Genesis 32:28
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.” (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Genesis 32:22-32 and Hosea 12:1-6
So we pick up Jacob’s story on his way back home from Paddan-Aram. If you recall from yesterday, Jacob stole Esau’s blessing and fled to his uncle Laban’s house to find a wife. He ended up finding two – both of Laban’s daughters. Jacob was tricked into spending 14 years earning them both from Laban. Then after some more time, Jacob swindles Laban out of some livestock and they agree to a truce and God calls Jacob home. All in all, Jacob has two wives, two female servants (concubines), eleven children and a massive amount of livestock.
The route back home leads Jacob and his entourage through Edom. Over the last couple of decades, Esau has been equally busy building up his estate in Edom and has turned into quite a powerful figure. Naturally, Jacob is terrified of Esau because he figures that Esau wants him dead for stealing his blessing. Jacob’s great plan was to coax Esau into kindness by sending him a bunch of gifts and praying to God that Esau spares him. Just in case God forgot, Jacob reminds God that He promised to make Jacob prosperous and his descendants “like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.”
So now Jacob is at the doorstep of Edom and he has sent all of his family and possessions ahead of him in the middle of the night to bribe Esau. He is left alone to wait for the carnage Esau will undoubtedly bring to him. And then one of the more interesting things in Scripture happens – Jacob wrestles with a man until daybreak.
Theologians have lots of opinions on the actual identity of this “man.” Some say it’s God himself. Scripture would seem to indicate that because Jacob named the place Peniel in verse 30 which means face of God because he saw “God face to face.” Some say it was the pre-incarnate Jesus and others say it was an angel. I’m not sure it’s critical that we come to a definite conclusion but it’s fun to speculate.
This event doesn’t contain any symbology or prophecies to Christ that we haven’t already covered. But I think it’s a significant event for a couple of reasons. One, I think this verse is interesting because we have to acknowledge that this “man” was a supernatural being who was more than capable of defeating Jacob in a physical wrestling match. Yet they struggled all night and the “man” was not able to overpower Jacob. Maybe this struggle was a spiritual wrestling match?
One thing is certain about Jacob, this was a turning point for him. He was ready to leave his old self, the heel, behind. Earlier in verse 10, Jacob tells God that “I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.” This was a new posture for Jacob! He had come to a point in his life where he recognized his unworthiness and he seemed ready to live for God.
After the wrestling match, the man said to Jacob, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” God recognized that Jacob was ready to be a servant of God. God changed peoples’ names several times in Scripture to better represent who that person would become. Israel means he struggles with God. But it can also be translated as God rules, one who strives with God, or a prince of God. Israel would become a great nation as well as God’s chosen people. That’s who Jacob was to become.
It’s okay to struggle with God. Having doubts and even following our own desires over what God desires for us are part of the human experience. It’s not that we fall down. It’s that we get back up and keep wrestling so that in the end we become more of a servant of God than of ourselves. And just like God in this wrestling match, He could defeat us if he wanted to. But that’s not his nature. He wants us to live life to the fullest and spend eternity with him. He’s willing to take the loss like he did at Calvary.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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