Jacob-Part 1: Runaway Wrestler

I am facinated by the story in Genesis 32:22-32 about Jacob wrestling some unknown stranger in the middle of the night that is divine, yet will not reveal his identity, and even more bizarre, loses. This text was the theme of my paper for my grad class, which proved to be a bit difficult because it is so mysterious. But for the long and short (not much short really) of it, here is what I get from the story.

Jacob is a deciever, a wrestler, and a runner. The Bible does proclaim him as faithful, but it also doesn't hide his flaws, and it seems he had more than most. What an odd choice for a patriach.

Jacob's life started with wrestling. He wrestled Esau in the womb, and figuratively wrestled with him for family affection it seems. Esau was the braun, and Jacob the brains. Jacob's name basically means "deceiver" and he lived up to it. His was a life of deception and swindling to get what he could get. He caught Esau in a weak moment and got the birthright. He, with the help of his mother, stole Esau's blessing. And then when Esau was so mad he was going to kill him, Jacob ran. Jacob was a deceiver and a runner. He would work to get everything he could out of a situation and then when things got hot he was gone. Jacob would make an outstanding criminal.

Jacob ended up at his relative Laban's house. He sees Rachel and is taken by her. He can have her if he works seven years for Laban. What comes around goes around. He ends up with Leah. The trickster has gotten tricked. Seven more years and Rachel is his. But Jacob still had some things up his sleeve. He figured out some sort of genetic engineering and increases his wealth. Eventually he realizes that Laban is fed up with the blessings coming to Jacob, so he runs. And Rachel has learned a thing or two from her husband, because unbeknownst to both of them, she smuggles some idols and goods out of there. Laban comes after them, and only does no harm to Jacob because God told him not to. One big happy dysfunctional family.

Now Jacob has no where to go, and he decides to head back home. This scares him out of his mind. He has no idea how Esau will react. He is afraid. Run enough and you stop finding places to run to. Jacob sends messengers and goods ahead as a gift. He wants to appease his brother. Then he gets the news that Esau is headed his direction with many of his men. Jacob is preparing for a possible fight. He leaves his family and belongings to go be alone, and he finds his fight.

It happens suddenly. Jacob was alone and the Jabbock, and then he is wrestling till daybreak. He is locked in the battle that he has so long run from, and he is winning. There are several theories as to who he fights. This is a unique story, for the whole identity of the wrestler is kept in mystery. An early Jewish tradition has him fighting Esau's guardian angel. Augustine believes it is an early appearance of Jesus. Some believe Jacob is basically fighting some form of himself. All Scripture indicates is that this is an angel or God himself. Hosea 12:3-4 don't make the picture any clearer. In all the other cases where there is an angel sighting in Scripture, the angels are identified in some way. But this is the exception. Jacob is wrestling somebody divine. He is winning. He doesn't know who he is wrestling. With a gentle touch his hip is knocked out of place. He keeps wrestling, holding on for dear life. He wins. He doesn't let go.

For the first time in Jacob's life he is not running. He is hanging on to his adversary with everything he has. He is not running away. "Let me go!" says his adversary. "I will not let you go until you bless me," Jacob responds. Up to this point Jacob has manipulated his blessings. Now he asks for it directly. Jacob is out of character in this fight. Except out of all the running Jacob did, he never ran from God. He held onto the Lord with everything that he had. He is realizing who he is fighting. The wrestler asks Jacob for his name. Jacob must now confess his life. He must respond with, "I'm the Deciever." Jacob has to face everything that he has done, all the tricks he has pulled, and the deceit he has hidden behind. "You shall now be called Israel, for you have struggled with God and with man and have overcome." Jacob has a new name. He is no longer the deceiver, he is the overcomer. He now longer has to manipulate his way to get what he wants. He will overcome the struggle. Then he asks for the wrestlers name, but he doesn't get the answer. It dawns on him who he has been fighting. He has been wrestling with the Lord and he has been blessed. He has a whole new identity. And it changes Jacob's life forever…kinda.

Now he meets Esau, and to help appease the potential anger, he gets more gifts ready. And being the brave man that Jacob is, he puts all his wives and children up front and he hangs out at the back. If anything goes wrong, he has more of a chance to run and get out of there, only now he is trying to do this on an injured hip. But Esau is thrilled to see Jacob. They have both been blessed tremendously. Jacob blesses Esau with gifts, which completes the parallelism of the previous battle which is used as support for the guardian angel theory, and that Esau's face "looked like an angel (vs. 9 or 10). Then Esau wants Jacob to join him on a journey, but Jacob is up to his old tricks. He tells Esau he'll join him, but stays behind and goes elsewhere, which is the last lie that Scripture tells us Jacob told.

After this, Jacob is the one who gets played by his own sons, pretending that Joseph is killed. I wonder where they learned to play this game?