Jacob is a lesson of the old natural born man and the new “born again” man that God wants to create in each of us. Jacob’s name means to supplant (to take the place of). Jacob was born holding the heel of his older twin brother Esau but even though Jacob was second born his name meant he would take the place of the first born in the family.
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The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb;
And two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger.” – Genesis 25:23
And two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger.” – Genesis 25:23
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Most likely, Rebecca shared this message from the Lord with Jacob and the two of them should have been encouraged and assured that God would fulfill His promise to make Jacob the patriarch of the family but instead they resort to tricky to steal the birth right and blessings from Esau. It is not that Esau was innocent by any means for he despised the birth right and didn’t want to fulfill the promise of God … in this way he was kind of like Cain, rebellious and hateful toward God and his brother who loved God.
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By the grace of God, in this case, two wrongs somehow did achieve the purpose of God but it also instilled a bad character trait into Jacob, he trusted in his ability to trick people to get ahead in the world. Also, it seems like God uses Laban to teach Jacob that tricky works two way, as Laban tricked Jacob to work and extra seven years for his first wife and then later changed his wages. Finally, when Jacob has had enough of Laban’s trickery, Jacob returns home to Bethel, the place where he dreamed of the ladder reaching to Heaven. But before he crosses the Jordan river toward Bethel and Jerusalem, Jacob devises a scheme to win his brother Esau by sending him gifts and to trick him by dividing up his family into two groups and sending them ahead.
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Jacob finds himself all alone, like when he first ran from Esau, and the thought of meeting the wrath of an angry brother was on his mind. As he laid down to sleep the Angle of the Lord (Jesus) came down from Heaven to wrestle with him through the night. Jacob knew the blessing of God’s promise but he wanted them based on the approval of his scheming methods. I guess this was a “come to Jesus” kind of moment for Jacob. The good thing is Jacob clung to Jesus … this is like a marriage, the two become one. When we are born again in Jesus, we are married to Him forever … for better, in spite of our worse.
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Ultimately, the Angel of the Lord, ends the fight by putting Jacob’s hip out of socket, to remind Jacob who really won and who really blesses. At this time Jacob’s name is changed to “Israel” which means “God contends”! At this point on in the Bible, you can see when the name Israel is mentioned it shows that Jacob is trusting and resting in the Lord, and when the name Jacob is used, he goes back to his scheming ways.
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Jacob’s struggle with God is symbolic of his struggle with his inner self. God wanted to enter into a relationship with Jacob, however, he couldn’t do so until Jacob admitted his weakness of self-reliance, deceit, and trickery. When Jacob refused to surrender to God, a mere divine touch on Jacob’s hip forced the young man to surrender and admit his utter need for God (Genesis 25-26).
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I think Jacob is a lesson of the born again man that God wants to create in each of us, one dependent and resting in Jesus, allowing God’s will to be done!
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Gen 32: 32 Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.
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Traditions of men…eat the meat people…!
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Gen 27:27 He (Issac) smelled the smell of his (Jacob) clothing, and blessed him and said: “Surely, the smell of my son. Is like the smell of a field. Which the Lord has blessed. 28 Therefore may God give you. Of the dew of heaven,Of the fatness of the earth,And plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you,And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren,And let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you,And blessed be those who bless you!”
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It’s hard to understand why God allowed the tricky of Jacob to the way that he received the blessing from his father Issac. We can see later on that the bad character habit becomes a burden to him and late in his life he says he has seen nothing but trouble all his days.
