Commentary on Genesis 32:22-31

Preachers face a temptation to emphasize everything good about the life of faith. We shouldn’t forget these good things, but sometimes faith is marked by struggle, difficulty, and wrestling.

Building to this moment

Jacob faces danger all around. He has just made promises never to go north again (Genesis 31:43–53). Forced south, he learns that his brother Esau—whom Jacob treated horribly in the past (25:29–34; 27:1–45)—approaches with 400 men. With Cain and Abel’s ghosts lurking in the background, Jacob divides his camp into two, accepting the reality that Esau may easily strike down one of them (32:7–8). He prays a desperate prayer (32:9–12). He lines up gifts to assuage Esau’s anger (32:13–21). Then, at the outset of our passage, under the cover of darkness, he sends his family and belongings across the Jabbok River (which in Hebrew sounds like Jacob; 32:22–23).

Confusion and uncertainty

Jacob remains by himself, and out of nowhere, someone wrestles with him (32:24). The text is slow to reveal who this assailant is, meaning readers face the confusion that Jacob undoubtedly experienced.

At first glance, the opponent seems to be a human. The wrestler is described as “a man” (32:24), cannot overpower Jacob, and may resort to a cheap shot (32:25). The wrestler doesn’t want to be seen by daylight (32:26), and he refuses to reveal his name (32:29). Perhaps it’s a robber? Or maybe Esau went to scout things out, attacked under darkness, couldn’t win, and now doesn’t want to reveal who he is away from his 400 men.

But Jacob’s opponent renames him Israel, here meaning, “He wrestles with God” (32:28). And Jacob even says, “I have seen God face to face” (32:30). Genesis 35:9–10 confirms that God is present here.

Nevertheless, the story may be less about having just one opponent. After all, while renaming Jacob, the assailant says, “You have striven with God and with humans” (32:28). The point may be that Israel’s existence was marked by struggle. Here in Genesis, Jacob/Israel struggles against:

• Esau in the womb (25:22),
• Esau at birth (25:26),
• Esau when he was famished (25:29–34),
• Esau and Isaac when Isaac wanted to bless Esau (27:1–45),
• Rachel (30:1–2), and
• Laban (31:1–55).

Reflecting on these struggles, Julie Galambush writes, “Mysterious as it is, Jacob’s night of wrestling seems to symbolize his entire lifetime.”¹ The same could be said about not just the character now named Israel, but also the people of Israel. Outside of Genesis, they struggle against:

• the Egyptians,
• neighboring peoples like the Philistines,
• the Assyrians, and
• the Babylonians, just to name a few.

Forsaking piety for realism

The name “Israel” is obviously central to the Bible. The original Hebrew letters behind this name could have been interpreted as meaning “God’s righteous one,” “God is righteous,” “God is exalted,” “God shines,” “God heals,” or “God rules.”² Genesis avoids these pious-sounding explanations of the name, preferring one having to do with struggle. Here, as mentioned, Israel means “He wrestles with God” (32:28).

Genesis doesn’t favor what sounds most inspiring. Its goal isn’t to move readers into some other-worldly religion where all that matters is passive submission. It insists that at the very heart of Israel’s identity is struggle, and this struggle can involve God. Reflecting on this text, Hemchand Gossai writes, “If we do not struggle or wrestle with God, our faith remains at a very basic level, untested and unexamined.”³

Sometimes, people in the Bible struggle against God because of their own selfish choices. Other times, it’s as though God attacks out of nowhere. Life feels unfair, and God seems uncooperative. Jacob has these sorts of experiences, second-born in his family and later deceived repeatedly by his uncle Laban.

The Bible’s prayers record the struggles of people like Jacob. One of the most popular types of psalms grieves that the world is as difficult as it is, often complaining that God hasn’t made things better (for example, Psalms 6; 13).⁴ They’re the words of people wrestling with God. Within the community of faith, space is made for people disappointed and even angry with God.

People sometimes feel like they need to be at peace with God before entering a church. But the Bible welcomes those struggling with the divine—seeing this struggle as central to Israel’s identity.

Blessing

All that mattered to Jacob was that his nighttime attacker blessed him (32:26). To bless someone is to lay aside all hostilities and affirm the goodness in that person. Good things often accompany blessings, like generous gifts. When God blesses someone, it means that their needs are met. They’re made whole and surrounded by peace. They even thrive.

Jacob’s blessing from God doesn’t come when he’s achieved superstar status as a saint. It comes when he’s made a mess of his life, feels trapped, is all alone, and has nowhere to go. He’s in the middle of a wrestling match. But there amid darkness and confusion, God gives him goodness. Gossai has additional words worth repeating:

Some of us have come to points in our lives where we imagine that we are beyond redemption; yet from this narrative and from others in the Bible, it is clear that one does not seek redemption when one is whole; rather redemption comes most notably in a state of brokenness—often surrounded by a quality of fear and uncertainty.⁵

Kathleen O’Connor makes a similar point:

These stories of Jacob’s struggles tell people of faith how we might begin again after our own losses, wounds, broken hearts, and broken lives. They tell us to cling to God no matter the struggle, for our God is on the side of life, the side of the poor and the broken.⁶

The great hope of this passage is that even amid our struggles, God has good things in store for us.

Notes

1. Julie Galambush, Reading Genesis: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2018), 115.
2. Gordon Wenham, Genesis 16–50, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 296–297.
3. Hemchand Gossai, Barrenness and Blessing: Abraham, Sarah, and the Journey of Faith (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2008), 44.
4. Roland E. Murphy, The Gift of the Psalms (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000), 12–13.
5. Gossai, Barrenness and Blessing, 61.
6. Kathleen M. O’Connor, Genesis 25b–50, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2020), 106.