Genesis 32-33 - a new name and a new start

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.  Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’

But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’

The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’

‘Jacob,’ he answered.

Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’

Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’

But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’

The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.  Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Genesis 32:22-32

Jacob has left Laban - he has followed God's call to return to the land of his Fathers and he's presumably a 'free man' starting a new chapter.  But there's a catch - going back to Canaan means one thing: facing his brother Esau, whom he cheated out of his inheritance, and from whom he had previously fled in fear of his life.  It's a reunion that Jacob probably expects to be awkward at best, and dangerous at worst.  How is Jacob the usurper, with all his wits and cunning, going to get out of this one?

On hearing Esau is approaching with 400 men, Jacob in great fear and distress (32:7) sets his wits to work and divides his party into two to mitigate potential damage.  He then prepares a trickle of gifts to pacify his brother - he is both politician and military strategist.  However, also spends the night in prayer, and this is where everything changes.

Jacob's wrestle with God (or his angel) during his night of prayer is at first puzzling.   When we read it at first it appears that 'the man' was unable to overpower Jacob.  It seems unlikely that this is truly the case in a pure physical battle - the almighty God or his emissary against a mere man.  Added to this, there is then an injury inflicted with apparent ease, when the man saw that he could not overpower him (32:25).  It's clear there is something spiritual going on that is being represented by this physical struggle, but what exactly is it?

The whole exchange makes much more sense when we realise that 'overpowering' is not about whether damage is caused but about submission.   Throughout his life Jacob found it impossible to acknowledge that God is in control, preferring to take things into his own hands.  This struggle was not about who was strongest, but who was in charge.   A toddler may resist having their nappy changed - flighting and squirming against their parent's strong but loving hands.  Oh, how many a parent has longed for the day that their toddler will submit to their loving care and allow themselves to be changed!  (Note to parents - don't take this analogy too far and actually injure your child!)  God knew that Jacob, like so many others after him, would only learn to submit to God's care in his weakness, and so God leaves him physically injured, possibly disabled, so that he would learn the far greater joy and strength of submitting to God.

From verse 26, a key transformation has taken place.  Jacob is now clinging to the man with whom he was previously fighting (as evidenced by the man's words 'let me go' in 32:26), and then goes on to ask for his blessing (I will not let go until you bless me, 32:26).  The significance of this is lost on us until we realise the cultural context that a blessing was something bestowed from a superior.  This too, was a sign of acknowledgement that it is God who is in control and from him that all blessings flow.

The final really significant sign of what is going on here is Jacob's change of name.  Jacob means usurper - something that his parents had maybe even had a sign of as he was born, when he came out grabbing on to his older twin's heel!  The last time Jacob was asked 'who are you?' he responded with a lie - and told his aged father he was his brother Esau (Genesis 27:18-19).  Of course, God does already knows who Jacob is, but it not just a question of a name, but an identity: who are you?  Jacob is Jacob the usurper, but God gives him a new name: Israel.  The old identity of usurper is put off, and a new one put on.

But the name Israel raises more questions.  The literary interpretation of the word Israel is, according to variety commentaries, challenging.   Whilst some translate it as 'one who wrestles with God', others have suggested 'God rules', or 'a God-mastered man'.  It is clear that the name at least refers back to this struggle with God Jacob has had, but even if it points to God being the one who masters Jacob (a theory I am inclined to agree with), the reasoning given for the name suggests that Jacob seems to at least share in this glory:  because you have struggled with God and humans and have overcome (32:28).  The word translated as 'overcome' refers to strength and endurance.  Hang on - wasn't the point that Jacob did not 'overcome' but submitted?  I think the conclusion we must draw here is that Jacob, like many after him, found that in his weakness, in submission to God, he was strong.  As Paul found in his own weakness many centuries later: For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Consider the words of James: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance (James 1:2-3).  The perseverance James is speaking of (hypomonē) is not that of one who has become strong and overcome their adversaries, but of patience.  It speaks of one who, through trials such as Jacob's has learned to run to God and put their trust in him.

The rest, as they say, is history.  Jacob means Esau the next day and rather than a hostile reception, his brother runs to meet him and kisses him. It's very possible that Esau's forgiveness is actually also an explicit sign to Jacob of God's forgiveness, particularly as Jacob remarks: For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favourably (33:10).  The man who had been constantly seeking his own gain is now walking in step with the Creator, and that peace and other-centredness have reverberations in his meeting with his estranged brother.  Jacob is by no means the finished article, but his walk with God has taken on a whole new character.

Previous:  Genesis 31: Shaky people and an un-shakeable God

Next: Genesis 34: Self-centredness in triplicate