In Gen 31, Jacob received his orders from God to leave Laban and go home but he had a big problem on his hands. For Jacob to leave Laban and to head home meant that he had to face Esau and his return journey took him through the land where Esau lived. Jacob and Esau parted on bad terms, with Esau threatening to hunt him down and kill him in Gen 27:41. Therefore, to return meant that Jacob had to face a lingering fear and problem in his life.
(A) Jacob was desperate and afraid (Gen 32:1-8)
In the passage, we read of how Jacob dedicated his camp to God (Gen 32:2) and sent messengers ahead of him. He did realize the problem he had with Esau. He instructed his servants to speak to Esau in a flattering way to make peace (Gen 32:4). While Jacob recognized God’s presence, he also made plans to deal with the situation. Is it wrong to pray and make plans at the same time? Are these two actions contradictory? Nowhere in the Bible are we told to trust God and remain passive. Jacob implemented his plan because he trusted in God. How do you face problems in your life?
Jacob’s messenger returned with a message, and this whole process of going out and returning definitely took place over a period of time. The messenger replied that Esau was coming to meet him, with four hundred men (Gen 32:6). In verse 7, we read that Jacob was “greatly afraid and distressed”. The writer of Genesis took care to show Jacob’s anxiety in this situation.
In response to this news, Jacob acted rationally, where he divided his people into two camps (in order to minimize his losses). Jacob was trying to plan as humanly as he could. Genesis shows us that bible characters are human and real people, who face real fears and test. This passage clearly shows us a man facing his fears, who has an uncertain future, and only sees dangers and threats lying ahead of him. Do you feel like Jacob – distressed and uncertain about the future?
(B) Jacob demonstrates faith: prayer and wrestling with God incarnate (Gen 32:9-32)
In his desperation, Jacob prays to God. The content of his prayer is worth analysing:
“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good," (Gen 32:9)
Jacob addresses God in four ways (Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, the Lord, the God who called him and not just the God of his fathers or a covenant, but a God who spoke to him personally). When you pray, do you think about who you’re speaking to before you speak? Jacob did, even as he prayed in his desperation. The first thing he thought of was to think about the God that he was addressing. He trusted that God would take care of him, not because He was a God of his fathers or the covenant, but because God gave a personal command and promise. Let us not go to God casually in prayer.
"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, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps." (Gen 32:10)
He described himself as one that was not worthy of the least of the deeds of steadfast love and faithfulness that God has shown him. Remember how “steadfast love and faithfulness” is a particular phrase in the OT that refers to the covenant. Notice also how Jacob refers to his initial poverty and his current abundance. God is a God of faithfulness, and Jacob is an unworthy recipient. Do we pray like Jacob, and do we see who we really are before the great God of heaven? So often, we diminish God and elevate ourselves. This is why our walk is so cold and shallow. Not that we need to beat ourselves up, but in biblical prayers, we see how the characters describe the greatness of God and therefore, naturally, contrasts man.
"Jacob prays for deliverance, and we see his desperation and hopelessness. Only God could help him now. Please 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." (Gen 32:11)
Jacob makes his intercession and petition. Notice how long he takes to get there. Jacob did not immediately jump into his requests. Why are our prayers so shallow? We put our needs before our worship, we put our requests before our beholding of God. Jacob has a lesson for us here.
"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.'" (Gen 32:12)
Jacob claimed the promise that God had made him. He is taking God’s own words and praying them back to God! This ought to teach us how to pray. Not that God doesn’t know his own words, but in doing so, we remind ourselves of what God has told us. God’s word drives us to prayer.
After praying, Jacob takes some actions in verses 13-23. Jacob decks out his possessions in a parade, all his livestock and servants. In doing so, he hoped to appease Esau and his 400 men.
In verse 24, Jacob is left alone, alone with his fears and anxieties and highly vulnerable. It is in this moment that a man appears and begins wrestling with him. They wrestle all night long (Gen 32:24), because neither one could best the other. However, in verse 25, Jacob’s hip was dislocated with just one touch. This man was actually strong! Why did he not overcome Jacob with just one blow early in the wrestling match?
Jacob continues to hold on to the man, refusing to let go until he has been blest (Gen 32:26). The man replies with a strange question, asking for his name (Gen 32:27) and proceeds to rename him from 'Jacob' to 'Israel' (Gen 32:28). What does this encounter mean? When Jacob asked for a blessing, it was not out of proud dominance but with tears. It was a request of desperation. The Jacob of verse 24 now had nothing with him -- no family, no possessions, no servants -- nothing to hide behind, or bank his security under. Jacob was, at the end of it all, merely a deceiver, as his name suggested. The blow to his hip therefore, was a physical ailment that reflected his spiritual state too. And in uttering his name, he confessed his true identity and guilt. Verse 28 is therefore a powerful testimony to God's grace, for Jacob, who was once the deceiver, was now given a new identity and character.
In wrestling with the angel, Jacob encountered God himself and experienced grace. Jacob asked for the name of the one he wrestled with, but he obtained no reply. In verse 30, we learn that Jacob knew that he had seen God face to face. His circumstances had not changed, but he got the assurance he was looking for. Very often, when we are facing fears and anxieties, we are not merely looking for the outcome but an assurance and peace instead. God comes to meet us in our real need, by giving us the assurance of himself.
Genesis 32 is an account of a real person with real fears. In his fears and in the difficult circumstances, the great God, who is also a personal God, comes to meet him and stages a transforming encounter of grace. As Christians today, we know something else that Jacob did not know, and did not ever imagine. We know the name of the one he wrestled with -- Jesus. Years later, God came in the form of man. This passage shows us who we are, people that are like Jacob, wrestling with God. And sometimes he administers the crippling blow of grace, to show us who we really are and to teach us to lean on him and trust in Him completely. Will we be like Jacob, and acknowledge who we are, and say that we will not let go of him?