Fighting God

One night, Jacob had another encounter with the Sovereign LORD God that would forever change his life. Jacob met a mysterious man while alone as he returned to the Promised Land of God (Canaan), and Jacob wrestled and struggled with this mysterious man in the dark until the breaking of dawn - a new day. Later, Jacob would acknowledge meeting the living God (Theophany), but Hosea 12:2-4 states that this mysterious man who met Jacob was the Angel of God. Now, the mysterious man wrestling Jacob could not overpower Jacob, so the mysterious man touched Jacob’s hip (thigh or sciatic muscle) and wrenched Jacob’s hip out of its socket. The socket of Jacob’s hip became dislocated, disabled, and crippled - a thorn of Jacob’s flesh as the mighty mysterious man wrestled with Jacob. Then, the mysterious man demanded Jacob release Him as the dawn broke. As they struggled, Jacob requested God’s favor (grace) and blessings with faith and persistence, as all good gifts come from God. Next, the mysterious man asked Jacob his name, and Jacob gave the mysterious man his name. However, the mysterious man announced to Jacob that his name would no longer be Jacob but Israel to transform Jacob’s life and identity. The name Israel means “Prince with God,” “God fights,” “God strives,” or “struggled with God” because Jacob struggled and strived with God and with humans and he prevailed in victory.  Then, Jacob asked the mysterious man for his name, but God blessed Jacob instead of giving His name. After receiving the divine blessing and new name, Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (Penuel), which means “Face of God,” for Jacob proclaimed he had seen God face to face, and the living God graciously spared and delivered his life. Then, the sun rose, and Jacob (Israel) walked with a limp on his hip, stopping Jacob’s proud self-sufficiency, natural strength, and self-reliance so Jacob (Israel) could rely only upon the living God by faith. The author of Genesis noted that the people of Israel do not eat the muscle (tendon) attached to the hip socket because God touched and dislocated the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle (tendon). Before Jacob struggled with God, Jacob was known and acted as a trickster, deceiver, and supplanter for grasping Esau’s heel at birth and also deceptively taking Esau’s birthright and their father Isaac’s blessings as the firstborn son. Jacob fled Canaan (Israel-Palestine) and went to Haran (Paddan Aram in Mesopotamia - the land of East) to run from his brother Esau and also to look for a wife. While away from Canaan, the Sovereign LORD God graciously blessed Jacob like Abraham and Isaac, and He multiplied Jacob with many possessions, servants, and wealth, as well as a large family, including a daughter named Dinah and many sons, which would later become known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Then, the Sovereign LORD God commanded Jacob to return to his father Isaac and the Promised Land of Canaan, and He promised to continue to be with Jacob, and Jacob obeyed God’s command. Jacob lived away from the Promised Land for twenty (20) years with his uncle Laban (his mother Rebekah’s brother) before returning to Canaan, and the holy angels of God were with Jacob as a ministering presence during his journeys. Eventually, Jacob returned to Bethel (Luz) in Canaan, where the Sovereign LORD God once again appeared to Jacob as before in Bethel, where God and His holy angels first met Jacob with Jacob’s vision of God and the stairway to heaven. Jacob (Israel) worshiped the Sovereign LORD God, and he commanded his household to have wholehearted allegiance and faithfulness to the Sovereign LORD God and no other idols. Then, the Sovereign LORD God appeared to Jacob and announced to Jacob that He is God Almighty (El Shaddai), and He promised to be with Jacob and bless Jacob with a family of kings and the land of Canaan like Abraham and Isaac, and He once again changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Notably, the Sovereign LORD God also blessed Ishmael and Esau (Edom) with a large family, possessions, wealth, and rulers (kings) as descendants of Father Abraham. The Messiah of God (Christ) who would bless the world would come through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and King David’s family line.