Winning the Wrestling Match – Genesis 32:22-31

A text – Genesis 32:22-31

32:22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.
32:24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
32:25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
32:26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”
32:27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
32:28 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”
32:29 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.
32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.”
32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

A reflection:

Jacob had been estranged from his brother Esau for a long time, but was now on the way to meet him, not knowing whether he’d be welcomed or harmed or even killed. He had his whole clan with him. He sent them on ahead and remained alone for the night, maybe to pray for strength or wisdom or for a sign or something. Verse 24 says, simply, that Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. It says this so directly that it seems to suggest such a thing was commonplace. Many of us do toss and turn until daybreak before a big event, especially if we’re not sure of the outcome. But “a man wrestled with him until daybreak” just seems odd rather than commonplace.

Jacob wrestled well, I guess. He prevailed. He never gave in. He never waved the man off. And the man knew he could not beat Jacob, so he gave him a blow to the hip to dislocate it. Why? Was this an angel sent from God who wanted Jacob’s encounter the next day to go well, and wanted Jacob to go into that meeting beaten up and weak and tired, so that Esau would take pity on him, but the man had miscalculated Jacob’s strength? Did he do the only thing that could put Jacob down a peg or two for the encounter with his brother the next day, a limp?

And Jacob – what was he asking for? A blessing? An admission that he had won the wrestling match? A handshake of congratulations? A relocation of his hip? Instead of these things, he received a new name that meant he had prevailed in his struggle with God and humans. Jacob also wanted to know the man’s name, but he would not give it. But he did in the end give Jacob a blessing. And when he was gone, Jacob gave the place a name that said he realized he had been wrestling with God, or at least an angel.

We have all wrestled with ourselves during some long nights. Have you ever felt that those wrestling matches have been you wrestling with God? How did those matches end for you? Did you prevail? At least in God’s relationship with Jacob, God seems to want to wrestle. And God wants to give credit to Jacob when Jacob wins. Maybe sometimes we should think of our own struggles as wrestling matches with God, during which God actually wants us to prevail. How might that change our struggles?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for preserving this story of the wrestling match with Jacob. Help us to know when you are wrestling with us, and also know that you want us to win.  Amen.