At first glance YHWH’s statement to Jacob in Genesis 32:28, that “you’ve wrestled with God and people and prevailed” sounds like a compliment, that Jacob has struggled and won, and that’s a good thing.
But the verse also includes his “struggle with people,” and up to that point Jacob’s dealings with people were anything but a good thing. He’d fought with Esau in the womb, grabbed Esau’s heel to try and prevent him being born first, conned Esau’s rights as the firstborn out of him (25:33), and connived with his mother Rebekah 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 (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 people” 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 Rebekah’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 both God and 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 too.
A wrestling match all night, therefore, suited Jacob’s personality perfectly, and so did his new name, because the Isra part of the name 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. So much for Jacob the wrestler being a good thing. Not when “Human conniving sickens God”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 