Jacob Wrestles

“But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’” — Genesis 32:26

Jacob lived with his uncle Laban for twenty years. He married two sisters, Leah and Rachel, and had a big family of eleven sons and a daughter. He had huge flocks of sheep and goats. But at last God told him, “Go back home to the land of your fathers, and I will be with you.”

So Jacob set off for home with his whole family and all his animals. But there was one big problem. Esau.

Jacob sent messengers ahead to tell Esau he was coming. They came back with frightening news. “Your brother Esau is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him!”

Jacob was terrified. Was Esau still angry? Was he coming to attack?

Jacob did what he should have done long ago. He prayed. “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac,” he said, “I am not worthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown me. When I crossed this river years ago, I had only a walking stick. Now I have two whole camps of people and animals. Please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid. But you promised to be good to me.”

Then Jacob sent hundreds of goats and sheep, camels and cows and donkeys ahead as presents for Esau. That night he sent his family safely across the stream, and he was left alone.

And in the dark, a man came and wrestled with him. They wrestled all night long, rolling in the dust, until the sky began to grow light. The man could not win, so he touched Jacob’s hip, and it was wrenched out of joint. It must have hurt badly. But Jacob still held on.

“Let me go,” said the man, “for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he answered. Jacob, the one who grabs. The trickster.

“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” said the man, “but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with people, and you have won.” And he blessed Jacob there.

Jacob realised who he had been wrestling with. “I have seen God face to face,” he said, “and yet my life was spared!” As the sun rose, Jacob limped on his way.

Then he looked up and saw Esau coming, with his four hundred men. Jacob went ahead of his family, bowing down to the ground seven times as he came near his brother.

But Esau ran to meet him. He threw his arms around Jacob’s neck and kissed him. And they both cried.

After all those years, God had changed Jacob, and God had softened Esau’s heart. The brothers were friends again.

Read it in your Bible: Genesis 32–33

Dear God, thank you that I can hold on to you when I am afraid. Please help me to make up with people I have hurt, and help them to forgive me. Amen.