Beyond The Basics

Transcript:

Welcome to the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I am your host. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Beyond the Basics where we are exploring the Bible from Genesis to Revelation one chapter at a time.

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Well, have you ever felt completely alone? Maybe you felt literally alone. For example when my wife and I first got married I was traveling for work and I had to leave and go on the road for three weeks at a time. And so literally we were alone apart from each other and it was terrible. We hated it and thankfully that only lasted a few months. But maybe you felt more emotionally alone. You’ve been in a room full of people and felt completely alone. Or maybe you felt spiritually alone, whether because of persecution or attack or doubts or fears, but we’ve all felt alone at times and think back on those times. How did God meet you in those times when you felt alone?

In Genesis chapter 32, we’re gonna find that in the beginning of the chapter, Jacob is completely surrounded by family and an army of angels and as we go through the chapter, he’s gonna slowly become more and more alone until at the end, he’s completely alone on the side of the river and this is where God meets him.

So in Genesis 32 verse 1 remember Jacob had been fleeing from Laban. They had made a covenant to never cross into each other’s territory. So now Jacob was returning to the land of Canaan. God had told him to go back to the city of Bethel. And so in verse 1 it says Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him.

So that word angels also means messengers. That’s the same word that’s going to be used in verse 3, where it says Jacob sent messengers. So there’s two possibilities for why Jacob would be met by angels on his way back to Bethel. The first possibility would be to encourage Jacob. I mean, Jacob was leaving one man, Laban, who wanted to kill him, and as we’re going to find out, he’s on his way to another man who wants to kill him, because he’s going to be intercepted by Esau, as we’re going to find out here in a couple verses. He’s gonna need some encouragement. And previously when Jacob had left the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, he had received a vision of angels at Bethel, and he had faced uncertainty and fear at that time as well. In fact, he was fleeing from Esau, who was trying to kill him at that time. Clearly these visions of angels are happening at a time when Jacob is greatly distressed, when he’s running away from somebody who’s trying to kill him, or who wants to kill him.

The other possibility is that the author is giving us a clue as to the importance of the land that Jacob is entering back into. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 24, we found out that after God drove out Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way back into the Garden to the Tree of Life. So that cherubim guarded the east gate of Eden to keep people out. But now Jacob is meeting angels at the eastern border of the promised land and this time they’re letting him in. So there’s a clear comparison here to the Garden of Eden showing that this land that promised is an Eden land. It is a land that one day would be like Eden. And Jacob, by returning, is foreshadowing the return of mankind to that Eden state, to that paradise state with God.

That doesn’t mean Jacob is perfect at this point, of course. But I think that the author is giving us a subtle message here to say, this is a good thing that Jacob is returning. This is where Jacob is supposed to be. He’s going back to where God had placed man, to where God had communed with man. Either possibility here, of course, would hopefully have had a strengthening effect on Jacob. And I don’t think it’s an either or in this case. They would have been there just to encourage Jacob but also to represent that gate that Eden gate back into the promised land or back into the Garden of God

So in verse 2, when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God’s camp. So he called the name of that place, Mahaneim, which means two camps. There’s God’s camp and there’s Jacob’s camp. In other words, there’s God’s army and there’s Jacob’s army. That’s what that word camp is really referring to. It’s kind of a military word. So he’s saying, this is a strong place. This is a fortified place. Two camps, two armies here.

In verse 3, Jacob sent messengers before him. Now, God’s messengers had just came to him, that camp of angels, and now Jacob is sending messengers to Esau. And he’s sending them to Esau to notify him of his coming, so that Esau wouldn’t think that Jacob was coming to attack him, because, again, last time Jacob had been here, Esau was trying to kill him. And Jacob didn’t want Esau to think that he was returning just to try and pick a fight. So he sent these messengers to Esau to say, I’m coming, but I’m coming in peace.

Now in verse 3, we find out that Esau is living in the land of Seir, or the country of Edom. And this is a mountain range southeast of the land of Canaan. Esau had driven out the Horites who originally lived there. We found out in Genesis 14 verse 6 that the Horites had lived in the hill country of Seir. This was Esau’s inheritance. Remember that Esau was so upset that he didn’t receive a blessing and begged Isaac, his father, to give him a blessing. So Isaac did give him a blessing. It wasn’t quite the blessing that Jacob received, but he did receive a blessing and he received a bit of an inheritance. In Deuteronomy chapter 2 verses 3 through 5, we found out that this land, Mount Seir, was given to Esau by God, Himself.

So God gave Mount Seir to Esau, which means that Esau was no longer living in the land of Canaan. And he could have stayed there. He could have stayed in Canaan to make it difficult for Jacob to claim his inheritance. I mean, Esau wanted this inheritance. Esau wanted this blessing so bad. And Jacob had left. So Esau could have just stayed. And at the very least, Jacob would have to fight him for the land. But instead he left. And God preserved the land for Jacob and Esau went to Mount Seir.

So in verse 4, Jacob tells his messengers to say, You shall say to my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob. Jacob was the patriarch of the family by birthright, but here he humbles himself to be Esau’s servant. So again, he’s trying to take a non-confrontational tone. He’s trying to make it clear that he’s not here for a fight. He says, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. So Jacob wanted Esau to know that he already had plenty. He already had great wealth and he wasn’t there to take anything from Esau. He already had enough. He had already taken the birthright when he was younger and now he was coming back to claim his inheritance but he wasn’t trying to take anything from Esau anymore. That’s why he told Esau that he had all this wealth.

So then he goes on, he says, I have sent to tell my lord in order that I may find favor in your sight. So Jacob wants to make amends here. Jacob knew that he had alienated his brother. He knew his brother was angry. He’s trying to make amends. But we’re starting to see a bit of a problem here because Jacob already has God’s favor. So he shouldn’t need to seek Esau’s favor.

See, when we already have God on our side, we shouldn’t need to grovel and seek the favor of other people. We should remain confident in God’s protection and in His faithfulness. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be humble. We should always seek to remain humble in every situation and every dealing with human beings. We should always seek humility. But there’s a difference between Jacob telling his brother, Esau, “I’m back. I have enough. I’m not here to start a fight,” and trying to win his favor. Trying to make Esau like him again. Trying to manipulate Esau into thinking that he was okay. Jacob didn’t need to do that. He already had God’s favor. He already had God’s protection. He doesn’t need to seek the favor and protection of another person, even his brother. When we have God’s protection and favor, we don’t need to seek the protection and favor of anyone else.

So in verse 6, the messengers return to Jacob saying, We came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you, and there are 400 men with him. This is actually the largest army that we’ve seen so far in the Bible. Remember Abraham took 318 men to fight against that powerful king, Chedorlaomer, who was the pagan king of kings. Esau has even more men with him than that. So Jacob would have seen this as a very fearful thing. He would hear that Esau has 400 men coming towards him and he would assume the worst.

In verse 7, it tells us that Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He did assume the worst. He assumed that Esau was sending this gigantic army after him to get him. And so he was afraid. Even though he had just been encouraged by these angels sent from God, even though God has spent all his entire life protecting him.

Now to be fair, Rebekah had told Jacob that she would send for him after Esau was no longer angry in chapter 27. And Rebekah never sent for him. So for all Jacob knew, the reason Rebekah never sent for him is because Esau stayed angry. But what’s happening here is that Jacob’s former sins were now haunting him because all these things that he had done in the past, all the lies, the manipulation, the deception that he had done to his brother and to his father, He had done to his uncle Laban now. He was fearing fleeing for his life from his uncle and he was fearing for his life in front of his brother and all of it everything he had done is coming to a head here. He is desperate, he’s backed into a corner and he is afraid and he has no idea what to do. So Jacob starts to come up with a plan and he starts to divide the people that were with him.

This is a problem because it actually makes defeat more likely against a large army. He’s actually assuming that he’s going to lose a battle against Esau. Obviously, Jacob would have a better chance at winning a battle against 400 men if he kept his people together. But he didn’t. He started dividing them apart. And in fact, he divided them in two camps. He’s still in this place called Two Camps. But he forgot about the reason why he called the place Two Camps, Mahaneim, because Jacob thinks that he’s about to face down an army of 400 men and he’s got an army of angels with him right there. But instead of trusting in God’s armies he tries to outwit Esau by splitting up his own by dividing his own armies and making it more likely that he would face defeat. So his weak faith is showing here, but thankfully for Jacob the measure of his faith doesn’t affect God’s protection over him as we’re gonna see.

Moving down to verse 9, Jacob is so fearful that now he is finally driven to prayer. He realizes that he’s got no other option left. It’s his last resort to turn to the Lord. It shouldn’t have been his last resort, but he did it and he turned to the Lord. We can’t really judge Jacob, right? How many of us back ourselves into a corner because of our own dumb decisions and when we’ve got no other option left then we finally turn to the Lord and say, “Lord I don’t even know what to do here please help.”

We’ve all been there, we’ve all done that. We can’t really judge Jacob for this. So he appeals to the God of his fathers. He says, “Oh Lord who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.” So Jacob knew he didn’t deserve God’s promises or his protection, but that didn’t stop him from asking for God’s help. He knew that the things that he had done, he had not been living in obedience to God, he knew he didn’t deserve anything that God had promised him. But he asked God for help anyway.

In Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, Jesus tells us, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That phrase poor in spirit refers to those who understand their utter lack. They understand their complete need for Jesus. Just like Jacob we don’t deserve anything from God. We were the ones who deserved the cross. We deserved the punishment that Jesus received. That was supposed to be for us, but Jesus took it. And now, we still don’t deserve anything. The Bible says that all of our works are like filthy rags. Nothing we can do is enough to earn God’s favor. Nothing we can do is enough to earn God’s promises. But he promises us his life and his protection and his grace anyway. Blessed are those who recognize their need for Jesus.

Jacob recognized his need for God. He asks God for deliverance. He says, “Deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” So Jacob here is reminding God of his promises.

This is actually a tactic that we see a lot in the scripture where when somebody is backed into a wall and somebody has no idea what to do and is in fear for their life, they remind God of his promises and say, “Hey, God, you promise this and if I die here, then your promise is not gonna happen. Your promise is not gonna come to pass. So you better do something.” And that’s exactly what’s happening here. If Esau attacks and kills Jacob, God can’t fulfill his promise to Abraham because Jacob is dead and his family will be destroyed.

So the question is, does God really need to be reminded of his promises? Because I think that this is a good biblical model for us when we’re praying. We should remind God of his word. When we’re praying, we should remind God of his promises when we’re praying. The characters in the Bible do it all the time, but do they do it because God needs to be reminded? On the contrary, I think it’s because we need to be reminded. We need to be reminded of God’s promises when we are feeling fearful and when we’re feeling alone. When we pray and remind God of His promises, we are strengthened by reminding ourselves of God’s promises because God always keeps His promises. If we have faith in Him, if we trust that He’s gonna keep His promises and we are feeling fearful and we pray, “Lord, help me. If you don’t, Your promises can’t happen.” We’re reminded and we’re strengthened by those promises. So don’t be afraid to pray that way. It’s bold, but don’t be afraid to pray that way.

So Jacob stayed there that night in the place of two camps. And he split up his animals and his family and his servants and he sent them on in droves to his brother Esau. And in verse 16 it says, these he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself. So this was a large portion of Jacob’s wealth. It’s almost like Jacob is offering the birthright back to Esau in exchange for his life.

So again, remember I mentioned that it’s good for Jacob to tell Esau that, “Hey, I’m not here to take anything, I’m coming in peace, I just want to go back home, I’m not here to start anything.” But instead, he went beyond that. He made himself Esau’s servant. He’s trying to earn Esau’s favor and now he’s offering his inheritance back to Esau. All these animals that he had gained while he was with Laban, he’s offering them back to Esau. So Jacob feared Esau more than he feared God, even though Jacob had God’s promises.

See, we must fear God more than the world because we have God’s promises. Second Corinthians 7:1 says, since we have these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. So what is Paul saying there? He’s saying that that we have the promises of God. Because we have those promises, we must cleanse ourselves of sin and fear the Lord, because the Lord has power to keep those promises and bring those promises apart. He is infinitely more powerful than anything that the world can throw at us. So let’s cleanse ourselves. Let’s humble ourselves in front of God. Fear God, not the world.

Jacob feared the world more than he feared God. Jacob feared Esau, his brother, more than he feared God. So he said to his servants in verse 16, pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove. This is an indication that Jacob fears Esau more than God, because otherwise he would have gone first. Instead, he put all his family and all his wealth in front of him and put himself last. He’s in self-preservation mode right now.

I mean, he’s thinking that an army of 400 men is coming at him and he puts his family in front of him. Who would do that? I mean, really, men, if you have a family, and women too, if you’ve got children and you saw a group of guys with weapons or whatever coming at you, would you put your children in front of you? No, you’d put your children behind you and you’d do what you can to defend them even though you know you’re probably going to lose. Jacob is convinced he’s gonna lose, and he puts his family in front of him anyway.

So Jacob instructed the first drove, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ Then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are present, sent to my lord Esau, And moreover he is behind us.’” And he did the same thing for the rest of the droves.

And then in verse 20 it says, For Jacob thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me. And afterward I shall see his face, perhaps he will accept me.” So Jacob is still trying to scheme, he’s still trying to manipulate Esau into getting what he wants. So in verse 21, so the present passed on ahead of him and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

In verse 22, that same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 children and crossed the four of the Jabbok. Night here is going to represent chaos, adversity, death. It’s going to foreshadow what’s about to happen. It’s nighttime before Jacob is about to cross a river.

Think about this. It’s darkness before Jacob is about to pass into the waters and cross to the other side. So night represents death, chaos. Then Jacob is about to cross a river, a body of water, go in the water and come out on the other side into what we had already established was symbolic of Eden or life. So this right here is about to foreshadow Jacob’s baptism. The story that we’re about to read is going to take place just before Jacob’s baptism.

Now that doesn’t mean that Jacob’s gonna be a perfect man after his baptism, but I do think that we’re gonna see a significant shift in Jacob’s attitude, we’re gonna see a significant shift in Jacob’s attempt to trust the Lord, and he’s still gonna have his ups and downs, but the trajectory is gonna start to turn after he crosses this river.

That river happens to be, like I mentioned, the Jabbok. It’s a tributary of the Jordan River. And in verse 23, it says that Jacob took them, his family, and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. And verse 24, and Jacob was left alone.

Over the last 10 verses or so, Jacob had been dividing up his wealth and sending them on ahead of him. Then he divided up his children and sent them on ahead of him, and now Jacob is completely alone. He’s completely vulnerable. And this is where God comes to him. Just like the first time that God had appeared to him in Bethel when Jacob was completely alone, fleeing from his brother Esau, now Jacob is completely alone in fear of his brother Esau and God comes to him.

And it’s interesting to note the way that God comes to him. See, God comes to us at our level. And God obviously knows that He is far above us in every way. So He humbles Himself and approaches us at our level. Psalm 18 verses 25 through 26 says, with the merciful you show yourself merciful, with the blameless man you show yourself blameless, with the purified you show yourself pure, and with the crooked you make yourself seem torturous.

And this is shown in the record of scripture. So in Genesis 18, Abraham was a nomad, and so God appeared to Abraham as a traveler. In the book of Joshua, Joshua was a military general, and in Joshua chapter five, God appeared as a commander of armies. Jacob here in Genesis 32 spent his entire life struggling with others, so God came to him as a wrestler.

And in verse 24, a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. So this man initiated the fight. Jacob didn’t start the fight. This man did, and he wanted something from Jacob. What did he want? What did he want from Jacob? He wanted to take this deceiving man that relied completely on God. And he wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

So this reveals Jacob’s determination. He never gave up, despite the difficult life he had. He never gave up. He never stopped fighting, he never stopped scheming, he never gave up. And he didn’t give up in this fight. But the problem was, he was too reliant on his own strength and cunning. See, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to never give up. I think that’s a good thing. We shouldn’t give up. But in that determination to keep going on our strength, because our strength is never going to get us to the end. We have to rely on God’s strength and His wisdom. That’s what’s going to get us through difficulties.

So in verse 25 it says, when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, even though he could have at any time, because as we’re gonna find out, this is God, he could have won this fight at any time. This was never a fight, if God didn’t want it to be a fight. This is like a UFC champion approaching a child. There’s no fight there.

Really what it’s more like is a dad wrestling with his son or daughter. Dads, if you have small children, like I do, you love wrestling with them on the floor, right? Or wherever. And they love wrestling too. They, they get a kick out of it and they think they can beat you. And so they just keep on doing it. They, they won’t stop. My son, he’s almost two and he just, when we wrestle, he just never, he won’t stop. He won’t give up. Even though I could end that wrestling at any time, just pin him to the ground. He’s done.

But there’s value in holding back on my part to give him the chance, to keep going, but ultimately he’s relying on me to hold back. He’s relying on me to get him through that wrestling and to get him to the other side. I don’t know how well that analogy works. Maybe it breaks down at the end there, but the point is, God could have ended this fight at any time.

When he 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. It says that he touched his hip socket. This is, and I think this is a strange word to use here. Like, I don’t know about you, but I think about if you’re gonna put somebody’s hip socket out of joint, you’re not gonna touch it, and it goes out of joint. You’re gonna punch it. You’re gonna kick it. You’re gonna use all your force that you can muster and hit that person as hard as you can to make that hip joint go out of socket. It’s a, in my opinion, it’s a strange word to use here. He touched his hip socket, but I think there’s a reason. Because this is the same word that’s used in the story about the ladder to heaven.

In Genesis 28:12 It says, He dreamed and behold there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. That word where it says the top of it reached to heaven, that’s the same word here as when the man touched his hip socket. So that ladder was set on earth and it touched heaven and now God came down from heaven on that ladder and touched Jacob.

So I think that word is giving us a clue that this is not just any man. This is God himself. It was God himself that came down. Because there’s always ambiguity, right? At least it seems like it, especially if you’re reading in the English language where words have been translated and the meaning isn’t always completely clear. A lot of times we read these encounters like this. We believe that it’s God because that’s what we’ve always been told. But when you read it you start thinking to yourself, well maybe, is this really God? I mean, how do we know it’s God? And the biblical authors gave us these clues so that we could know, because they wanted us to meditate on it and think about it and pray about it and spend time wrestling with the text, really getting the meaning out of it.

I think that this word is God, even as we read on. Now Jacob seems to be convinced that the man is God, but the text doesn’t actually come out and say that it was God. But I think that this word gives us that indication, because we read about a ladder that was set on earth and touched heaven, and God was at the top of that ladder. And now a man has come down and touched Jacob. So what did he do? He dislocated Jacob’s hip as a reminder of his grace, so that Jacob would go through the rest of his life limping, being reminded of God’s grace on his life, of God’s deliverance.

Paul had something similar in his life in 2 Corinthians 12 verses 5 through 9. Says on behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

So Paul here is saying, If I wanted to boast, I had all sorts of reasons to boast. And the Lord knew it. So he gave me a reason not to boast. He gave me this thorn in the flesh so that I would be forced to rely on God’s grace. And that’s what’s happening to Jacob here. He’s now going to be forced to rely on God.

So in verse 26, the man said, “Let me go for the day is broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” This basically encompasses all of Jacob’s struggles with others. His brother, his father, his father-in-law, he’s always looking for a blessing. Everywhere he goes, everything he does, he’s always looking for a blessing. He’s looking for a blessing when he took Esau’s birthright, he’s looking for a blessing when he deceived his father, he’s looking for multiple blessings with Laban. This is what his life is all about. He’s desperate for blessing.

This because it can seem here that Jacob is commanding God. He says, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” But he’s not commanding God. In Hosea chapter 12 verses 3 through 5 it says, So Hosea told us that Jacob actually wept when he was asking God for this blessing. He wept and sought his favor. He wasn’t commanding God. He was desperate. He realized all he had left was to hold on to God. And so in weeping and in desperation, he asked God for a blessing because it was his weakness that resulted in the blessing. It was not his strength. Previously, Jacob had attempted in his strength to wrangle blessings out of others. But now in his weakness all he’s got left is to hold on to God and ask for a blessing.

Are we seeking for blessing in life out of our own strength, out of trying to manipulate events, manipulate life and manipulate others for our own benefit? Or do we go to the Lord in weakness and weeping, recognize our utter lack, say “Lord we need you.”

So in verse 27, the man said to him, “What is your name?” Now the last time Jacob was asked this, he lied. Genesis 27, Jacob’s father said to him, “Who are you my son?” And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn.” So this time Jacob had to face who he was before God could change his name. Previously, Jacob had tried to change his name to Esau. He lied and said his name was Esau. But now Jacob had to say, “I am Jacob.” He had to be honest with who he was. He had to say, “I’m the deceiver,” before God could change his name.

Obviously God didn’t need to know the answer. God already knew what Jacob’s name was. God needed Jacob to know what the answer was just like he needed Adam to know the answer when he asked, “Where are you?” in the garden. Just like he needed Cain to know the answer when he said, “Where is your brother?” God needed Jacob to know the answer Adam answered in fear, Cain answered in arrogance, Jacob answered in desperation and weakness and in honesty.

So then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.” Now the name Israel means he strives with God or God strives, referencing what Jacob had just done wrestling with God. It’s also going to foreshadow what the nation of Israel is going to do. They’re going to strive with God and God is going to strive with them. There’s going to be a wrestle throughout Israel’s history, even to this day.

But Jacob received a new name from God, just like Abraham did. That implies a new beginning or a new purpose. Just like Abraham had a new beginning when he received his new name, now Jacob is gonna have a new beginning with his new name. As I mentioned, this is right before his baptism, essentially. It’s the same event, maybe right after. It’s not very clear, but that baptism is the point of becoming a new creation, that passing from death into life. And that’s what’s happening here. Jacob, by receiving a new name, is now being given a new beginning, a new life.

So he says, “Your name shall be called Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Jacob won. Jacob prevailed, but he prevailed through surrender. He didn’t win because he was stronger than God. Of course not. He won because he surrendered to God. That is one of the most primary, fundamental ideas that we as followers of Jesus need to understand. We do not win through strength, we win through surrender. Matthew 16:25 says, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” We only find life through losing our life, through laying down our lives and surrender to God.

So then in verse 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. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face.” And that word Peniel means face of God, and this is the first memorial of Jacob’s wrestle. It’s the first place that Jacob names to memorialize his wrestle with God.

And he says, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” He would die if he saw God’s face and in a way he did die again. Playing off that the theme of baptism in a way. He did die because he was actually given new life. He was delivered, his life was delivered, he was given a new life and now again in verse 31 the Sun rose upon him which represents a new day and a new life.

All this imagery here, in these few verses, in this section of this chapter, is showing that Jacob is a new creation. The creation language of there is evening and there was morning. The passing through the waters. This is all a picture of Jacob receiving new life, of his death and his resurrection, his death into new life.

So it says, the sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip. This limp was the second memorial of Jacob’s wrestle. He would live with this forever, until the day he died. In verse 32 we’re told, to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket. This is a Jewish custom to remind them of God’s grace. It wasn’t required by Mosaic law, but they did it anyway, just to remind them of God’s deliverance, God’s grace on his people.

Do you have any reminders of God’s grace in your life? Is there anything that you do to remind you of God’s grace? I’ve always grown up in a Protestant church and I think as Protestants over the centuries we’ve rejected ritual and memorial and tradition many times in the case of the Charismatics and the Pentecostals, which is what I grew up in. We’ve rejected those things because they risk becoming stale, but if done in sincerity and in humility, they are a wonderful reminder of what God has done for us. And I think as Protestants we could use a little bit more of that.

But I do think the one thing that we do that’s common for all of us as followers of Jesus is communion. This is the one custom that we have that we all do together to remind us of God’s grace, the beauty of His sacrifice on the cross. It’s not required. We don’t need to do it to get into heaven, but this is something that we can do. We should always, always take communion with sincerity, with humble hearts, reminding ourselves of God’s grace that has been extended to us because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

That said, how does this chapter point to Jesus? Well there’s two ways. The first way is that Jacob approached God based on the covenant he made with Abraham. If you go back to verse 9, when Jacob prayed to God he said, “Oh God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac.” So he approached God based on that covenant that God had made with Abraham. He’s saying, “God you are the God of my grandfather. I know you made this covenant with Abraham. I know that is passed down to me.”

So that’s how Jacob approached God. He recognized that this covenant was real and he recognized that he was part of that story and we can approach God based on the new covenant through Jesus. The way Jacob approached God is, is it points to the way that we can approach God through the New Covenant.

Hebrews 4 verses 14 through 16 says, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So the author of Hebrews there is saying, look we can approach God on his throne with confidence when we need help and we can do it through the new covenant established by Jesus.

So the second way this chapter points to Jesus is Jacob understood that he was dealing with somebody more powerful than a normal human in this wrestle at the end of the chapter. Now he called this person God. So this is another appearance of the angel of the Lord. It’s always ambiguous. The author calls this person a man. Jacob called the person God.

And the reason this is important is that this angel of the Lord keeps appearing is because as the reader, especially if we were an ancient Hebrew reader, we’re reading them and we keep looking for the answer to man’s fallen state. And these patriarchs, they’re supposed to bring about the answer. God made this promise to them that the whole world would be blessed through their seed, through their offspring. So we keep looking. Which one is the offspring? Is it Isaac? No. Is it Jacob? No. Is it going to be the next one? The next son? No. We keep looking for this answer in these patriarchs.

And the unknown to them, the answer keeps appearing to them. The angel of the Lord. Thought to be a pre-incarnate Jesus. Whether we can think of him in such a linear way I don’t know but the point is it’s the revealing of God in the flesh and that Revelation of God in the flesh keeps appearing to the patriarchs. It’s happened several times already. We’re only in Genesis chapter 32. We’ve got a whole Bible in front of us. The answer to man’s fallen state keeps appearing to the patriarchs. They don’t even know it.

Just like those men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus was right in front of them. And he got in that chariot and he showed them how all scriptures pointed to him. They had no idea that that man that the scriptures point into was standing right in front of them. It’s the same with the patriarchs, and that’s why we keep doing this. That’s why we have this segment on every episode. Because the answer keeps appearing. The answer is always there. The answer was there from the very beginning.

So in reflection this week, at the beginning of the episode I asked you the question, have you ever felt completely alone? And how has God met you in those times? How has God come to you? At the end of the episode now I want to ask a related question.

What is the value in vulnerability before God? What is the value in being alone and vulnerable before God? Why does it seem like God is able to move so much more in our lives when we’re vulnerable and alone and naked before Him? Ponder that question. Ponder the value of vulnerability before God.

Before I pray, I wanna remind you, don’t forget to like or click follow on whatever platform you’re using. Give the show a five star rating. Always very, very helpful to increase the visibility of the show so that more people can hopefully be blessed by this podcast. Share it with your friends, let your friends know, let your family know if they’re into podcasts, if they are looking for a Bible study to do this is a great one to start with. And of course last but not least, always love to hear your feedback and your comments. Go ahead and leave me a comment on the website, especially those of you who are listening on the radio you can go to beyondthebasics.blog leave a comment

So let’s pray. Lord, I thank you so much for what you are trying to communicate to your people through your word. Thank you that you can reach us through the scriptures. I thank you Lord that just like Jacob wrestled with you, we can wrestle with difficult questions as we read and as we meditate and as we talk to you, as we pray your word back to you. So God, I pray that if anyone who might find themselves in that vulnerable state, anyone who might be finding themselves completely alone right now, I pray that you would come and meet them. Pray that you would come and minister to them. Pray that anybody who is finding themselves fearing others more than they fear you, I pray that you would bring them to that state of vulnerability so that they can meet you. Lord, I pray that all of us, I ask that you would give all of us a heart of humility, a heart that fears you and honors you above all else. In Jesus name, amen.

Well thanks for listening. We’ll talk to you next week when we go through Genesis chapter 33.

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