Blog #7

The story of Jacob’s wrestling with an unidentified individual within Genesis 32 is not as direct as previous scriptures I’ve read. To start to understand Jacob, you must understand he lacks faith. Jacob has never prayed in his life. Jacob was fleeing from his brother, Esau, who was furious of Jacob taking his birthright. One night while fleeing, Jacob had a dream in which God said to him, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac your father; and I will be your God, too. The land where you are lying all alone, shall belong to you and to your children after you; and your children shall spread abroad over the lands, east and west, and north and south, like the dust of the earth; and in your family all the world shall receive a blessing. And I am with you in your journey, and I will keep you where you are going, and will bring you back to this land. I will never leave you, and I will surely keep my promise to you.” This gave Jacob the strength to carry on his long journey. Years after this, Jacob wanted to reconcile with Esau. Late at night while alone, Jacob comes upon a man on a riverbank. The unidentified man begins to wrestle Jacob until the sunrise. The man could not overpower Jacob, therefore he touched Jacob’s hip socket and made it very painful. The man asked Jacob to let him go, but Jacob would not until he blessed him. The man then asks for Jacob’s name, but when Jacob replies, the man says, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” So to answer the question, “who is his opponent?” I believe the opponent was a divine being. To have the ability to touch someones hip socket and cause pain is abnormal. Also, in the text it says “you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” The struggle with humans has already been identified, but the wrestling match is what I believe to be the struggle with God. For the question, “Who wins?” I believe that neither won, although the man asks him to stop wrestling. I think that Jacob’s determination was special, but he did submit. This is a symbol of the struggle/wrestling with faith may be hard, but if you submit to God, you will come out with peace. Prior to this wrestling match, Jacob was very distraught of his meeting with his brother he was bound to have. After, he was a new man with God’s blessing and the power of faith supporting him.