Jacob Wrestle or Rest - which is it to be? Jacob is already in his nineties in Genesis 32:24 when out of the darkness a man grabs him and they re into a wrestling match that lasts all night. No matter how hard Jacob struggles he cannot throw the other man to the ground, but nor can he ease up the slightest bit either, because the other man is his equal. For hours and hours they wrestle, neither of them gaining advantage over the other. Exhausting though it must have been, Jacob refuses to give in. Even when the man damaged Jacob s hip Jacob still struggled on and refused to release his grip. And then, just as the sun was coming up, the man decided he d had enough and wanted Jacob to let him go. But Jacob wouldn t let him go, unless, he said to the man, you bless me, verse 26. Not, take note, OK, I ll let go if you let go in a bargain that benefitted both of them. That wasn t Jacob s style at all. When the man asked to be let go it gave Jacob the advantage at last and a chance to bargain to his own benefit, and he grabbed it, because that s what Jacob had always done. That was Jacob s style. Even before he was born Jacob was wrestling for advantage over his twin brother Esau, causing Rebecca his mother to wonder what on earth was going on inside her (Genesis 25:22-23). She soon found out, because when Esau was born first the little hand of Jacob had gripped his brother s heel as if to prevent Esau coming out, or to make sure they came out together, so that Esau wouldn t get the advantage of being the firstborn. And that s how Jacob got his name (Genesis 25:26). Jacob meant heel grabber, and it described Jacob s character to a tee. He caught Esau s heel to slow him down and impede his progress, as if he was consciously thinking he could race Esau down the birth canal and be the first one born instead. But that was Jacob, and in the custom of the day that initial show of his character sealed his name as a self- promoting heel grabber. His name alone, therefore, was a clear warning to anyone who had dealings with Jacob that here was a con artist supreme who d use whatever means he could to gain advantage for himself. And isn t he rightly named Jacob? Esau moaned in Genesis 27:36, because, unfortunately, Jacob had been living up to his name all too well.
But this, take note, is the character of the man who became the father of ISRAEL, as we find out back at the wrestling match in Genesis 32:28, because in answer to Jacob s demand for a blessing, the blessing he received was a change in his name from Jacob to Israel, and the reason given was because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome (or prevailed). At first glance it sounds like a compliment, that Jacob has wrestled with God and won, and that s a good thing. But the verse also includes his struggle with humans, and up to that point Jacob s dealings with people was anything but a good thing. He d fought with Esau in the womb, grabbed Esau s heel to prevent Esau being born first, conned Esau s rights as the firstborn out of him (25:33), and connived with Rebecca to get the blessing Esau should have got from Isaac, all of which had made Esau so angry he wanted to kill Jacob (27:41), and Jacob had to run for his life. And when Jacob s uncle, Laban, tricked him into marrying Leah and demanded seven years work out of Jacob for Rachel (Genesis 29:27), and cheated on Jacob s wages too (31:6-7, 41), Jacob prevailed again, using the years he worked for Laban to make himself extremely rich at Laban s expense (30:42-43). And that made Laban so angry at him, that Jacob had to run for his life again. So Jacob s struggle with humans in Genesis 32:28 was anything but a compliment. His struggle with God hadn t been any better either, because instead of simply trusting God s promise in Genesis 25:23 that the younger of Rebecca s twins would be the stronger, Jacob resorted to all kinds of devious shenanigans to make that promise happen, none of which were necessary. But that was Jacob; he depended on his wits and determination to get what he was after from God - and from people - and he always got his way (or prevailed as verse 28 says) eventually. But it always involved wrestling and a struggle of some sort, because that was Jacob. A wrestling match all night, therefore, suited Jacob s personality perfectly, and so did his new name, because the Isra part of Israel also hints at striving and struggling - and even fighting and contending according to my Hebrew Lexicon - a perfect reflection of Jacob s past dealings with God and people, and of the relationship between God and the nation of Israel in the future - as we ll see. The name Israel, therefore, not only reflected the character of the man, Jacob, it also pictured the character of the nation that would come from him. And it hinted of rocky times to come.
We see HOW rocky many years later when Jacob s wrestling match is mentioned again in Hosea 12, this time in connection with God having a charge to bring against Judah, verse 2, and God stating angrily that he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. Notice how God switches from Judah to Jacob to express his anger, which is revealing, because it shows there s still a lot of Jacob and HIS character firmly embedded in the character of the nation. And notice why Israel is being punished too; it s because of his ways and his deeds, which in verse 3 is referring to Jacob s old habits of grasping his brother s heel and struggling with God, and pursuing his own agenda by devious means. In Jacob becoming Israel, therefore, we have a major story developing in the Bible that s clearly designed by God to illustrate a problem - a problem so insidious and overpowering that eventually Jesus would die as the only way of curing it. And to show us what the problem is, God opens this play of all plays in Act 1 Scene 1 with a wrestling match at the River Jabbok, which also means Wrestle, and Jacob s name being changed to Israel, both names setting the scene and putting the props in place to prepare us for what is to come. One thousand years later, in Hosea 12, we see what happened, and it s not a pretty picture, because the chapter opens in verse 1 with Ephraim pursuing the east wind all day and multiplying lies and violence, because he makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olives to Egypt. Jacob s descendants are STILL wheeling and dealing to their own advantage, still trusting in their own wits to get what they re after, still lying and conniving and making others mad at them (including the mighty Assyria), and they re still trying to wrestle through their problems by devious means. And just like Jacob came out of his wrestling match with a permanent limp in Genesis 32:31-32, so did his descendants from the east wind they were pursuing, because in that region an east wind was also crippling and destructive. Jacob s ways and deeds, therefore, are still causing problems for Israel in Hosea 12, and now GOD S angry as well, verse 14. But instead of admitting the problem and trusting God to sort things out for them, Ephraim tries to win over Egypt as an ally with gifts of its famous olive oil, just like Jacob sent Esau a steady flow of gifts to win Esau over in Genesis 33:8. A thousand years after Jacob was alive, therefore, things haven t changed at all.
And how is all this meaningful for us? Well, jump ahead another 750 years of Israel s history to Stephen in Acts 6:8. Stephen was a man full of God s grace and power - the obvious proof of which was his great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. But in verses 9-10 he s up against members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen who want to argue with him, but they didn t stand a chance against his wisdom in the Spirit by which he spoke. So just like Jacob the Freedmen resorted to cunning. In verses 11-13 they secretly persuaded people to say Stephen was speaking blasphemy, stirred up the elders and teachers of the law and produced false witnesses to testify against him. And even though Stephen s face was like the face of an angel in court (verse 15) they still pursued their devious plot to get rid of him. In answer to the charges against him, Stephen tells the story of Israel in Acts Chapter 7 - how God stuck to his Covenant with Abraham in amazing ways, made Joseph ruler over Egypt, and did all sorts of wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert. Stephen also slips in a few home truths about Israel s rotten behaviour - how the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him as a slave into Egypt, and how our fathers refused to obey him when God sent Moses to rescue Israel out of Egypt, and how they made their own gods to lead them instead. God had been totally faithful to Israel, but Israel was always digging in its heels and opposing him, just like the Freedmen were now opposing Stephen, even when it was obvious that the Spirit was with him. So God tells it like it is through Stephen in Acts 7:51: You stiff- necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You are just like your fathers. How? You always resist the Holy Spirit, and that, in a nutshell, is the history of Israel. Every step of the way, from Jacob on, it s been a wrestling match with God. And now a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Stephen, is about to be stoned to death by members of a Jewish synagogue, with the approval of a top- ranking Jewish religious leader called Saul (8:1). So, what began with Jacob in Act 1 Scene 1 has grown tentacles over the centuries and created a monster like Saul, who could justify killing a man who was so obviously sent by God. But how was that possible? Well, according to the writer of Hebrews 3:12 it was Israel s unbelieving heart that did it; that s what turned them away from the living God and made them constantly resist him.
Unlike Abraham who simply believed the Lord (Genesis 15:6), Jacob s descendants relied instead on their own ways and means of solving their problems and getting what God had promised them. But look where it got them: Ephraim was multiplying lies and violence in Hosea 12, just like the Jewish synagogue was doing against Stephen in Acts 6, and in Acts 7 we ve got Saul condoning the murder of a godly man. Seventeen hundred years down the road from Jacob the Jews were a fearful, angry, confused mess. The writer of Hebrews then makes all this relevant to us today, because he also writes in Hebrews 3:12, See to it, brothers, that none of you go the same route as Israel. Clearly, then, God orchestrated this entire story of Israel and its endless wrestling match with him to show us ALL where it takes us. It takes us to the same place it took Israel, verse 11, where God declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest. It s at this point the curtain comes down for the intermission, because we ve heard all we need to hear about Israel. The picture is clear, that Israel has never stopped wrestling with God, and look where it got them. And as we leave for a break we re left hanging with the words: They never entered God s rest, which is obviously something really bad, but what does it mean? The curtain then rises again, to the words of Hebrews 4:1 that the promise of entering his rest still stands. Well, that s good to know, because if entering God s rest is still possible we can find out what it means, then, can t we? We also find out in verse 3 WHO gets to enter it too; it s those who have believed (or those who believe) who enter that rest. So, Act 2, Scene 1, opens with a promise, that God s rest can still be entered and experienced personally by those who believe. Belief is the key. Belief in what, though? It is the belief, verse 4, that on the seventh day God rested from all his work, because, verse 10, anyone who enters God s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. To enter God s rest it involves resting like God rested on the seventh day of creation, in clear contrast to wrestling, which kept Israel out of God s rest. The second part of the play is making it very clear, then, that Israel s mistake was wrestling, not resting. And how sad and pitiful that is, because God had Israel resting every week on the Sabbath Day to get that point across, but even after experiencing thousands of Sabbath Day rests they still didn t get it.
Fortunately, Hebrews 4:9, There remains a Sabbath- rest for the people of God, so the opportunity is still open for US to get it. So back we go into Israel s history to find out what their Sabbath- rest was for, which God made very clear in Exodus 31:13. You must observe my Sabbaths, he told Israel, because This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy. Every time an Israelite rested on the Sabbath Day it pictured GOD doing all the work of making him holy. But instead of trusting God to make them holy, the Israelites did a Jacob and sought to establish their own righteousness by their own means and effort (Romans 10:3). We learn from the story of Israel, then, that keeping the Sabbath- rest - by trusting GOD to fulfill his purpose for us - isn t easy, and the writer of Hebrews 4:11 echoes that when he writes, Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest. So that s where the Christian struggle lies: It s in making every effort to put one s entire life in trust to God, rather than taking things into our own hands - like Jacob did. And it s a struggle all right, because situations keep cropping up that tempt us to do a Jacob - even when we know God is always here to help us (Philippians 4:13, 19). It wasn t easy for Jacob later in his life either, because even after he realized he d actually seen God face to face in his wrestling match (Genesis 32:30), he still got anxious fourteen chapters later in Genesis 46:3 when faced with uprooting his entire family of 70 people and heading off to Egypt. But God promised to be with him, verse 4, and this time Jacob trusted him. But even though God promises to be with us, it can still be a real struggle believing it. It was a struggle for much of Jacob s life too, just as it was for Ephraim in Hosea 12, and for the entire nation of Israel all through its history. They all resorted to prevailing with God and man by their own ways and means, rather than trusting God to sort things out. They preferred wrestling to resting. According to the writer of Hebrews, though, there s only one wrestling match we re involved in, and that s the one in our own heads. When we make every effort to enter God s rest, it s by steeling our minds to trust our great high priest to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). When tempted to take things into our own hands in scary situations, or in our upsets with people, or being anxious about anything, we simply don t let our minds go there. Why not? - because the story of Jacob and Israel was written for our sakes too, and the choice is still the same: Wrestle or rest - which is to be?