one must surmount them by the power of God. Jacob had brought these difficulties upon himself, because he had not trusted in God. The host of God was forgotten, and the army of Esau, who no longer cherished in heart hatred against his brother, frightened the feeble Jacob. (Gen. 32:7.) He could then employ all kinds of means to appease the presumed and dreaded anger of his brother. He causes flock after flock to pass, and that does more to show the state of the heart of Jacob, than to change that of Esau. Nevertheless, Jacob thinks of God; he reminds Him that He told him lie ought to return; he implores Him to save him from the hands of his brother; he thinks of the state in which he left the country, and acknowledges that God has given him all his possessions. (Gen. 32:9-11.) But his prayer discovers an ungrounded fear. He reminds God of His promises, as if it were possible that He had forgotten them. It is true there is faith there, but the effect of unbelief produces a wild and confused picture. The timid Jacob has not only sent forward his flocks to appease Esau (Gen. 32:13-20), but he sends his whole family across the brook, and remains behind alone. (v. 22, 24.) His heart is filled with anxieties. But God, who guides all, awaits him precisely there. Although He had not permitted Esau to touch so much as a hair of Jacob's head, He nevertheless had Himself to judge him, and bring him into the light of His presence; for Jacob could in no other way enjoy the land of promise with God. God wrestles with him in the darkness till daybreak. (v. 24.) It is not here Jacob wrestling with God of his own accord; but it is God wrestling against him.

But there is one circumstance with regard to Jacob in this chapter which deserves attention. He is seen labouring under the painful effects of a bad conscience, with regard to his brother; he knew that he had acted towards him in a way calculated to call out his anger and revenge, and he is therefore ill at ease at the prospect of meeting him. But God had a controversy with Jacob. He had to lead him through a course of education that was to teach him that "all flesh is grass." Jacob thought only of appeasing Esau by a present. True, he turns aside, in this chapter, to offer up confession and prayer, yet notwithstanding, it is manifest that his heart was engaged about his own arrangements for appeasing Esau, more than anything else. But God was looking at him in all this, and preparing a salutary course of discipline for him, in order to teach him what was in his heart. For this purpose was "Jacob left alone." All his company, arranged according to his own plan, had passed on, and he himself was awaiting this much dreaded interview with no small degree of anxiety. There is peculiar force in the words, "Jacob was left alone." Thus is it with all who have been trained in the school of God; they have been brought into the stillness and solitude of the Divine presence, there to view themselves and their ways, where alone they can be rightly viewed. Had Jacob continued amid the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen, he could not by any means have enjoyed the same calm and sober view of himself and his past course, as he was led to in the secret of the presence of God. "Jacob was left alone." Oh! there is no part of a man's history so important as when he is thus led into the solitude of the Divine presence; it is there he understands things which were before dark and inexplicable. There he can judge of men and things in their proper light; there, too, he can judge of self, and see its proper nothingness and vileness.

Now God designed matters so that Jacob was left alone. It was time that Jacob was wrestled with, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. No doubt this was the Lord Himself in bodily form, which required an unusual miracle. Certainly the Lord could have subdued Jacob immediately, yet the wrestling continued for hours. However, this was intended to be a significant lesson for Jacob, and for us. The Lord had actually been wrestling with Jacob all his previous life, and Jacob had not surrendered: he continued to struggle against God's dealings with him. How could he properly learn until he had yielded himself to God? His planning, then praying, then going back to his planning was only consistent with his previous character of self confidence rather than confidence in God. He was struggling, yet hardly realized his struggle was against God.

Finally, because Jacob continued to struggle, the Lord simply "touched the hollow of his thigh," putting it out of joint (v.25). He could have done this before, but had given Jacob opportunity to submit without any drastic action. Usually, however, we require some hard measures before we learn to truly submit ourselves to God.

He touches the hollow of Jacob's thigh. The Lord breaks him down. If He is to bless, He must give an abiding discovery of what he is, and he carries it with him all along. It was grace and mercy. He was a halting Jacob all through, because he was halting in his walk with God. He says, "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me." It was right in its place, but it was not happy intercourse; it was forcing blessing out of God, as it were. He will not tell Jacob His name; there was the victory of faith to get the blessing; but there was no revelation of God. (The fullest blessing is His full, perfect, infinite love. He loves us as He loves Jesus, and we call Him Abba, Father; that is revealing His name - that is revealed in Jesus - but whatever the Name is, it is God revealed.) Here He did hide Himself. He came to give blessing, but He does not reveal Himself; and that is the effect of not walking with God. He does give blessing, and needed blessing; but He does not reveal Himself, and if needed He makes him halt all his life. He gives him flocks and herds; but He says, "I must have you for Myself, I won't let you go on like that." He had been halting morally, and God makes him halt actually.

Jacob, Israel's representative, was taught by the Angel's touch disjointing the hollow of his thigh, to know that the blessing then pledged to him was all of grace: for that the Angel had not put forth all his strength, but had even allowed himself to be prevailed over; and just as our apostle who was given in like manner and with like purpose, a thorn in the flesh, that he might learn that he was weak in himself, but through grace had all his sufficiency in Jesus (2 Cor. 12:9).

Finally, because Jacob continued to struggle, the Lord simply “touched the hollow of his thigh,” putting it out of joint (v. 25). He could have done this before, but had given Jacob opportunity to submit without any drastic action. Usually, however, we require some hard measures before we learn to truly submit ourselves to God.

Observe, the man wrestled with Jacob till the breaking of the day. Oh, what mercy on God's part! What patience with the opposer. To break him down was God's purpose. You must be broken down. You must be reduced. Jacob was in the energy of his own strength opposing the Lord really, and at length when the day broke — it is always the break of day in the history of the soul when God gets His way with us after being alone with God — "when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh" — touched him in the very secret spring of his strength — "and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks." What is the meaning of that? "Let me go," says the Lord, and what says Jacob? "I cannot let you go now. I cannot sustain myself. I cannot support myself now that my strength is all gone. I am crippled. Lord, I cannot do without Thee." That was the lesson Jacob learned, and a blessed one it was. Have you learned that, my friend?

And we may ask, What means the expression, "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me"? What, but the utterance of one that had made the wondrous discovery that he was "without strength"? Jacob was let into the secret of human weakness, and therefore felt that it must be Divine strength or nothing. He thinks no more of his goodly plans and arrangements, his presents to appease my lord Esau. No; he stands withered and trembling before the One who had humbled him, and cries, "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me." Surely, this is the gate of heaven! Jacob had, as it were, arrived at the end of flesh; it is no longer "me" but "Thee." He clings to Christ as the poor shipwrecked mariner clings to the rock. All self-confidence is gone, all expectations from self and the world blasted, every chain of self-devised security dissolved like a morning cloud before the beams of the sun. All his bargains availed him nothing at all. How miserable must everything that ever he did have seemed to him; yea, even his offer to give a tenth to God, when thus laid in the dust of self-abasement and conscious weakness! The mighty wrestler says, "Let me go, for the day breaks." What a striking expression, "Let me go." He was determined to make manifest the condition of Jacob's soul. If Jacob had without delay let go his grasp, he would have proved that his heart was still wrapped up in his worldly plans and schemes; but, on the contrary, when he cries out, "I will not let Thee go," he declares that God alone was the spring of all his soul's joy and strength: he, in effect, says, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth I desire beside Thee;" or, with the twelve, in the sixth chapter of John: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

Is the object gained? Does God get the glory sought? "He said, Let me go, for the day breaketh:" the supremely critical moment has arrived. Will Jacob answer to it? No No! What is born of the flesh is flesh, even in death and judgment; and Jacob dares to parley with Jehovah, and to make terms with Him. At the first he had made God's glory to depend upon his blessing, and now he would stake his blessing upon his strength, for he said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" — his vow forgotten, Jehovah's name uncared for, His glory unregarded — Jacob first, and last, and altogether.

God, as a man, meets him and wrestles with him. He had been wrestling with him throughout his life, but now it was face to face. Until break of day the man wrestled with him, and did not prevail. God gave Jacob power and said that as a prince he had prevailed. God condescended to say "Let me go, for the day breaketh," and then He put it into Jacob's heart to say "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." It is the very thing God was waiting to hear, and to which He led on Jacob's soul. His word, "Let me go "was said for the very purpose of making Jacob say, Bless me first. In a later day the Lord Jesus Christ led on the Syro-Phoenician woman to beg as a dog for the crumbs that fell from the table, and then commends her faith by granting her prayer. He led her to the place, and then rewards her for taking it. So here with Jacob: God wanted him to prevail that He might bless him. This is the manner of His grace. And a new name is given to him. We read that the less is blessed by the greater, and the Greater in this scene is the One who "saw that he prevailed not against him." (Gen. 33:25.) Wonderful! He who blesses is the one who prevailed not, and the poor man that as a prince had power with God and had prevailed is made lame for life. It is a night to be remembered. God would keep it in Jacob's remembrance, and given him two mementoes — a new name, and lameness. Each has its lesson. Nature must be broken and halt in God's presence. It was after he had felt the withering touch of God's hand, that Jacob said, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." Nature was weakened before he had power with God; and he was lame before he was called Israel — a prince of God. Surely the truth, not merely foreshadowed but plainly taught should be taken home to our hearts. Flesh shall not boast in His presence. "He that glories let him glory in the Lord." The only way for us to have power with God is to be "lame" as to our own strength. "My grace is sufficient for thee," said the Lord to a greater servant: "for my thoughts is made perfect in weakness." It is His way with us.

Jacob was rendered unfit to wrestle any more, but he was still clinging to the Lord, who told him, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” The Lord could have easily left at once, but He gave opportunity to Jacob to say what he did, “I will not let You go unless you bless me” (v. 26). At least the faith of Jacob was real, though it was weak. He knew he needed the Lord's blessing, though he had acted inconsistently with a spirit of unquestioning faith and dependence on God.

Jacob is now fairly broken down. He is made to feel his thorough helplessness and entire dependence. His weakness now compels him to cling to the strong for strength, and he cleaves to the Blesser for blessing; so that when the mighty Wrestler said, "Let me go, for the day breaketh; he said unto him, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." It is no longer his own competency that fills Jacob's mind, but the resources of God; and what a vast change is produced! He now takes the place of a receiver instead of a contriver, and of drawing his blessings from another in the consciousness that he had no resources in himself. With thigh out of joint, he is made to feel his own real weakness, and so entirely dependent, that he only looks for blessing from another on the ground of his own helplessness, and not by his own planning.

And God said, "What is thy name? And he said, Jacob." There must be the fullest confession if we want the blessing. If God is not to have any reserve towards us, we must keep nothing back from Him. He confessed he was Jacob. He confessed, as it were, "I am the supplanter." He learns two lessons here, which we also must learn; his weakness and his sinfulness. His weakness was demonstrated by his thigh out of joint, and his sinfulness in that he was a supplanter. And now that these two lessons have been learnt, God can come in and say to him, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel." What a change! But so it is. "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people." (Psalm 113:7-8.)

Now when Jacob clings, God says to him, “What is thy name?” That was a very, very sore point with Jacob. The name, Jacob, means plunderer, cheat, double-dealer, intriguer, anything but what is canny and nice. A flush of shame, doubtless, spread over Jacob’s face, as he made his confession. What did he say? One word, only one, “JACOB.” It was enough. Scripture says, “And He blessed him there.” The place of blessing is the low place of confession. We ask you, anxious sinner, what is your name? Let your confession come out of your lips. It must travel up from your heart to your mouth, and from your lips to us, or rather to the ear of God Himself. What is your name? It is SINNER. We know what some in this hall are saying—“Well, I own that I take a drop now and again, but I am not so bad as the drunkard, who pawns his clothes, and beats his wife, and starves his children.” We turn to another, and ask: What is your name? He replies, “I do the best I can, I go to Church, I take the sacrament.” My unsaved friend, if you died with

Now when Jacob clings, God says to him, “What is thy name?” That was a very, very sore point with Jacob. The name, Jacob, means plunderer, cheat, double-dealer, intriguer, anything but what is canny and nice. A flush of shame, doubtless, spread over Jacob’s face, as he made his confession. What did he say? One word, only one, “JACOB.” It was enough. Scripture says, “And He blessed him there.” The place of blessing is the low place of confession. We ask you, anxious sinner, what is your name? Let your confession come out of your lips. It must travel up from your heart to your mouth, and from your lips to us, or rather to the ear of God Himself. What is your name? It is SINNER. We know what some in this hall are saying—“Well, I own that I take a drop now and again, but I am not so bad as the drunkard, who pawns his clothes, and beats his wife, and starves his children.” We turn to another, and ask: What is your name? He replies, “I do the best I can, I go to Church, I take the sacrament.” My unsaved friend, if you died with

And now the nameless man says to the helpless cripple, "What is thy name? And he said "Jacob," which means a, supplanter — a sorry name that — supplanter! What is our common name? Sinner! That is my name, in nature. Now hear the gospel of that moment: "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob (supplanter), but Israel (a prince of God); for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." You are a prince, says God to him. You have lost your own strength, and your old name, and now you are clinging to Me, and you are strong.

The Lord then first requires Jacob to confess his name by natural birth. But Jacob ("the supplanter") must have his name changed if he is to receive proper blessing from God. Only when the flesh is touched and shriveled does Jacob receive the name Israel ("a prince with God"). By nature he was Jacob, but by the grace of God he becomes Israel.

The Lord then first requires Jacob to confess his name by natural birth. But Jacob (“the supplanter”) must have his name changed if he is to receive proper blessing from God. Only when the flesh is touched and shriveled does Jacob receive the name Israel (”a prince with God”). By nature he was Jacob, but by the grace of God he becomes Israel.

God said of Jacob that he would be named Israel because he had “struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” It certainly does not mean that he had defeated God in wrestling, for he actually prevailed only when he was crippled and therefore clung dependently to the Lord. This dependence on God would enable him to prevail with men too. This will prove true in the future day for the nation Israel also; and the same proves true for every believer today who has been brought down to a place of clinging dependently to the Lord. May we know this place well.

At Peniel God meets him (His face hidden) to make him learn the strength which is perfected only in weakness. With his thigh out of joint he prevails and is blessed. The secret of strength is learned, and yet, strange as it may seem, the power that he has with God he cannot yet find before man. He meets Esau with abject servility, practices still his old deceit, talks of following him to Seir, and as soon as freed from his presence, crosses into Canaan, building him a house at Succoth, and buying a parcel of ground at Shechem. There he proclaims God as God of Israel, when presently Dinah falls, and the massacre of the Shechemites makes him quake with fear because of the inhabitants of the land. No part of his history is so dark and shameful as that which follows the scene in which (and they are divine words) "as a prince he has power with God and with men, and prevails."

Every time that our heart truly rests on God, there is not wrestling, but victory. God, in undertaking to wrestle with us, strengthens us, without our being affrighted, to hold Him fast and not to let Him go. He would have us occupy ourselves with nothing less than Himself to bless us. (Gen. 32:25-26.) Jacob is made to feel his weakness, he limps all his life. How many there are that remain thus halting all their days, preserving thus as it were a memorial that the flesh ought to have been humbled, even if there be also a memorial of the path of victory! For as a prince he is given to know that he has power with God and with men, and had prevailed. His name was to be no more Jacob, the supplanter, but Israel, a prince of God. But God did not reveal His name to Jacob, though he asked after it. (Gen. 32:27-29.) He was not allowed yet that communion in the revelation of El Shaddai that he afterwards enjoyed. (Gen. 35) There was faith, but not fellowship; the blessing of God, but His name withheld. "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name?"

But profit is always the end of God's discipline. He not only delivers from evil by exposing it to our view, and bowing our hearts before Him because of it, but He also in result gives positive blessing. It was so with Jacob. When he humbled himself as a supplanter, (owning, as we judge it did, his previous wrong toward Esau,) God exalted him. When he clung in perfect weakness to the Blesser, he obtained blessing. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Thus, in helplessness and self-abasement, vile in his own eyes, a supplanter, he was a prince in God's account, and in the place of power and blessing; prevailing with God in obtaining from Him, and prevailing too in divine strength (not by human contrivances) over men, whether Esau or others.

v.29"He blessed him there," in the place of solitude with God, and when his natural power was crippled and laid low. The vital blessing of God did not descend upon his head when he struck that crafty bargain with Esau, nor even when his blind father, deceived by his impersonation of Esau, pronounced the patriarchal blessing on his head. No, it was when God dealt with him personally in solitude, and broke his stubborn will. In all this we may see a picture of how God deals with our souls today, though the grace into which we are called is so much richer than anything that Jacob knew.

Now it is very interesting to see in Scripture how the name of Christ gradually comes out. You will remember when the man wrestled with Jacob at the brook Jabbok, Jacob said, “Tell me, I pray thee, Thy name. And He said: Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name? and He blessed him there.” He would not tell His name. No doubt the mysterious wrestler was Christ—Jehovah—and whilst He would not tell His name, because even in those early days the system of Judaism in its types, let alone Christianity in its fulfilment of types, was not instituted, yet He blessed Jacob. A little later on, you remember, when the angel prophesied the birth of Samson to Manoah and his wife, Manoah said to the angel, “What is Thy name?” The angel replied, “Why asks thou thus after My name, seeing it is secret”; or, as the margin of our Bible reads, “seeing it is wonderful.” The truth comes out more fully than in Genesis. “Wonderful” is just the word for Christ. “No man knows the Son but the Father.”

It was a blessing to get such a name as "Israel" - most marvellous grace, and get a blessing that came to a halting saint; he halted all the days of his life; and God refused to reveal His name. Not so in the case of Abraham. "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect," He says to Abraham. "And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham." Here we find peaceful communion; and Abraham can intercede for others, instead of wrestling for himself. (Gen. 17, 18)

It was a wonderful name Jacob received. But he was not content, he wanted to know something else. And he said, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name." With Jacob now, the desire is to know God, He is looking away from himself. He is in the presence of God, and all else is forgotten. "I will not let thee go! Tell me thy name."

If there is the desire of the Lord to make known to His people the secrets of His heart, there is also the desire of His saints to know the secrets of God. We find this in Jacob. After the Lord had given Jacob the name of Israel, a prince with God, Jacob, now knowing who was wrestling with him, asked, “Tell me, I pray thee, Thy Name?” (Gen. 32:29). The divine answer was, “Wherefore is it, that thou dost ask after my Name?” In blessing Jacob, the Lord evidently discloses to Jacob who He was, for the patriarch says, “I have seen God face to face.” What a wonderful secret for Jacob to carry with him through life! He had desired to know the Name of the One who wrestled with him, and discovered that it was the Lord Himself.

By naming the place Peniel — "The face of God" — Jacob disclosed his deep sense of having been brought face to face with God and that the outcome was preservation and not destruction. Here was good reason for him to revise his earlier thought that the house of God and the gate of heaven was a "dreadful" place.

NOTE. - In confirmation of the view of Jacob's wrestling heretofore given, that all that he can say (and though perfect grace in God, how poor as to communion with Him), is "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" - was that all? Oh, how sorrowful! Note too, the struggle was in the dark which is very expressive.

Yet when he said this, Peniel had intervened; and he had "called the name of the place Peniel, because [he said,] I have seen God face to face." How could he after that fail to distinguish between God's face and his brother's.

He could not, had Peniel really answered to its name; but how often do we misinterpret the significance of what has been (as Peniel was to Jacob) of most real importance to our souls! Had he seen God in reality "face to face," how could he have added to this as the wonderful thing (as we find him doing,) "and my life is preserved"? Who that has seen God's face but has found in it deliverance from self-occupation and from fear, such as controlled Jacob when he met his brother?

Jacob called the place "Peniel," meaning "the face of God," saying he had seen God face to face and his life was preserved (v.30). What he understood by this we do not know, but whatever he saw of God was concealed by a human form. Still, he realized the Lord was involved in this encounter, and he would remember it.

9, 10. But it is only as a present thing, Peniel (the face of God); and this was all in its place, a faithful, gracious, but not a revealed God; we ought to have both. It is in His place we have this.

As he passed over Peniel we are told "the sun rose upon him." This is in designed contrast to chapter 28:11, when he had left Beersheba: "the sun was set." The night of darkness in our lives passes only when the flesh has been crippled (or judged) and we learn to cling only to the Lord. The sun (typical of the Lord Jesus) and we learn to cling only to the Lord. The sun (typical of the Lord Jesus) rises on our vision in a living, practical way. But Jacob remains crippled (v.31).

Once more. "As he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh." We must ever keep in the place of weakness, for it is the place of power. Jacob here was like one afterwards who could say, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities." Israel had ever to return to Gilgal. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. We have no resources in ourselves. Jacob had gained the victory through his disjointed thigh. He halted upon his thigh; nevertheless he had prevailed. "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." He had to meet Esau now with a shrunken sinew; but it taught him not to trust in his own natural strength, but in the One who had weakened him and made him strong.

Another very interesting point we may notice. When the sun rises Jacob still halts upon this thigh; that is, when the night is past, when the darkness is over, when the wrestling is ended, it is most important, he not only halted whilst the wrestling was going on, but when all was over, and the day was at its height, Jacob was conscious that he was a crippled man.

This halting of his is the only instance of his faith that is spoken of in Hebrews. The feebleness of the man it is that is recorded. "He worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff." I know that Jacob passed through further exercises after this, to which Hebrews alludes; yet this was the beginning of all that which eventually reduces him to the state of a cripple before God. He had to cling to God. It is wonderful to see such a man thus clinging to, thus detained by, the One who overcame him. A worshipper is one who is outside everything of himself, and who is engrossed by the One who has cleared the scene to fill it Himself.

Jacob halted all his life. Why was this? It was because he had halted, morally, during one-and-twenty years. He wrestled mightily, yet he must have been conscious what a feeble creature he was in the flesh, although God did not leave him to struggle with Esau. We need never be surprised if the Lord leaves us in difficulty; it is because there is something in us to be broken down, and which we need to be made sensible of; but grace is always behind all this. Christ is all grace, and if He sometimes appears to leave us to learn our weakness, still He is grace, perfect grace, towards us.

As the sun rises, Jacob passes over Penuel to rejoin his family, but he halts upon his thigh. His household might wonder at his altered gait, and say, Jacob is lame. But God said of him — Israel is a prince of God. Man always judges after the sight of his eyes, God according to the position His grace gives. Did Jacob henceforth walk as a prince that had power with God? Nay, he did not even at the time rise to the height of the grace shown him. He said he had seen God face to face, "And my life has been preserved." This was all! He did ask God's name, but he did not rise above "self," and was in no condition to hear the Name. God blesses him, but tells not His name. The "prince "had to go down deeper into the dust, to drink a bitterer draught of sorrow, yea of shame, before he could hear God's name. Nature must be broken, not merely lamed. To hear His blest name is better far than being called a "prince." Man, that is, the saint, must be on his face before God, in deep self-abasement, then, and then only is he in the right attitude to hear the Name. Jacob has not yet been there. Still there is progress. For now his little faith was sufficient to inspire him with courage. Esau is in sight, but now it is not Jacob terrified and sending women and children before him, but it is Israel going before (33:3), the prince who had power with men and prevailed, the second prerogative of his new name. Whatever vengeance was in Esau's thoughts, they are all banished. Israel, though a suppliant bowing himself seven times, is the prince and prevails. Esau is subdued and runs to meet his brother; they embrace and weep together.

Thenceforth Jacob halted upon his thigh. God would have him permanently learn the lesson of His strength displayed in human weakness. So the sun rose on his halting as he passed Penuel; and therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew that shrank which is upon the hollow of the thigh, to this day. Would to God that they read its meaning in the light, instead of going about to establish their own righteousness and refusing to submit to His righteousness! Nor is it Jews only that need to learn this great truth; for it is ever fading more and more away from Christendom, where flesh is increasingly gloried in, and superstition and rationalism contend for the mastery against God and His Christ.

v.31-32Thus a great moment in his history had been reached, and as he realized that he had seen God face to face, with salvation as the result, the sun rose upon him. An experience of this kind in the history of any soul does indeed mark the dawning of a new day. In Jacob's case the experience was memorialized for his children by a simple prohibition in their eating, as the last verse of the chapter records.

As it was no given law that Cain should be his brother's keeper, so to be Jehovah's servant in His sanctuary is no law, but according to man's conscience. (Compare Acts 7:7 and Gen. 28:21-22.) This task Jacob undertook in self-strength, and utterly had he failed. God's hand of judgment searches out the spring of mischief, and He finds it in the secret place of Jacob's strength. Thenceforth this is withered. Man eats not of it; urged by his conscience it is set apart for God. The sight of Jacob, from whose loins the twelve tribes of Israel sprang, halting on his thigh, speaks too plainly to be unheeded. So men own the form, but quite deny the power, of the truth, "for the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh … because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank." The counterpart to this we find in Christendom, in the setting apart of the form of the cross to religious use, but utterly denying the truth of it.

On the other hand, may we as steadfastly refuse the flesh in all its affections and lusts, and mortify our "members which are upon the earth," as did the children of Israel by their affinity with Jacob their progenitor. In acknowledgment of the day of his wrestling, and their identification with him as "Israel," they eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh "unto this day." Do we perpetuate this refusal of the flesh as they did? Are we faithful according to the judgment of God upon the flesh, which He condemned on the cross? Do we bear about in the body "the dying of the Lord Jesus," that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body? As a consequence of this "suffering in the flesh," do we no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God? (See 1 Peter 4:1-2.) The Spirit says of us, "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." (Gal. 5:24.) Neither Israel nor we eat of the sinew that shrank.