Striving with God and Men

The context of Genesis 32 is fear. Jacob has narrowly escaped Laban. A more fearsome foe awaits in his brother Esau, who had vowed revenge. As Calvin says, “He therefore proceeds with trepidation, as one who goes to the slaughter.”1 God gives him supernatural courage by ‘the angels of God [that] met him’ (v. 1). But notice how even this fades in Jacob, as, after the messengers returned with news that Esau had four hundred men with him, it says, ‘Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed’ (v. 7), and from there hatched his next strategy. Yet he does turn to God in a prayer for deliverance (vv. 9-12).2 And, at any rate, faith is never perfected in this life, as Calvin continues:

“that the sons of God are never endued with a constancy so steadfast, that the infirmity of the flesh does not betray itself in them. For they who fancy that faith is exempt from all fear, have had no experience of the true nature of faith.”3

I will have more to say about the narrative of Jacob meeting Esau together with the next passage when they actually meet, in Chapter 33. For now, there is this theologically rich picture in the middle. As with Jacob’s ladder, which was a type of Christ, here we have the encounter between God and man.

• God, inapproachable but condescending

• Man, striving but dislocated

Doctrine. God’s people prevail with Him by being spiritually dislocated.

God, inapproachable but condescending

The mysterious wrestling opponent is first called a “man” (אִישׁ֙); but that is hardly a clincher, since the angels visiting Abraham are first called “men” (18:2). One thing can be ruled out. Jacob did not see, nor was he touched by, the divine essence of God, as God is neither visible nor sensible.

“No one has ever seen God” (Jn. 1:18).

“you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20).

“who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16).

So that leaves either an angelophany or Christophany. It is not unprecedented for God’s manifestation to be through an angel, as angels are messengers anyway (Gen. 16, 18, and an episode in Judges are all examples of that), while Joshua 5 and Isaiah 6 (cf. Jn. 12:41) would be examples of the Christophany. There are other reasons to conclude that this is an angelic mediation, but one of them is a passage in the prophet Hosea.

“In the womb he [Jacob] took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name” (Hos. 12:3-5).

In other words, in striving with the angel, immediately, he was striving with God ultimately.

So we must grant that God enabled the exception of angelic ability to physically affect things. Or is that even necessary? It is often supposed that angels—because they are “spirits” (Heb. 1:14)—cannot have bodily form and therefore cannot physically affect things, since Jesus said, “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Lk. 24:39). But this seems out of step with the three men visiting Abraham, of whom it says “they ate” (Gen. 18:8), as well as the angels visiting Lot who moved the door (Gen. 19:10). It also says of them that “they ate” (Gen. 19:3). It seems dubious, then, to suppose that an angel could not be given bodily form to wrestle with Jacob.

Man, striving but dislocated

1. Now, before I draw out the meaning of the dislocation and the renaming in this narrative, let me clarify what I mean by a “spiritual dislocation.” I don’t just mean becoming regenerated, as opposed to having previously been dead in sin (cf. Eph. 2:1-5), although that is the ultimate cause. In the reality of the Christian life, many changes come gradually, and there are also many leaps in spiritual growth well after being regenerated. These usually come out of some trial. Our old nature brings with us, in our Christian life, many relics from our old location. Jacob’s soul had been preoccupied with what man could do to him.

“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Ps. 118:6)

It also implies a pivot from striving with mere men to striving with God. Here, striven (שָׂרָה) (sar-ah) can mean struggle, contend, or persist; and it is the same word used the first time in the Hosea passage—“strove with God” (v. 3); whereas the physical-implying word for “turn aside, remove, take away, vanquish, or rule”  (שׂוּר) (sur) is used for “strove with the angel” (v. 4). I am not sure how much we can make of that. However, our word here means more than mere “fighting” with, but rather that expending of effort to break through to gain that which has been elusive. To be clear, what happens in this text is a literal, physical hip injury, but it is still a type, every bit as much as the name change is. So let’s look at those two actions of the man he wrestled.

First, there is the “reconstructive surgery” — ‘When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him’ (v. 25). By the way, notice that it says “AS,” as if Jacob kept wrestling in spite of the pain and awkwardness. Not bad for “a smooth man” (27:11)! It shows us that God very often does drag us “kicking and screaming,” as the saying goes. But here is the key: The hip is the wrestler’s pivot point. It is his lever of strength. Before this, Jacob strove by his own strong point—his craftiness—but now, he will have a constant reminder of his dependence on the One who both located and dislocated his hip. God gives us our powers to begin with, and He reorients them when He renews our hearts.

Second, there is the name change — ‘And he [the man] said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel’ (vv. 27-28). Naming things in the Bible (often renaming them) is a means of establishing dominion. It can be a sign of ownership of that thing, or simply the significance of defining their character or mission. In this case, Israel would continue to have a striving relationship with God, whereas before they (like Jacob) had a less noble meaning, since his name meant deceiver. One author writes,

“The biblical text offers us no commentary as to the angel’s tone of voice when he bestowed this new name on Jacob—did he speak with praise, with scorn, with sarcasm?—but the angel does go on to bless the newly ‘baptized’ Israel, and so we must accept that the name is meant, on at least some level, to be a compliment.”4

One who strives with God, or even God perseveres. Some think it is from splitting the word in three—as in, from is (man) ra-ah (to see) ʾel (God). So, “a man seeing God.” And certainly that is said by Jacob (v. 30), but that isn’t the meaning that God Himself gives to it. And, actually, that wouldn’t be the right root anyway. It is “God strives” (sar-ah-el), or else “one who strives with God.”

A puzzle remains for many—myself included, if I am being honest. Where do we draw the line between that “striving” with God that is viewed positively in Scripture, versus that which is viewed negatively? If we fail to ask the question, we may interpret this passage, as many Pentecostals and Charismatics have, as a kind of prescription to leverage God, to receive from Him on our terms or for what we regard to be temporal blessings. We know that there is biblical backing for a persistence with God in prayer.5 Think of where Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Mat. 7:7), or in the Parable of the Persistent Widow, who,

“kept coming to [the judge] and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary’ … because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice” (Lk. 18:3, 5).

And what is the punchline? Jesus’s words are: “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?” (v. 7). As always, context and a bit of logic are our friends. The focus is on persistence, but also the readiness of Christ to deliver for His church—not on our own initiative to do good, or to know what’s good for ourselves.

At any rate, the Genesis passage steers us away from that, as the divine activity of dislocating the hip and changing the name show clearly that God is in the driver’s seat the whole time. This “prevailing” is therefore a gracious prevailing, in which God sees the pursuit of his child through to cultivating the desire for more of God.

Practical Use of the Doctrine

Use 1. Correction. It may be objected to what we have said about this angelophany, that Jacob specifically says, and ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered’ (v. 30); and therefore, it is concluded, the words must be taken in the most literal sense. Two replies may be given. The first is that this violates the analogy of faith, which holds that we interpret Scripture in light of Scripture. To suggest that Jacob saw the divine essence because of these words must include his reasoning: which included that his life had been spared. But, this is exactly the reason given to Moses, namely, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20). In short, the position cannot be taken without also implying a contradiction. Jacob knew enough to know the rule, and yet he himself implies a better explanation, which brings up the second reply.

Second, there is a better explanation for the expression “face to face.” If we revisit the scene between God and Moses at the cleft of the rock, we read:

“Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11).

Note that this is said just nine verses above the statement to Moses on the mount. That is very telling. The expression is used three more times in the Pentateuch, recalling that event and the general relationship Moses had to God, in Numbers 14:14, Deuteronomy 5:4, and 34:10. Gideon says it of his encounter with the angel of the LORD, whom he had already called “God” in Judges 6:22, which has that in common with Jacob’s experience. Study those out, and you will start to get the sense that literal facial sightings are not what is in view. We use the expression “heart to heart” along with “face to face” in order to communicate the kind of meeting that is either more intimate or more direct.

Use 2. Admonition. I suggested that Jacob’s dislocated hip representing a new kind of “pivot point,” where he turned from trusting in his own wits to trusting in God’s grace. In truth, to become a Christian is to become “dislocated” from one’s own natural resources. This is about everything from salvation to your striving in this life. This also is a constant theme in the Old Testament:

“You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf” (2 Chr. 20:17; cf. Prov. 21:31).

“For the battle is the LORD’s” (1 Sam. 17:47).

Our problem is not ultimately other human beings, even those who most hate the church. The greatest enemy we face (in terms of being the most immediate enemy) is the enemy within. As we ourselves sin against God, we harm our own soul.

Use 3. Exhortation. That passage from Hosea, which shows why it was an angel immediately encountering Jacob—what are the very next words to Israel by way of application? It says:

“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God” (Hos. 12:6).

To be spiritually dislocated by God Himself is to finally be re-located in continual dependence for that deliverance that matters most. It is to know your new name—your new self in Christ.

“To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it” (Rev. 2:17).

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1. Calvin, Commentaries, I.2.185.

2. Belcher gives us this helpful summary: “The prayer of Jacob in verses 9-12 demonstrates the kind of changes that have occurred in his life. He prays to the God of his father Abraham and the God of his father Isaac. He accepts the God of the covenant and all that such a covenant relationship includes. He confesses his own unworthiness of the covenant faithfulness that God has shown to him in blessing him. He specifically prays that God would deliver him and his family from Esau.” Genesis, 204.

3. Calvin, Commentaries, I.2.189.

4. Louis Markos, From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Thought Shaped the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020), 122.

5. Henry offers additional focus on our causal role in prayer, that Jacob “desired to be private, and was left alone, that he might again more fully spread his cares and fears before God in prayer. Note, We ought to continue instant in prayer, always to pray and not to faint: frequency and importunity in prayer prepare us for mercy.” Commentary on the Whole Bible, 71.