Genesis 32:2424 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. (ESV)
Shannon and I were recently reading through Genesis 32, and I was struck by the sheer poetry of this verse. I don’t mean poetry in the same sense as the Psalms; rather, poetry in the sense of powerful imagery and skillful use of the language.
I don’t remember when I first encountered the story of this pivotal incident in Jacob’s life, but it was probably in some Bible storybook when I was very young. By the time we read this verse today, we know what is coming – the “man” he struggles with turns out to be God Himself. But imagine someone reading Moses’ words for the first time, and not knowing where the story was going… The obvious question becomes, “If Jacob was left alone, who was this man? Where did he come from?”
The drama is only heightened when, in the very next verse, after being matched evenly all night long, the man disables Jacob with a mere touch of his hip joint. Even then, Jacob holds fast, insisting that this man bless him. Why? Jacob surely recognized that this was a man of great strength and power. Just how strong and powerful, he did not yet know.
Jacob doesn’t recognize the stranger until, I believe, verse 28, when the man tells him “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Genesis 32:3030 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (ESV)