Genesis
32 – 35
Jacob was wrestling with a “man” which may be God. During
this he is told in verse 32:28 of a name change:
You will no longer
go by the name Jacob. From now on, your name will be Israel because you
have wrestled with God and humanity, and you have prevailed.
Interestingly it’s not until chapter 35 and
God states the name change again that it finally changes. This is one of those
sections that one has to wonder who the “man” was that he was wrestling and
what the meaning of that was. Why did he dislocate Jacob’s hip?
Leading up to this encounter Jacob was
stressing about meeting his brother. Now this man who conned is father and
brother to get the birthright and blessing. He lied and manipulated events to
be in his favor now had to face his brother. He faced God before having to face
his brother. Interestingly in crippling Jacob, God is showing us that He is
looking for the unlikely to build his nation, not just the rich, dynamic and
powerful. What man would think as the logical choice, God realizes that would
only provide doubt it was his glory.
Chapter 34 has a disturbing story about
Jacob and Rachel’s daughter Dinah. A Hivite named Shecham rapes Dinah and then
falls in love with her. He then asks her hand in marriage, yet ends up killed
in a fit of revenge by her brothers. This story is disturbing and shows how
barbaric many cultures are. In western civilization we consider this rare, but
it still happens. I don’t have any comment other than people who read this
somehow tie it into God’s truths, when it’s just a historical account and is no
way an example of how man should live a Godly life.
The 12 tribes of Israel are not set and we
see how the name arrived. The next story is of Joseph, where God takes the most
unlikely once again.