Genesis

THE one absorbing thought with Jacob was his meeting with Esau. It never seems to have occurred to him that there was a far greater need-a meeting with God. Still less did he imagine that there could be any connection between the two meetings, that his meeting with God would prove the best preparation for meeting his brother. These two thoughts sum up the story before us: Jacob must meet God before he meets Esau, and the one meeting will be the only and sufficient way of preparing for the other. We are thus able to understand what a spiritual crisis this was to Jacob, and we can also perceive, what Jacob did not, how lovingly God provided for this by the embassy of the angels (Gen 32:1). More than this, we can see in the story an illustration of God’s dealings with His children today. Are we faced with some difficult problem? Are we opposed by some apparently insuperable obstacle? Are we at our wit’s end in view of some terrible need? Let us learn from the story of Jacob to put God first, and thereby to discover the secret of all real spiritual power and blessing. The story brings before us a striking contrast of the human and the Divine, and reveals the way in which the human is met, dealt with, overcome, and blessed by the Divine. Step by step as the narrative is unfolded we observe this contrast between nature and grace, between man and God, between self-effort and Divine power.

Jacob had sent all his family, household, and possessions over the ford Jabbok. But for some reason or other he remained that night on the opposite bank; he was "left alone." Why was this? He was clearly conscious that a great crisis had come in his life. Anything might happen on the next morning when Esau and his four hundred men arrived. He had planned and prayed, prayed and planned, and now there was nothing more for him to do. Inaction was the most difficult of all things for so resourceful and energetic a nature. For Jacob to wait, instead of to work, was the greatest of all efforts. And yet there he was, in the darkness of the night, alone, with all the events of the past day clear before him, with all the awful possibilities of the coming day well in view. Why, then, was he alone? Is there any spiritual meaning in it? Was there a spiritual need expressed by this sending over all his household and himself remaining outside the promised land? Was ‘there any idea of the blessing of solitude as "the mother-country of the strong?" It is difficult to say, but the probability is that this solitude was merely for the purpose of taking every possible precaution. He had arranged his present to "appease" his brother, he had sent over the ford all that was nearest and most precious to him, and now he remains alone on guard, ready for any emergency, or any attack under cover of the night. Alert as ever, he will leave nothing to chance; he will not even sleep.

Suddenly he is conscious of an assailant. A man wrestles with him. At once, the courageous, resourceful Jacob closes with this opponent. It would seem as though Jacob regarded him as an emissary of Esau who had come to bar his way to the promised land. As such he is to be resisted and opposed with all possible strength. The struggle went on until daybreak, and all the while it was not Esau or any of his men. Let us mark carefully the description: "There wrestled a man with him." It is sometimes read as though Jacob wrestled with the man, and from it is derived the lesson of prevailing- prayer. But this is to mistake altogether the point of the story. "There wrestled a man with him." The wrestling was an endeavor on God’s part to break down Jacob’s opposition, to bring him to an end of himself, to take from him all self-trust, all confidence in his own cleverness and resource, to make him know that Esau is to be overcome and Canaan obtained not by craft or flattery, but by Divine grace and power. There is no lesson at all on prevailing prayer. Far from it; quite the opposite. The self-life in Jacob is to be overcome, the old nature is to be conquered, the planning is to be rendered futile, and the resourcefulness made impotent. Instead of gaining Canaan by cleverness he must receive it as a gift from God. Instead of winning he must accept it from Divine grace.

Was this a literal physical struggle? Most assuredly it was. The outcome shows this very clearly (Gen 32:25; Gen 32:31-32). And yet the physical aspect is subservient to the spiritual, the bodily weakness was to be a symbol of the spiritual need of the man.

In the darkness of the night Jacob did not realize who and what his assailant was. And so he put forth all his resources of bodily vigor. Keyed up by the stirring events of the preceding day, and remembering that all his precious possessions were involved, to say nothing of his own life, he resisted this powerful opponent, and the struggle remained in the balance hour after hour. His pertinacity was marvelous! Here was no coward, no poltroon, but a man of unbounded energy, ready to fight for his own to the last.

How like he is to many of us today! We do not realize that all these untoward circumstances, these perplexities, these sorrows, are part of the Divine discipline, and intended to bring us to the end of ourselves. And so we struggle, and strive, and fight, and resist, and all to no purpose. God had been trying to get Jacob to trust Him all these years. He met him at Bethel with vision and promises, and yet how poor was the response (Ge 28). He met him again during those years in Haran, using disappointment (Ge 29), trouble (Ge 30), and opposition (Ge 31.) to lead to trust, but to little or no effect. And then came the angelic host (Gen 32:1 ff) ; but its effect was only transient, the self-effort was soon in the ascendant again. And now comes the crowning attempt to break down this man’s self-confidence and lead him to lean, to trust, to wait on his covenant God. But he will not, he cannot; he must oppose, he must resist, he must act for himself. He might pray, and pray earnestly, but he must also act; and act he did, though the net result was only to thwart and delay the Divine purpose concerning him. So it is often with us; we refuse to trust God, to put Him first, in spite of all the assurance of His love and the revelation of His grace through many a long year. But God did not leave Jacob, and He does not leave us.

At last Jacob was made to realize the true state of affairs. So outstanding was the human opposition that nothing short of a special manifestation of Divine power would suffice to break it down. God could have done this earlier in the struggle, but He would not, for He wanted Jacob’s willing surrender. Yet at length, as He could not obtain this, there was nothing else to be done but to deal with him in severity, and by an assertion of Divine power to bring this masterful man to an end of himself. God wished Jacob to realize that only by Divine grace he could meet Esau and enter Canaan; that he could not overcome by guile and enter by cleverness; that only by mercy, grace, and favor could his difficulties be met and his way prospered. And so "He touched the hollow of his thigh," took away the very power required for wrestling, brought him by one swift blow to the very end of his resources, and left him utterly powerless. Thus Divine love dealt with him in mercy and taught him, albeit in severity, the one lesson he needed most to learn.

Here again we see ourselves and God’s dealing with us. God must bring us to Himself, and He can only do this by bringing us to an end of ourselves. And because of our senseless resistance and dull inability to see His fatherly hand in discipline, he has to touch our natural powers and resources, and reduce us to impotence before He can teach us the needed lesson and bestow the needed grace. And yet His "touch" is always one of love, of wisdom, of mercy, if only we would see it.

As the dawn came on, Jacob recognized the mysterious assailant. No longer able to wrestle, he began to cling. Instead of opposition came tenacity, and Jacob proved himself to possess the latter as fully as the former. Disabled at the very point of strength for wrestling, Jacob could do nothing but cling. From cunning to clinging, from resisting to resting-this was the literal and symbolical experience of the crafty but now conquered Jacob. His words, ‘I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me," are clear evidence of the change in him. He is conscious at last of the futility of all his efforts to appease Esau and overcome his animosity, and now he clings to God and seeks for blessing. At last he is in the right position, but at what cost! If only he had learnt the lesson sooner, how much trouble and anxiety he would have been spared! No fears of Esau, no need of planning to appease him, no concern for his wives and children, nothing but rest of heart in the love of God. Ah! if only he had learnt the lesson of Bethel, and the lesson of Haran, and the lesson of Mahanaim! But now it is learnt, and God is better to him than all his fears. What he struggled for, he lost; what he trusted for, he gained. So it is always. It is always worth while to trust God and put Him first.

"Except Thou bless me" was Jacob’s desire (Gen 32:26). "And He blessed him there" was the Divine answer (Gen 32:29). But what was included in that Divine blessing? Very much that concerned Jacob’s life and experience.

A new character was to be his. He is asked his name, and is compelled to call himself Jacob, "Supplanter." But this is to be changed to "Israel," "God’s Prince" or "God’s Perseverer" (Driver - The Book of Genesis) ; the one who is no longer the crafty one, but he who is worthy to prevail, to lead, to rule, to overcome.

A new power was also to be his. He had experienced power with God by clinging. He is now to have power with man by reason of having power with God. (Cf. Hos 12:3-4.) When God is put first, power with man naturally and necessarily follows. The gloss of the Septuagint and the Vulgate seems to give the true idea of the verse: "Thou hast had power with God; much more shalt thou prevail with men." The one is the guarantee of the other.

A new experience was also to be his. The Divine Angel could ask Jacob’s name (Gen 32:27), but Jacob was not allowed to know the Angel’s (Gen 32:29; cf. Jdg 13:17). There seems little doubt that this was a Divine manifestation, not the visit of a created angel. (Cf. Gen 18:1-2; Gen 18:16; Gen 18:22.) But if Jacob might not know His name, he could experience His blessing, for "He blessed him there."

As on previous occasions, Jacob again raised his "Ebenezer," and made a memorial of the experience which had been vouchsafed to him. He called the name of the place "Peniel," God’s Face, in token of that wonderful bestowal of God’s favor and of the preservation of his life (Exo 33:20; Deu 4:33; Jdg 6:22 f. and Jdg 13:22). He realized, in some measure at least, what it meant. God had met him, taught him, blessed him; and now he could meet Esau without fear, and face any emergency, in the strength of that glorious vision.

"The sun rose upon him." There was sunshine within as well. The sun seemed brighter than ever that morning, and the very face of nature seemed changed by reason of that vision of the face of God. The sun of God’s glory was reflected on Jacob’s face too, and though he had to bear the marks of that contest (Gen 32:31), and though there was to be a perpetual record of it in the days to come (Gen 32:32), yet it had all been worth while, for the grace of God had overcome the self-effort of man, the fear of God had displaced the fear of man, the power of God had given assurances as to the power of man. Jacob was now a monument of Divine grace, and was intended henceforth to live to the Divine glory. Thus God justified and vindicated Himself in the life of His unworthy servant, "to the praise of the glory of His grace." Thus God’s loving sympathy, marvelous patience, and perfect wisdom shone forth in His dealings with Jacob; grace was glorified, and God Himself magnified.

(For a summary of the true meaning of this episode, see the suggestive note in Driver’s Genesis, p. 296 The Book of Genesis with introduction and notes.)

Peniel was a noteworthy landmark in Jacob’s spiritual history. It was the third occasion and culminating point of a special Divine revelation. The first was Bethel, where "the House of God" reminded and assured him of the Divine Presence. The second was Mahanaim, where the "Host of God" taught him the Divine Power. The third was Peniel, where he was led beyond the ideas of God’s presence and power to that of Divine Favor and Fellowship. The "Face" of God is used constantly in Scripture as a symbol of favor, friendship, fellowship (Exo 33:11; Exo 33:20; Deu 34:10), and in the believer’s life fellowship is the highest of our spiritual privileges (1Jn 1:3). God desired and purposed to bring Jacob into this position of blessedness and power; and all the Divine dealings, from Bethel onwards, were intended to lead up to this. So it is now; everything that God has for us is expressed in terms of union and communion of which the New Testament is so full. What, then, will this fellowship accomplish?

1. The "Face of God" is the place of transformation of character.

Fellowship with God changes Jacobs to Israels. "Behold . . . we are being changed." From this time onward there was a very distinct change in Jacob; and although the old nature was still there, Peniel had its effect and exercised transforming influence. There is nothing like fellowship with God to change and transfigure our nature.

2. The "Face of God" is the place of power for daily life.

Like Jacob, we have to meet our Esaus and we are afraid. We strive, plan, struggle, and all to no purpose. But we see God’s Face, and all is changed. Power with man comes from power with God. We have, it may be, a crisis today; but first of all we pray, and the victory is gained. We wonder who will roll away the stone, but find that it is already gone. Fellowship with God gives insight and foresight, peace and patience, calm and courage in every emergency, and enables us to become "more than conquerors" over every foe. Just as power with God came by surrender, so also will power with men come by willing self-sacrifice on their behalf. Self is the greatest foe to blessing from God or influence with men.

3. The "Face of God" is the place of spiritual blessing.

In the presence of God it is impossible to use carnal weapons. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." When Jacob came to an end of struggling and commenced clinging, the blessing quickly came. Jacob hitherto had no idea of a blessing obtained by passive receptiveness. But in the life of a true believer God’s best gifts come that way. Gain comes by loss, gathering by scattering. So it must be always. Fellowship with God dispenses with subterfuges, natural craft, and clever resourcefulness. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Blessing must be obtained in the right way or not at all. The supreme need of man is the grace of God, and this is not only independent of, but opposed to all that is merely earthly and human. Just as salvation is of God by grace, so is every spiritual blessing derived in the same way. Whether we think of the individual believer or the community of God’s people, all grace comes through fellowship with God. Not by unworthy expedients, not by mere human effort, not by natural energy, but in union and communion with God all grace and blessing become ours. We must see the Face of God.