Genesis 32 - Jacob Fears Esau, Jacob Wrestles with God

Jacob's gifts for Esau, 3 herds https://www.casualenglishbible.com/genesis-32/

Wrestling all night by the river (Jabbok River) https://www.casualenglishbible.com/genesis-32/

Summary https://marksbiblejourney.blogspot.com/2019/10/genesis.html
"After leaving Laban, God's angels meet him at Mahanaim.  Jacob sends out messengers to meet Esau in the land of Seir.  Esau along with his party of 400 men decide to meet Jacob.  Jacob is afraid that Esau is going to attack his camp with good reason.  Jacob divides his camp into two camps, so that one camp can escape if Esau decides to attack the other.  Jacob prays to the Lord to rescue him from the hand of his brother Esau.  Jacob decides to make a peace offering with Esau by giving him many of the cattle and animals he has brought with him on the journey from Haran.  This peace offering is to go ahead of Jacob, so that Esau will know Jacob's apologetic intentions.  Hopefully Esau will forgive his brother Jacob.

At some point in time during the night, Jacob is alone.  He ends up wrestling with an Angel of God/man.  The Angel can not defeat Jacob, so he strikes Jacob in the hip and dislocates his hip socket.  Jacob will still not let the Angel go until he has been blessed by God.  The Angel changes Jacobs name to Israel, and He blesses him.  Jacob renames this place Peniel or Face of God."

Reading from the Amplified Bible (AMP) version..

• "Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him]. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim (double camps)." v.1-2

• "The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps; and he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape.” v.6-8

• "Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With only my staff [long ago] I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become [blessed and increased into these] two groups [of people]. Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. And You [Lord] said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’” v.9-12

• "Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired.. He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds.” “I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me.” v.13, 16, 20

• "So Jacob was left alone, and a Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak. When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” v.24-28

My personal observations and reflections...

 According to the resources I read, Jacob must be around 92-97 y/o here.

• JOURNEY TO HOME CONTINUED. Wow, angels encounter! According to the Bible Footnotes, "Jacob may have been referring to the angels as another camp, along with his own, and viewing their presence as evidence of divine protection. This was Jacob’s second encounter with the “angels of God” (28:12)./Genesis 32:2" Why did the Chapter started that way? Is there trouble coming? God is indeed faithful when He said "I will be with you." to Jacob. I got reminded of these particular verses:

"For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways." Psalm 91:11
"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them." Psalm 34:7

• MESSAGE FOR ESAU. Maybe as a courtesy, and FYI to his brother Esau, Jacob sent messengers to him, "that I may find grace and kindness in your sight.”(v.5)

• ESAU COMING WITH 400 MEN. Because of their previous dispute, I guess I understand why Jacob got afraid and distressed by this news! The last time they were together (20+ years ago), Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Jacob's caravan is composed of children, servants, shepherds, and I think he has no trained soldiers or warriors-- so the thought of 400 men under Esau's leadership (who was a skilled hunter) was indeed frightening. Not fighting back, and dividing the camp into 2 so the others can escape if an attack happens, seems a good plan.

• JACOB'S HUMBLE PRAYER. We then read how Jacob prayed fervently to the God of his father Abraham and God of his father Isaac. It was the best thing he could do! What a powerful prayer! Indeed, when we are in a really helpless situation, and we are so afraid-- it's only God who can save and rescue us, and comfort us.. I really like the part when he said, "I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant." (v.10) I think, that should be our attitude when we go to God in prayer, gratitude and humility in acknowledging that we don't deserve anything in the first place.. 

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* I remember these 2 truths (verses)-- the bad news is that we are all sinful and we deserve death, but God is merciful and compassionate that He has sent His one and only Son Jesus as the payment, sacrifice to take away all of our sins.:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
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Jacob also remembered and placed his faith in God's promise since Abraham, that God will "make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted." (v12)

• GIFTS FOR ESAU. Jacob had this idea to give 3 sets (herds/livestock) of gifts to Esau. He instructed his servants to: “Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds.” (v.16) Like a peace offering, Jacob wanted to appease his brother Esau's anger, so when they finally get to see each other, he will be accepted and forgiven. This is Jacob's way of reconciling, and asking for forgiveness from Esau-- gifting him with material wealth and blessings, maybe as an atonement for his deception and stealing of birthright blessings before. 

For me, it shows Jacob's new heart.. He has experienced how God has prospered and blessed him before, so he did not need to cling to wealth, but what's important to him now is to preserve his family's life in order to return to Canaan and obey/fulfill God's plans and purposes.
At night, Jacob got his family safely across the brook (ford of the Jabbok) along with all his possessions.

• WRESTLING MATCH. It was still night, and Jacob stayed behind by himself. And then the weirdest thing happened. Wow.. A man came, and wrestled with Jacob until daybreak. Who is this man, and where did he come from? It seems the man just came out of nowhere. According to the Bible Footnotes, "This was God Himself (as Jacob eventually realizes in Gen 32:30; see also v 29 and Hosea 12:4), in the form of an angel./Genesis 32:24"

I am really blown away by this. In the past, Angels have appeared to Abraham, Hagar, when Sodom was destroyed,etc.-- but this is the first time that we read about "wrestling." Is God testing Jacob if he will put up in the fight, if he will prevail and strive hard? Is this a picture of an internal struggle that we all have when it comes to trusting God and surrendering to His will?

* There are a lot of interesting details about this encounter, and I found a complete, great COMMENTARY here, http://wotruth.com/COMMENTARIES-NEW/Genesis/genesis_pdf/Genesis-55.pdf. 
I was gripped as I was reading this! I will share some of the points that I was amazed of below, but I highly recommend that you download and read this if you want to understand more deeply the wrestling between Jacob and the Angel, as well as Jacob's life in general.

1. HE PREVAILED NOT AGAINST HIM
"To  me,  it  is  more  reasonable  to consider the Lord giving Jacob strength beyond standard humanity. At any rate,this  incident  is  remarkable,  indicating extraordinary strength, as when Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass (Judges 15:15), or pulled a great temple   down   by dislodging  the  pillars  upon  which  it stood (Judges 16:28-30). Then  there was Adino the Eznite, who killed eight hundred  at  one  time  with  a  spear (2Sam 23:8), Shammah who single-handedly defeated a troop of Philistines (2 Sam 23:11), and the occasion when young David killed a lion and a bear (1Sam 17:34-35).
There   are   records   of   the   of extraordinary strength displayed by men– and this is such a record. It is, to my knowledge, the only record in Scripture of  a  mortal  engaged  in  a  struggle against an angel."
2. HE TOUCHED THE HOLLOW OF HIS THIGH
"Confirming  the  superiority  of  the angel.. Some versions read as though the angel struck the hip joint, causing it to become  dislocated  –  but  this  is  not correct. The last verse of this chapter makes clear that it was the sinew the angel touched, causing it to shrink. And thus pulling the hip out of joint."
3. JACOB’S THIGH WAS OUT OF JOINT
"This was the result of the sinew, or tendon, shrinking, or drawing up. It caused the ball to pull out of the socket – a condition that apparently became a permanent one." Although his thigh was out of joint– apparently a very painful condition – Jacob continued to wrestle through the night with the angel.

4. WHAT IS THY NAME?
"Actually, the  angels  knew  who Jacob was. When  he was yet with Laban, Jacob testified, "And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I." (Gen 31:11). Therefore, this is not an inquiry concerning something unknown to the angel. Rather, this is to highlight the enormity of the blessing that is going to be conferred upon him."
5. NO MORE
Thus we have a comparison drawn of what Jacob was named, and what he is going to be named.
His name at that time was“Jacob,” given to him at birth because of what he had done at the time of his birth. 
In a sense, “Jacob” was a name given  because  of  his  works:–i.e."He took  his  brother  by  the  heel  in  the womb” (Hosea  12:3).  But  his  new name  would  be  traced  to  what  God would do."

• A NEW NAME AND A NEW IDENTITY. "Jacob struggled with God, Jacob struggled with men, Jacob prevailed." (Hosea 12:4, referring to parallel verses, PDF Commentary) What an amazing transformation! What a powerful work of God through a man named Jacob.. What an amazing faith journey of knowing God, and even seeing Him (almost) face-to-face..

"Jacob demands and receives a blessing.  This blessing comes in the form of a name change.  Instead of being called Jacob (he supplants; see Genesis 25:23-26) he is now called Israel (God strives, or striver with God).  A name change is symbolic of a new identity and a new way of life.  Jacob has striven both with God and with human beings (particularly with Esau and Laban).  He has proved himself an able and willing striver who no longer will need to resort to deceit or seek to supplant anyone."   –Linda B. Hinton https://dwellingintheword.wordpress.com/2014/10/15/1423-genesis-32/

from This Day with the Master,
by Dennis F. Kinlaw

BROKEN VESSELS

It is God who wrestled with Jacob.  God is always the initiator in our liberation.  And before he blessed Jacob, he touched Jacob’s thigh.  God has to break a person before that person will surrender.  The Christian community really ought to talk more about surrender than about consecration, because human beings resist God to the end and then must ask him to break the resistance and take control of their lives and hearts.  God broke Jacob so he had a crippled leg, and then God came and began to bless him.

I never knew a person who was filled with the Holy Ghost who did not have some brokenness in him.  We want to stand straight and be self-contained and poised, but God cannot use us or bless us when we are in that position.  He wants to break us so that instead of our own power, we have the Holy Spirit’s power.  Are you willing to be broken for him?  This is the toughest of all battles, but it determines whether we will be free or in bondage.

We need to have our own Peniel where we meet Jesus face-to-face.  We must see ourselves for what we truly are.  We must cry out to God for heart cleansing, and we must let him come and fill us with His Spirit.  We must allow him to break us so he can make us into prevailers, conquerors, and overcomers.

LIFE APPLICATION AND PRAYER:
Ever since God encountered me with His love, grace and mercy, I know that I will never be the same.. I have received and understood what Lord Jesus Christ did for me. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." I was bought with a high price, I am not my own, and I realized that somebody truly loved me that He was willing to die for me, just to redeem and forgive me. I feel like, all the wrestling was already done by Jesus at the cross, it is finished and we already have the victory through Him. However, as I am still living in the flesh, and still battling sin in my life, I need to wrestle too, in order to keep the faith and to obey and follow God's ways. The good thing is I will not be doing the wrestling upon my own strength, it is by His grace and help. All I need to do is trust Him, all the time, with everything, with all my mind, heart and soul.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:12-13

Read the Bible here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+32&version=AMP#en-AMP-957