Session 7
the setting.
22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives,
his two slave women, and his eleven sons,
and crossed the ford of Jabbok.
23 He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.
24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
People should expect to encounter God in times of their greatest need.
identify key words in the verses.
specifically to alone and wrestle.
Draw out the contrast between being alone to contemplate the future and being caught in an intense wrestling match.
Note that while we may not physically wrestle with issues, we do have emotional and spiritual conflicts in our lives.
God can give us strength and peace in those chaotic moments.
Hosea 12:3-4.
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
What And in his maturity he contended with God.
4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;
He wept and sought His favor
He found Him at Bethel
And there He spoke with us,
Wrestled
The Hebrew verb translated wrestled provides a wordplay on both
the Jabbok River and the patriarch Jacob.
The name Jacob, meaning “cheater” or “deceiver,”
conveys the selfish nature that he exhibited prior to his transformation
at the Jabbok.
Physical strength had characterized Jacob’s life to this point.
However, in this wrestling match, he received a blow to his hip that dislocated the joint.
Ironically, Jacob’s resulting physical weakness led to moral and spiritual transformation.
Jacob wasn’t really wrestling with a man, but with God-or an angel carrying the authority of God.