May 10, 2018 - Day 32 - Genesis 32

I am writing from my hotel room in Koloa, HI; on the island of Kauai.

Genesis 32:

THE SHOWDOWN.

Jacob sends his messengers to Esau, letting him know he brought livestock and slaves, and asking for favor.  Many years have passed since Jacob fled, so maybe Esau doesn’t want to kill him anymore?  We are about to find out!

The messengers return to tell Jacob that Esau is on his way, with four hundred men in tow.

Jacob is scared so he splits his crew in two.  If one gets ambushed, the other can bolt.

Jacob reminds himself that God told him to go to the land of his ancestors, and asks for protection.

Jacob stays the night and gets a gift ready for Esau, basically just a shit load of animals.

He tells the servants to go ahead of him and when confronted by Esau, to say that they are gifts from Jacob and that Jacob will be behind them.  He thinks to himself that the gifts will pacify Esau so that Esau will receive Jacob.  Will it work?

Jacob sends all of his stuff across the river and then a random man decides to wrestle with him all night.  I didn’t see that one coming.  This man sees he can’t overpower Jacob after hours of wrestling and touches his hip and asks Jacob to let him go.  What a bizarre scene.  Jacob says he won’t let this man go unless the man blesses him.

He asks Jacob his name, and then this man renames him Israel, because he has struggled with God and with humans and has overcome.  For the record, ‘Israel’ likely means “he struggles with God.”


Jacob (or shall we call him Israel now?) asks the man his name, the man wants to know why, and blesses him.  HMM.  Who is this mysterious man??

Jacob decides to call this place Peniel and says, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."  Peniel means 'face of god.'

So the sun rises because the WWE match resulted in a dislocated hip or something, probably an RKO outta nowhere gone wrong.  We close with a reminder that Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because thats where Jacob was touched.

OKAY WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED.

Reeeeeecap:

Jacob is gonna give Esau a bunch of stuff so he doesn't die, asks God for some help, so God appears in the form of a man, wrestles him all night, dislocates his hip, then blesses him.

Meaning?

If God calls you to something, don't expect it to be easy; and expect to wrestle with God somewhere along the way.

What do you think?




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