Genesis 32:21-30
So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent
the night in the camp.
That night
Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons
and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream,
he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled
with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he
touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled
with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob
replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
The man
asked him, "What is your name?"
“Jacob,"
he answered.
Then the
man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel
Jacob said,
"Please tell me your name."
But he
replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So
Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to
face, and yet my life was spared."
Many years ago, I was in Jerusalem . I visited the Wailing Wall and at one point I
was sitting on a bench, just taking in all of the sights of this ancient and
holy place.
At one point, an old Jewish Rabbi
came and sat with me. He had a long
white beard and he was dressed completely in black. He could barely move and when he sat down, it
was more like he just fell back into the bench.
He turned to me and asked, “What is
your name.”
Well, being a good Southerner, I
thought we were about to have an interesting conversation, so I told him,
“Maynard Pittendreigh.”
What is the name of your father, he
asked.
Well, I thought that was strange,
and wondered “does this man know me?”
But I told him, “Bill Pittendreigh.”
“What is the name of your mother?”
I told him.
“What are the name of all your
brothers and sisters?”
I told him.
Then he raised his ancient hand and
said, “Blessings. On your father, and
all of his household.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I
came out with a “Gee thanks mister, I sure do appreciate that.”
I don’t know what I was supposed to
say, but the Rabbi looked at me with horror and asked, “Aren’t you Jewish?”
“No,”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“Oh well, blessings anyway.”
You know, blessings like that aren’t
part of our society. No one goes around
pronouncing blessings on individuals, nor do we often seek someone’s blessing.
But deep inside, most of us long for blessings in our
lives.
Which brings us to this odd story in
Genesis.
It seems that throughout Jacob’s
life, he was desperately hungry for a blessing.
We meet Jacob at his birth in
chapter 25 of Genesis. Isaac, the son of
Abraham, was married but he and his wife Rebekah had no children. Isaac prays for a child and the Lord answers
his prayer – not with one, but with two sons.
Rebekah’s pregnancy was not an easy
one. In fact she says, “I feel like I
have two nations at war inside me.”
Esau is the first born, and then his
brother Jacob is right behind, holding onto the foot of his brother Esau.
The two boys grow up and they are
very different. Esau is a hunter, Jacob
is a quiet man who stayed at the tents.
Esau was loved by his father, Jacob was loved by his
mother. One day Esau comes in from
hunting, and he hasn’t had any luck at all.
He comes home tired and hungry, and he begs Jacob to give him some
stew. Jacob responds by saying, “You
give me the right to get the blessing from our father, you give me your
birthright, and then I’ll give you some stew.”
Esau doesn’t think very far ahead,
and never does. So he says, “Fine. What good is a birthright when you are hungry
anyway?
Jacob, hungry for a blessing, gives
his brother some stew and wins the birthright.
Now
you would think that would make Jacob happy.
He has the blessing. But no, it
doesn’t make him happy at all.
He knows that just because Esau gave him the right to
receive the blessing, his father would never agree. So Jacob stays hungry for a blessing.
So a few years pass, and the time
comes for father Isaac to give the blessing.
He is old and weak and almost blind, and so Jacob and his mother devise
a way to fool father Isaac so that Jacob gets the blessing rather than
Esau. She dresses her son Jacob in rough
clothing, and they use all sorts of things to trick father Isaac.
And it works.
Isaac gives Jacob the blessing.
Now
you would think that would make Jacob happy.
He has the blessing. But no, it
doesn’t make him happy at all.
Not at all. Because as soon as Jacob gets the blessing,
Esau comes home and he is furious and he decides that as soon as father Isaac
is dead, he will kill brother Jacob.
Jacob doesn’t wait for his father’s
death, and instead packs up and sneaks out of the home and heads for the hills.
Jacob decides that what he really
needs make himself happy in life is a woman.
So in search of a wife, he goes traveling around and comes to some
distant relatives and while he is hanging around this watering hole, this
beautiful woman named Rachel comes along.
She is a shepherdess and Jacob can’t wait to roll away a stone to open
up a well for her and her sheep. It is
love at first sight. He talks to the
father and proposes marriage to Rachel.
Now
you would think that would make Jacob happy.
He has the blessing. But no, it
doesn’t make him happy at all.
Rachel’s father agrees to the
marriage, provided that Jacob work for him for 7 years.
Well, Jacob is in love, and these 7
years pass by very quickly.
The day for the marriage comes and
it is a great wedding.
There is a great feast. Lots of partying.
Jacob gets married, wakes up the
next morning, looks at his bride, and to his horror, it’s not Rachel with him –
it’s Rachel’s less attractive sister, Leah.
Here’s good advice for any groom –
stay away from the open bar until long after the ceremony.
It turns out that Jacob’s
father-in-law planned this all along.
Well, back then, it was acceptable
to have more than one wife, so Jacob is allowed to marry Rachel a week later,
but Jacob is forced to commit to 7 MORE years of working for his father-in-law.
But, at least Jacob has the wife he
wanted – Rachel. And he has an extra one
as well in Leah.
Now
you would think that would make Jacob happy.
He has the blessing. But no, it
doesn’t make him happy at all.
Leah, Jacob’s less favored wife,
starts having babies, and keeps having them.
But Rachel, his favorite wife, has no children at all.
So Rachel gives her husband her
servant so she can have children through her.
I know -- it’s a really strange world in the Old Testament. When I hear people talk today about biblical
marriage being between one man and one woman I know they have never read the
Bible. Back then it was almost like
anything goes! Jacob has two wives and
now a servant girl as well - It’s an old fashioned surrogate mother. And the servant starts having children.
Then Rachel is really unhappy. And she makes Leah unhappy. And pretty soon, everyone is unhappy.
It’s just one BIG miserable family.
And finally – finally – Rachel has a
son and names him Joseph.
Now
you would think that would make Jacob happy.
He has the blessing. But no, it
doesn’t make him happy at all.
Jacob’s father-in-law begins to
cheat Jacob in business deals, and Jacob cheats his father-in-law.
Everything spirals out of control,
and finally Jacob decides he’s out of here.
He gathers all of his sheep, all of his property, all of his servants,
and both wives, all of his children.
They don’t tell anyone they are
leaving, but they try to sneak away.
Well, I don’t know if you have ever
tried to sneak out of town, but when Jacob does it, he has 2 wives, hundreds of
servants, thousands of sheep. It’s hard
not to notice a small nation leaving town.
And people notice.
And Jacob’s father-in-law shows up
and reminds Jacob of how well he has treated Jacob. Which is nuts. Jacob has been treated like garbage. But the two finally come to an
agreement. Jacob will go his way. Jacob’s father-in-law will go his way. And they say this to one another. “May the LORD keep watch between you and me
when we are away from each other.” (Gen
31:49-50)
This is verse is sometimes referred
to as the Mizpah Benediction. Friends
and lovers often say this to one another, and you can even find jewelry with
this benediction on it, with a medallion that seems to be broken in half, and
the boyfriend wears on half and the girl the other half and each half having
this verse on it.
Years ago, I went to an adult Sunday
School class that always ended with the class reciting that
apparently-wonderful verse before they walked out of the room.
But the meaning of that text is not
a loving, “May the Lord watch over us while we are apart.” The real meaning for Jacob and his
father-in-law was more, “I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me, but God is
watching so we’ll behave.”
Well, Jacob leaves his father-in-law
and is free. Free at last, free at last.
Now
you would THINK that would make Jacob happy.
He has the blessing. But no, it
doesn’t make him happy at all.
Not ever having read a Thomas Wolfe
novel, Jacob decides he can go home again.
But then - with home just over the next hill, Jacob begins
to reconsider. He realizes this might
not be such a good idea.
He sends messengers out to greet
Esau, and the messengers come back and tell Jacob that brother Esau is on his
way.
Jacob figures his brother is coming
with a small army to do battle and to get his revenge.
Jacob even prepares for defeat and
divides his family, thinking that Esau will attack one group and the other can
escape.
Jacob is not very optimistic.
So Jacob sends 220 goats, 220 rams
15 camels, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 30 donkeys, and sends them to Esau as a gift.
And Jacob does one other thing, he
doesn’t send all of these gifts in one group.
He divides them into more than 3 groups and tells them to keep some
distance between the groups. That way
Esau will get one flood of gifts after another, after another.
These aren’t just gifts. They are bribes. Like a weakling giving up his lunch money to
the school bully, Jacob is giving these gifts out fear, not love.
And then the waiting begins.
And it is during this waiting that
something strange happens.
Yep, even though everything in
Jacob’s life is strange and bizarre, this event is really outside the box.
Jacob is waiting to see what effect
his gifts will have on brother Esau.
He is alone.
And out of the darkness comes a
stranger.
And the stranger begins to fight
Jacob.
Who is this stranger?
It isn’t Esau, but is it someone
sent by Esau? No.
Is it an angel? No.
The two fight until the sun begins
to come up.
Jacob seems to have the stranger
pinned down and defeated. And then with
no effort at all, the stranger reaches and dislocates Jacob’s hip. It is as if the stranger has been playing
with Jacob all night. He doesn’t hit
Jacob, or use any sort of force at all.
The Bible says, the stranger simply touched Jacob’s hip, and it was
dislocated.
The stranger orders Jacob, “Let me
go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, "I will not
let you go unless you bless me."
Even now, after all these many
years, Jacob is still hungry for a blessing.
“I will not let you go unless you
bless me.”
The stranger asked Jacob, "What
is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
Then the man said, "Your name
will no longer be Jacob, but Israel ,
because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
That is a strange thing to say.
First, Jacob has not overcome. He has not won. He is defeated. His hip has been dislocated. He is in pain. The stranger is victorious. But this stranger, who now reveals himself as
God, declares Jacob victorious – and blesses him.
Jacob may well have his blessing he
has been wanting so desperately to receive.
Or maybe not.
Throughout his life, Jacob has
thought he was blessed, only to find out he was cursed.
The stranger disappears.
Esau arrives.
But Esau does not arrive with an
army, but with a welcome.
Jacob finally has the blessing he
has been searching for.
He is welcomed by his brother. The past problems are resolved. Jacob finds land and settles down.
How did he get his blessing?
He tried to deceive his way into
getting a blessing, but that did not work.
He tried to succeed in business, and
while he became very successful and wealthy, that did not give him the blessing
he hungered for.
He tried everything – but only thing
worked.
When
he stopped struggling with God, when he finally submitted to God, that is when
he was blessed.
Jacob lived a different life after
that.
It still had pain. It wasn’t an easy life. A blessed life doesn’t mean things are
easy.
His daughter, Dinah, is raped.
His son, Joseph, is sold into slavery, although Jacob
believes for many years that his son is dead.
A terrible famine devastates the land.
But in all of his pain and joy, Jacob is never the same
after this wrestling match with God. He
no longer struggles with God like he did before. He submits to the will of God. And he is blessed.
We
all hunger for a blessing.
We look for it in all the wrong
places.
We look for more money, but that
does not bless us.
We get the biggest car, the biggest
house, the biggest debt – none of that has the power to bless us.
We don’t get our blessing from our
father, or in-laws, or from anyone else, other than the One who has the power
to bless.
We get our blessing from God.
When
we stop struggling with God and we finally submit to his will, that is when we
find the blessing.
You want a blessing? Look to God.
Follow God. Trust God. All other things are distractions.
Copyright 2014 Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
