Ambitious Jacob seems to have had three significant, life-altering encounters with the God of his father and grandfather. Perhaps we can learn from each of them.
ENCOUNTER #1: SURPRISED BY GOD
The first begins with an unexpected encounter in the form of a dream at Luz. Jacob is not on a personal spiritual retreat, praying and asking God to reveal Himself. It’s quite the opposite, really. The rascal Jacob is on the run because he just deceived and lied to his father in order to obtain the blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau. Esau was ready to “console” himself at his father’s passing. So Jacob is on the lam. The sun had already set, so he must stop right here at this random place. He takes a stone to put under his head as a pillow.
GOD’S APPEARANCE: That’s where he has a dream of a ladder or staircase that reached from earth to heaven. (Reminds me of the tower at Babel, but this was not made by human hands). And the angels of God were going up and down on it! The LORD stood above it and spoke:
"I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
It is a third-generation reiteration of the covenant God had made with Abraham and with Isaac: The land, the offspring, great numbers of people, and blessings. Perhaps there are some subtle extra promises here, that 1) God is with him and will keep him, 2) God will bring him back to this land, and 3) God will be with him through it.
JACOB’S RESPONSE: Jacob has had his FIRST encounter with God! He awakes from his sleep and says, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." Of course, God is everywhere. But God chose to reveal Himself to Jacob in this place, not just because it was the right moment, but because it was exactly the right acre of land.
God could have revealed Himself in any number of forms, but this one was awesome and impressive. So, though this is an encouraging promise from God, it is also fearsome to Jacob. Jacob concludes something that I think is theologically immature: that he has stumbled upon the house of God with the gate of heaven. God is not limited to a place. He comes and goes at His will. But we’ll cut Jacob some slack here, considering it was the first time in his life that he had ever seen it.
Lesson #1: Sometimes I’m just wandering about, trying to find my way, frustrated that darkness has fallen and that I have to improvise with a rock for a pillow. But God is not panicking with me, wondering what to do now! He is in control. Don’t be surprised when He shows up in the darkest night.
So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. And he named the place “House of God.” And he made a vow, which also seems immature to me, in that it is conditional. He says, “IF God will be with me and keep me, and give me bread to eat, and clothing to wear, so I get back home safely restored to my father, THEN the LORD shall be my God, and this stone shall be God’s house, and I will give a full tenth of everything you give back to you.” God has to do five things for Jacob—specifically for him (see all the times “me” is in his vow), and only then will Jacob do his three things for God. But it is sincere, and God accepts it.
Lesson #2: We may have a weak theology and a conditional relationship with God. But He knows our weaknesses and He meets us where we are. I’m so glad! Otherwise, I would NEVER know Him. That’s the whole point of Emmanuel, God With Us.
ENCOUNTER #2: ANOTHER DREAM
GOD’S APPEARANCE: A less-clear dream happens while at Laban’s. It is less dramatic, but it is now the second time that God has spoken clearly to Jacob in a dream. The LORD says, "Go back home to the land and to your family, and I will be with you." Notice that God didn’t say, “I will protect you.” But maybe that was implied.
The way Jacob explains it to his wives adds more to it. He doesn’t tell them that he is returning because God told him to go. He includes the fact that Laban, their father, is not happy with him. He goes through his side of the story about how Laban did him wrong and how he was innocent. But then tells how he competed and won against his uncle, though he words it like a sports figure who went 4-for-4 and hit the walk-off home run: “God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.” Only then does he tell them about the dream. And they are ready to go with him. So he runs. Again.
Lesson #3: I wonder: am I sometimes more open to hearing from God when I dream, because I’m not so busy being distracted? In any case, dreams are a common way for the Lord to communicate.
ENCOUNTER #3: DIRECT CONTACT
JACOB’S INITIATIVE: This time, Jacob is the one who begins this night-long encounter with God by praying. It is his first prayer recorded in Scripture. There are four parts to his prayer: 1) He addresses God within the context of His character and His actions in the past: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,' 2) Then Jacob has his request, and it is his first humble request: “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant,” and then he slips back into athlete mode: “for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.” 3) And now he brings his desperate request: “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.” 4) He closes out with reminding God of the promises God gave to him. “But you said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'" Genesis 32:9-12
He got up from his prayer, having received no answer and no assurance. He worked his plan to divide everyone up and send them ahead. Then he stayed back—and was alone again—to sleep on the other side of the Jabbock. And that’s when God shows up again.
GOD’S APPEARANCE: It was not a dream this time. Not even a super-intense vision. It was a man wrestling with him. I’m not sure what Jacob was thinking, but this is somehow not out of character for that competitive Rascal. He had been wrestling with his brother, his father, his uncle, and various neighbors his whole life. So I don’t know how this thing got started. “Hey, wanna wrestle?” But it was not just sport. Not to Jacob. And they wrestled all night, until daybreak. Jacob’s default mode, I guess you could say.
When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
Man! This was a serious wrestling match. That was a desperate move. I’m glad no one got slugged in the face. In any case, you would think that an out-of-joint hip would cause Jacob to surrender. But not Jacob. Jacob may not have been a hunter or the outdoors-type, but he sure was persistent. The man says, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob answers "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
What!? Where does that even come from?? Oh, yeah . . . Remember that prayer Jacob had prayed the evening before? He had been praying with desperation. Later he referred to it as the day of his distress. So this time he is prepared to hear that blessing from God. And he hasn’t heard it yet. So, he asks. More like, he demands.
The man doesn’t say a blessing right away. Instead, he asks Jacob, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Name changes are far more significant than we can imagine, because most everyone’s name was actually a word with lexical meaning. So now Jacob is not “Striver” but “He Struggles with God,” or “God Prevails.”
They aren’t done yet. Jacob asks the man, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. There it is. That blessing. One more time.
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." So not only does Israel get a new name. The location is marked with a name of its own.
The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Why would God—the Almighty Creator of All—need to injure a hip? Why put Himself into human form and limit Himself to being nearly equal with a man? Moreover, why injure that hip, just before Israel sees his brother Esau again? I would think Israel would want to be in good physical shape, so he could run, or fight, or both. But there he was, noticeably limping, so that Esau could see from a distance that his brother was no threat. A guy with a bad limp does not look aggressive. The tender mercy of God sometimes wounds us, which is doing us good, not harm.
And so, by the time Esau sees his brother, all is forgiven and they are on good terms again. And though Jacob never explains, and never apologizes, Esau forgives.
Lesson #4: I would do well to trust that, even when God seems uncaring and mean, He always has my best interests in mind. So I can welcome trials as if they were friends, knowing that the testing of my faith works perseverance, which will bring me to mature faith, if I allow it. God is good. All the time.
ENCOUNTER #4: BACK TO BETHEL
Maybe it was at night again, and maybe it was in a dream again. We are not told. But God spoke to Jacob again, and this time he told him to, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."
So Jacob told everyone in his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.” Why had he never told them to do any of this before? Perhaps because Jacob has still not been fully converted, you might say. This time, his fourth encounter with God, is the only one that he is truly preparing himself for, and this very zealous guy wants to be ready for it at last.
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
Apparently this kind of jewelry—rings in their ears—had idolatrous implications. And they moved on and built an altar at the place where God had originally appeared to him.
Lesson #5: If I’m going to take God seriously and chase after Him, I need to rid myself of all of the trinkets and symbols of the foreign gods whom I have been chasing after. Since I am surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, that includes the likes of Jacob, I also need to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before me.
It was some time later that God appeared to Jacob again. And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel. And God reiterated the blessings and promises to give the land to his offspring. Jacob somehow knew how to build an altar, put up a pillar of stone, pour out a drink offering and pour oil on the stone. Perhaps because that’s what others around him were doing for their gods. Perhaps because God had told him that it’s what He wanted. Either way, worship seemed to be developing into more rites with each generation.
In the end, Hebrews tells us that it was by faith that Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on his staff. (Hebrews 11:21) We have seen the combination of these words for worship and bowing down before, with Eliezer the servant of Abraham. You bow and you lay out. But what’s new is that Jacob is still leaning on his staff, which I think indicates that he still had a limp from his angelic encounter many years before. God’s mark of ownership still showed on the old man, and leaning on his staff you might say forced him to lean on the Lord, instead of leaning on his own wiles.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
YOUR ENCOUNTER
Jacob had a mark of ownership from God, which the Lord directly delivered to him. And in the end, "Leaning on his staff" was the final phrase used to describe him in the Bible. Maybe you and I have some similar "mark of ownership" that God has delivered to us, which perhaps until now has been a source of shame. Maybe it's a scar that we bear as a reminder of when we were outside of the will of God, and He allowed something to happen that got out attention and helped to turn us around. Maybe it is some quality that you have had since birth that you once viewed as a bad thing--a physical feature, some lack of talent or skill, or some limitation.
Recently, I was with my son at a week of high adventure camp. We were doing team activities on a high ropes course, and, while my son was flourishing, I was just awful. I reached the end of my strength, fell and could not recover, and had to keep going anyway, humiliated and spent. I was thinking how ashamed my son must be of his old man, and how I wished that I could impress him (and the other dads and sons) with my strength. But I was put into a position where I had to receive grace from my son that I could not earn or deserve. He gave me that grace, and it changed our relationship. Sometimes humiliation is a doorway to humility.
So, maybe with you, when you have looked in the mirror up to now, there has been something that you have been ashamed of or wanted to cover over. Can you try re-imagining the purpose and meaning of that feature? It is God's mark of ownership, that makes you unique and humble and dependent on Him. Can you thank Him for it just now? Can you embrace your "limp," and see how God has used it for His good?
Let's place that veiled blessing from the Lord onto an altar, and give it to Him as an offering. Claim it as a loving gift that is helping you to be more like Jesus. See what a difference it makes in how you imagine yourself before God and others. Then share your insight with someone, pray for each other, and write about it to your future self.