Moses is credited by most scholars, and Jesus Himself, for the writing of the book of Genesis. The Israelites heard the reading of the Torah in the days of the wilderness wanderings. When Jacob wrestled God in Genesis 32, the hearers were surely able to remember that God wrestled Jacob by the Jabbok River, because the words sounded alike. In English the wordplay might be said as God Jabboked Jacob by the Jabbok.

Jacob had struggled against opposition for most of his life, first with his brother, Esau, and then with his father-in-law and uncle, Laban. Now as he came near Canaan at a tributary to the Jordan River, the Jabbok, about twenty miles north of the Dead Sea, he had an encounter with a “man” who was really God in human form. The wrestling match lasted the evening, and Jacob was successful, for God allowed it. The lengthy wrestling match emphasized the point that Jacob’s real struggle was with God Himself, for the Lord was the true source of Jacob’s destiny. In the struggle Jacob must have realized this, for he sought a blessing. “Let me go, for it is daybreak,” said the “man.”

Jacob answered, “I will not let you go until you give me a blessing.” Twenty years earlier he had stolen his brother’s blessing, and Esau threatened to kill him. Listening to his parents, Jacob fled about 500 miles to northwestern Mesopotamia, where his mother’s family lived. Now twenty years later, he wanted a legitimate blessing from the Source of all blessings. His audacity came in desperation as one who had struggled all his life, yet with dubious success, for his reputation as the Heel Grabber – the deceiver – followed him everywhere, even in his very name, Jacob, which meant He Grabs the Heel. The Lord touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched the joint, showing He had control at will. The encounter with God had huge implications for Jacob and for humanity.

We may ask, why did they wrestle? Did God have a motive for appearing in human form? Why did they not strike one another, or box? Athletes are aware of something profoundly intimate about a physical struggle, man to man. If they are not trying to kill each other – and sometimes if they are – there is a certain bond in the common struggle. For example, in boxing, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, and Mohammed Ali and George Foreman exhibited friendships born of such sports rivalries.

No, Jacob and God in human form – a Theophany – wrestled over an issue that did not involve life or death between the two. Their motives are not discussed in Scripture, but we can look at the circumstances at hand. This could well have been an answer to Jacob’s prayer, when he asked the Lord to protect him from Esau and continue to honor His promise of blessing in the face of apparent, imminent danger.

The danger began in this way. Possibly inspired by angels that appeared to him en route to the Jabbok River, at Mahanaim, Jacob felt the urge to make amends with his brother Esau after twenty years. He sent envoys to the land of Seir, to Edom, his brother Esau’s homeland, saying he was seeking his favor. The messengers told Esau that Jacob had an abundance of flocks and herds. But when the messengers returned, they told Jacob that Esau was coming out to meet him with four hundred men! Now Jacob feared for his life as never before; hence he prayed to the Lord in earnest for protection of his life and his wives and family.

He had sent his family, flocks, herds, possessions, and servants ahead of him across the river. Now alone, Jacob encountered the “man” whom he recognized as more than a man. God showed up. We do not know what they may have said at first, or how they began to wrestle. Simply wrestling without weapons and without blows would probably signify something other than trying to kill. No, Jacob, the heel grabber, did not want to let God slip away. God condescended to show himself in a physical presence.

Now Jacob had struggled with Esau and with Laban. Laban, his father-in-law, had worked him hard for twenty years and tricked him into marrying Leah first, instead of the beloved Rachel. Talk about poetic justice – the deceiver was deceived! Jacob’s struggle with God came at the aftermath of fleeing from Laban. He was fresh from a victory of sorts against Laban, as his wealth grew enormously in spite of Laban’s opposition. For certain Jacob was aware of God’s hand in his wealth and success. He had tried superstitiously rigging the mating of his flocks and herds to maximize their numbers; however, eventually he acknowledged that the Lord had made him successful (Genesis 32:12; 33:11).

God for certain had a point to make, too. Through God alone Jacob had overcome adversity so far, and it was for the reason as big as God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. God chose Jacob to pass on the offspring and the spiritual legacy leading to the nation, the people who would bring the Messiah into the world. It can be no small plot from the mind of God that He now appeared as a man to bring about the resolve in this focal man, Jacob, to carry on God’s mission.

They wrestled; they bonded as two men in competition do, until the sun was about to rise, when the “man” said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” It is now in this fear-induced match that Jacob spoke his mind. He could not let the Lord escape him. “I will not let you go until you bless me” meant more than a perfunctory “Bless you,” and farewell. He wanted yet again to see the working of his God in his life, even as all the signs pointed to death instead. Just as a desperate father pleaded with Jesus for a miracle, he could have been saying, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

God asked him, “What is your name?” It was not a question seeking the answer but to make a change to the One Who Grabs the Heel.

“Jacob,” he replied. Then the “man” made a proclamation. “You will no longer be Jacob but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Now Israel in Hebrew probably means He Struggles with God.

Next Jacob posed the same question to his rival. “What is your name?” The reply came from God as a question, “Why do you ask my name?” The answer needed no clarification; Jacob had been calling Him Yah-weh El-o-he already – The Lord my God. This was further clarified when an angel of the Lord later said His name was wonderful, beyond understanding (Judges 13:18). God now blessed Jacob and departed. We do not know the specific blessing, but can imagine the Lord repeated what He had said twenty years before, when Jacob had his dream of the angels ascending and descending on a staircase that led from earth to heaven. That former blessing said he would produce a multitude of offspring like the dust of the earth, through which all the peoples of the earth would be blessed; that Jacob and his descendants would possess the land of Canaan; and that God would watch over him so that he would return safely from his long journey (Genesis 28:13-15).

Jacob, “in great fear and distress,” apparently needed this reassurance as he prepared to meet his brother Esau for the first time since he had swindled him twenty years before. He named the place Peniel, or Face of God, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared” (Genesis 32:30). With the sun rising in the sky, Jacob continued his journey, now limping from his wounded hip, and rejoined his family and the entourage.