Genesis 32:24: “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.”
Jacob was probably around 70 years old at this time when he took on an angel and carried out a wrestling match with him all night long. We learn in verse 25 that this angel could not best him after hours of wrestling. Can you imagine that, an angel wrestling with a 70 year old man and he can’t pin him. I always said that the way my luck runs, that is probably my guardian angel.
An angel not being able to strong arm a 70 year old man is not the only thing unusual about this passage. Why was he wrestling with an angel in the first place. I mean who is going to pick a fight with an angel? Couldn’t the two just sit down and talk out their differences like two civilized peopled. Did they have to get into a knock down drag out and what was the issue in the first place? The Bible seemingly does not give us any clue to this rather mysterious encounter.
But there is more to this mystery. In verse 24 we learn that Jacob was alone and then he wrestled a man. The word alone in Hebrew is badad which means solitary, separated, or alone. Not only that but it is in a piel or intensive form, he was entirely alone. Yet, there was a man there.
The word for wrestle is ’avek which in a noun form means dust. As a verb it means to get yourself dusty. This is also found here in a Niphal form. In the past few years there has been a growing acceptance among Hebrew scholars to the idea that a word found in the Niphal makes it reflexive. In other words you would render this as “he wrestled with himself” before a presence that was with him. The Hebrew word ish which is often rendered as man could mean a spiritual man or spiritual presence. He was indeed alone with no other corporal being around, but there was a spiritual presence.
Now let’s take a harder look at this word wrestle or avek. It is used only one other time in the Old Testament and that is in Song of Solomon 3:6 where the word is rendered as a fragrant powder but should really be rendered as dust. Read Song of Solomon 3:6 and substitute powder for dust and see what you get.
Nevertheless, the thing to keep in mind is that wrestling as a sport did not come into being until the time of the Greeks and Romans. Translators figured our modern term wrestling fit this situation because what would two people be doing getting each other dusty if they were not wrestling. Our recent insight into the Hebrew language, thanks in part to the Dead Sea Scrolls, gives us credibility to call a Niphal reflexive and if that is the case then Jacob was rolling in the ground, getting himself dusty before a Spiritual being which could very well have been Jesus.
Did you ever hear the phrase, walking in his footsteps? The origin of that little saying comes from an ancient belief that when a person walks, a part of his wisdom and intelligence passes through the soles of his feet onto the dust. This belief was so strong that disciples would actually role in the dust of their master hoping to pick up traces of his wisdom.
Now let’s look at the time table here. Jacob was on his way to meet his brother Esau. When we last see Esau and Jacob together Esau was out to kill Jacob for stealing his birthright. God is leading Jacob to return back to his homeland, look up his brother and make peace with him, even if it means returning the inheritance that he had stolen. I would say that Jacob had a real problem with all this and he was sort of hoping God would call the whole thing off before someone got hurt.
Have you ever stayed up all night agonizing before God? You might even call it wrestling with God as you had to make an important decision. You might have bowed down before God or laid flat on your stomach before God and even rolled back and forth agonizing before God over some decision or situation. You know maybe it is possible that this so called wrestling match with an angel was no a physical match at all. Perhaps it was a mental and emotional act. Maybe this whole thing was not as dramatic as we make it out to be, that it was not much different than what you or I would do when facing a difficult decision, we would roll back in bed, tossing and turning agonizing over a decision or situation we faced. We would stay up all night weighing the pros and cons. Rolling in the dust? Maybe half our battle in making such a decision is trying to determine what God’s will is. Yet, we will not just lay back and rest in God, let Him prevail over us and absorbed the wisdom of God rather than trying to depend upon our own wisdom to resolve the issue keeping us awake all night. Perhaps Jacob avek wrestling or rolling in the dust hoping to absorb some of the wisdom of God so he would really know and understand God’s God’s perfect will.
For me, most of my wrestling matches are not with God or an angel but with myself until I finally I let God prevail.
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