The life of Jacob is intensely colourful. We are looking at the highs-and-lows of these great men and Jacob is so very much a man we can empathise with as we watch his story unfold.
Wrestling – Front and centre in the story of Jacob is the ever present tension between the man of God and man of the world. Jacob has two sides – one which is desirous of God’s Will and the other which feels it necessary to work out his own plans. One is walking by faith the other is walking by sight. The struggle actually begins during Rebekah’s pregnancy and is realised again during birth when Jacob grasps the heal of his brother born just moments earlier. However, it is really played out in his life, with and without Esau:
- The ultimate deceit encouraged by his mother involved the theft of the blessing. Both Rebekah and Jacob have to be commended for their hearts were in the right place. But they went about it in the wrong way, (Gen 27).
- Next up, Jacob tries to define the terms of his relationship with God as part of the vow in Gen 28:20.
- Jacob takes Rachel’s lead in Gen 30:3 to force God’s hand in the matter of child bearing.
- Not content to leave things with God he follows-up his prayer for deliverance with a backup plan to appease Esau in Gen 32:13.
- God ultimately has Jacob face up to this tension by an apparent wrestle with God in Gen 32. Jacob is given a new name but comes away forever weakened to serve as a reminder of his need for dependance on God and not himself.
- Following his new designation of ‘Israel’ his two names seem to provide a metaphor of the wrestling man, sometimes the names are used interchangeably in the same verse (cf. Gen 46:2).
- The building of a house in Succoth (a departure from the practice of his fathers and not the place to which God had called him cf. Gen 31:13) followed by the erection of an altar, Gen 33:20.
It is not hard to see the negative implications of his wheeler-dealer nature and we do well to learn from his mistakes. Forcing Gods hand in particular sowed some pretty tough difficult circumstances which Jacob later reaped the hardships of. Deceiving Isaac led to estrangement in the heat of the drama and later surfaced when both Laban and Jacobs own sons deceived him.
What we can be encouraged by however, is the fact that he did ultimately desire God’s will. The wrestling was often an indication of this underlying fact. And so in our lives, wrestling day-by-day is usually a healthy sign owing to the indwelling of The Spirit and presence of the flesh.
Esau by contrast laid no store on the Birthright or his parents wishes for marriage. He thus forfeited inheritance of goods and position (cf. Deuteronomy 21:17) but also Patriarchal responsibility – ultimately the Messiah would come through the line of the birthright possessor. Jacob on the other hand was desirous of God’s provisions, His commandments, His will, His purpose and His promises. By intervening he complicated the means to the end but ultimately came into the good of all of these things by God’s good grace.
