“Your name shall no more be Jacob only, but Israel also shall be your name. Since you have been enabled to prevail with God, therefore with men you shall be mighty.” Genesis 32:28 Septuagint “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life.” Genesis 47:9

WHAT WOULD MAKE JACOB SPEAK ABOUT HMSELF LIKE THAT? AND WHAT WOULD INSPIRE GOD TO GIVE JACOB THE NAME ISRAEL? IT TAKES THE WHOLE LIFE OF JACOB TO ANSWER SUCH QUESTIONS.

THE SEPTUAGINT TRANSLATION SHEDS LIGHT ON THE CONTRADICTIONS FOUND IN THE LIFE OF JACOB. “YOUR NAME SHALL NO MORE BE JACOB ONLY, BUT ISRAEL ALSO SHALL BE YOUR NAME.”

THE CHRISTIAN, WHO PROFESSES TO HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN, OR BORN FROM ABOVE, SHOULD UNDERSTAND SUCH A PARADOX IN THE LIFE OF JACOB. THERE IS THE OLD NATURE INHERITED FROM OUR PARENTS, TOGETHER WITH THE NEW NATURE RECEIVED THROUGH THE HOLY HUMANITY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THEY BATTLE ONE ANOTHER UNTIL ONE OR THE OTHER PREVAILS.

WHAT A LIFE JACOB LIVED. HERE ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS. HE CAME OUT OF THE WOMB GRABBING HIS BROTHER’S HEEL. HE GOT HIS ELDER BROTHER’S BIRTHRIGHT BY TEMPTING ESAU AT AN OPPORTUNE TIME. HE OBTAINED THE BLESSING OF THE ELDER BY DECEIVING HIS AGED FATHER. THEN HAVING TO RUN FOR HIS LIFE FROM HIS BROTHER, GOD GIVES HIM A HEAVENLY VISION IN A DREAM, AND WITH IT MANY AND GREAT PROMISES. JACOB THEN PROCEEDS TO BARGAIN WITH GOD – IF YOU DO THIS FOR ME, I WILL DO THIS FOR YOU.

SO JACOB ESCAPES TO HIS MOTHER’S FAMILY WHERE HE WORKS FOR HER BROTHER LABAN FOR TWENTY YEARS. THOSE YEARS FORCE JACOB TO FACE HIS OWN NATURE FOUND IN HIS MOTHER’S BROTHER. THROUGH IT ALL, GOD BLESSES JACOB, YET AT THE SAME TIME, JACOB SCHEMES FOR THE BLESSINGS.

ONCE JACOB IS FREE OF HIS UNCLE LABAN, AND RETURNS TO HIS FATHERS’ LAND WITH GREAT WEALTH, HIS BELOVED WIFE RACHEL DIES. RACHEL’S FIRSTBORN, JOSEPH, IS JACOB’S TREASURE. MOST OF US KNOW THE STORY OF HOW JOSEPH’S HALF BROTHERS SOLD HIM INTO EGYPT. THUS JACOB LIVED ON MANY YEARS WITHOUT HIS RACHEL OR THEIR SON JOSEPH, BELIEVING THE STORY TOLD TO HIM BY HIS SONS, THAT JOSEPH HAD BEEN SLAIN BY A WILD ANIMAL. WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS THOUGHTS ALL THOSE YEARS. HE CERTAINLY HAD PLENTY OF TIME, THROUGH THE DEPTH OF HIS SUFFERING, TO TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT HIS LIFE.

THEN IN HIS OLD AGE, HE FINDS HIS SON JOSEPH LIVING AND GREATLY BLESSED IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. JOSEPH TAKES HIS FATHER INTO PHARAOH’S PRESENCE AND JACOB BLESSES PHARAOH. PHARAOH ASKED JACOB HOW OLD HE WAS, AND JACOB ANSWERED, “FEW AND EVIL HAVE BEEN THE DAYS OF THE YEARS OF MY LIFE.” WHAT A STATEMENT COMING FROM A MAN WHO WAS SO GREAT! IT REMINDS ME OF JOB’S CONFESSION, “I HAD HEARD OF YOU BY THE HEARING OF THE EAR, BUT NOW MY EYE HAS SEEN YOU. THEREFORE I DESPISE MYSELF, AND I REPENT IN DUST AND ASHES!” Job 42:5-6

NOTHING CAN BRING ONE TO TRUE REPENTANCE BUT A TRUE VISION OF GOD.

JACOB’S WORDS TO PHARAOH WERE TRUE. YET GOD HAD GIVEN HIM THE NAME ISRAEL WHICH MEANS TO PREVAIL WITH GOD. THAT PASSAGE IN GENESIS 32 OF JACOB’S WRESTLING WITH GOD IS ONE OF THE GREATEST AND MOST MYSTERIOUS PASSAGES IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES. IT OCCURRED AT A TIME WHEN JACOB HAD COME TO THE END OF HIMSELF. HE HAD FINALLY ESCAPED FROM HIS UNCLE LABAN, AND NOW HIS BROTHER ESAU WAS RUSHING TO MEAT HIM WITH 400 MEN. JACOB FEARED FOR HIS OWN LIFE AND THE LIVES OF HIS FAMILY. HE PLANNED, FIGURED AND ORGANIZED HIS FAMILY AND POSSESSIONS TO PREPARE FOR THAT DREADED MEETING WITH HIS BROTHER WHOM HE HAD SO WRONGED. HE HAD EXHAUSTED HIS OWN RESOURCES. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE HE COULD DO.

AFTER ALL HIS FAMILY AND POSSESSIONS HAD CROSSED OVER THE FORD OF THE JABBOK, JACOB FINDS HIMSELF ALONE. IT WAS THEN THAT A MAN WRESTLED WITH JACOB, A MAN WHO IS GOD! DON’T TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED THERE. WE ARE BEHOLDING THE MYSTERY OF WHAT GOES ON BETWEEN A PERSON AND ALMIGHTY GOD. BUT A FEW QUESTIONS MAY SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS WONDERFUL EVENT.

IF THE MAN IS ALMIGHTY GOD, WHY DOES HE SAY LET ME GO? WHY IS JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE MAN? CAN’T ALMIGHTY GOD GET LOOSE FROM JACOB? OBVIOUSLY NOT, BUT WHY NOT? JACOB ACTUALLY HAS A HOLD ON GOD, AND GOD DOESN’T WANT TO GET AWAY! LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF JACOB, “I WILL NOT LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU BLESS ME.” WHAT DOES GOD DO NEXT? HE ASKS JACOB HIS NAME. IT MAKES ME THINK OF JESUS ASKING THE WOMAN AT THE WELL TO GO CALL HER HUSBAND.

LOOK UP THE MEANING OF THE NAME JACOB. HEEL IS PART OF ITS MEANING. WHEN WE ENCOUNTER GOD, WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE WHO WE ARE. CAN YOU IMAGINE JACOB SAYING HIS NAME TO ALMIGHTY GOD?! WITH THAT, GOD GIVES JACOB A NAME – ISRAEL! THE MEANING OF THE NAME ISRAEL IS ONE WHO PREVAILS WITH GOD! NOTE THE SEPTUAGINT’S TRANSLATION, “YOU HAVE BEEN ENABLED TO PREVAIL WITH GOD.”

THEN JACOB ASKED THE MAN HIS NAME. GOD ANSWERED WITH A QUESTION, “WHY DO YOU ASK MY NAME?” THE ONLY WAY WE CAN LEARN GOD’S NAME IS BY GETTING TO KNOW HIM. WITH THAT, GOD BLESSED JACOB RIGHT THERE. AS JACOB WALKED AWAY LIMPING, THE SUN WAS RISING. HE CALLED THAT PLACE “THE FACE OF GOD,” SAYING, “I HAVE SEEN GOD FACE TO FACE AND MY LIFE IS PRESERVED.”

IN SPITE OF ALL THAT JACOB WAS, HIS GRASPING COVETOUS NATURE PRIZED THE HEAVENLY. THIS IS WHAT REALLY MATTERS. FROM THE WOMB, HE WAS GRASPING. FINALLY, HE GRASPED HOLD OF GOD HIMSELF.

CHRISTIAN SCHOLARS CALL WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT THE FORD OF THE JABBOK A THEOPHANY, A PRE-INCARNATE APPEARANCE OF THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD. “THE TRUE LIGHT, WHO GIVES LIGHT TO EVERYONE, WAS COMING INTO THE WORLD.” John 1:9 GOD’S COMING BEGAN IN THE COUNCILS OF HIS ETERNAL BEING BEFORE CREATION. Proverbs 8 THEN IN THE RIGHT TIME, A BABY BOY WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM OF JUDEA.

THE ONE JACOB GRABBED IS NOW ACCESSIBLE TO ALL. NOT EVEN DEATH COULD SEPARATE HIM FROM US. THE APOSTLE JOHN WRITES, “THIS IS WHAT WE PROCLAIM TO YOU, WHAT WAS FROM THE BEGINNING, WHAT WE HAVE HEARD, WHAT WE HAVE SEEN WITH OUR EYES, WHAT WE HAVE LOOKED AT AND OUR HANDS HAVE TOUCHED, CONCERNING THE WORD OF LIFE….THE ETERNAL LIFE THAT WAS WITH THE FATHER AND WAS REVEALED TO US.” 1 John 1:1-3

AT THE END OF HIS LIFE, JACOB BLESSES HIS SONS, AT WHICH TIME HE EXCLAIMS, “I WAIT FOR YOUR SALVATION O LORD.” HE IS STILL JACOB, BUT HE IS ALSO ISRAEL, AND IN THAT NEW NAME GIVEN TO HIM, DIRECTLY FROM GOD, THERE IS BLESSING AND HOPE AND LIFE.

Rosemary E Hyslop

November 12, 2020