GENESIS
September 30, 2017
By Pastor Kim Hickcox
(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)
We are going to back up a little today to talk about the night before Jacob and Esau finally meet again, as it was a life-changing experience for Jacob because he wrestles with God (Genesis 32:25-33). And it is here where Y’shua shows up in Scripture.
Genesis 32:25-29 says, “And Jacob was left alone, and a Man wrestled with him there until the breaking of the day. 26And when the Man saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with Him. 27And He said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ And Jacob said, ‘I shall not let You go until You bless me.’ 28And the Man said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ 29And He said, ‘Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and you have prevailed.’”
Now, I have heard a few definitions of both the name Jacob and Israel, and all of them have made sense, but the [new] definitions I learned in the One New Man are the ones I’m holding to:
‘Yaakov’s (Hebrew spelling of Jacob) two names are related: Yaakov means Follow Close After, to heed (God’s will) and Israel means Prevailing with God.’
So upon adoption, we become a member of the family whose name means Prevailing with God. And of course to prevail means to triumph! So we now Triumph (Win) with God!
You will note that in this passage that whenever the Man Jacob wrestled with was referred to, the pronoun always capitalized. The Hebrew word used for Man in this passage is Ish; meaning Husband. As His bride, this is not only symbolic but prophetic:
Jeremiah 3:14, “‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the LORD, ‘for I AM married to youand I shall take you, one from a city, and two from a family and I shall bring you to Zion.’” (bold emphasis added by me) And as we are adopted upon salvation, we are His bride too!
And we now see Y’shua as the Man Jacob, now Israel wrestled with, was blessed by, and prevailed over, thus changing his life forever, and the start of the fulfilling the promise to his grandfather Abraham, albeit mostly still prophetic at this time.
The rest of their exchange reads like this: “And Jacob asked and said, ‘Tell me, I pray You, Your name.’ And He said, ‘Why do you ask after My name?’ And He blessed him there. 31And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. 32And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him, and he was limping on account of his hip.” (Genesis 32:30-32)
Verse 33 which ends our passage is, in my opinion, is a wonderful piece of Biblical trivia, “Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hip socket, to this day because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the sinew that shrank.” What a sign of honor Jacob’s people gave him!
Now let’s go back and review the blessing Isaac gave his son, “May God give you of the dew of the heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 29Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.” (Genesis 27:28-29)
This is a combination of Abraham’s blessing as well as an agricultural and governmental blessing! In Numbers 13:23, when Moses sent spies out to see what the Promised Land would be like, the agricultural report came back like this: “And they came to the brook of Eshkol and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two men; and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs.” IMAGINE a branch with ONE cluster of grapes that has to be carries by two grown men on a pole because it’s so heavy!! Now THAT is agricultural blessing!
And then when we read through 1stSamuel (specifically chapter 8) during King David’s reign, we see that he never lost a war and his heir, Solomon, reigned in peace his entire time (1st Kings 5:1). THAT is governmental blessing!
We saw last time how the meeting between Jacob and Esau went, so now the Lord’s protection and favor reign. We wrap up his journey today with a settlement, “And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram and pitched his tent outside the city. 19And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of kesitah. 20And he erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Yisrael.” Genesis 33:18-20
So he is now in Canaan, which is the Promised Land, and he arrives in peace and favor as he was able to buy a parcel of land for his family and flocks. Now a kesitah was about the worth of ¼ of a shekel, and a shekel was worth, in today’s American dollar value about $1920, so 100 kesitahs would be 25 shekels or about $48K! Must have been prime real estate! Of course, considering the size of his family and flocks, this parcel may have been humongous!
So we end today with Israel having their first legal claim in the land of Canaan. And what did he name it? El Elohe Yisrael: God, God of Israel – of course! Thus the story of our spiritual ancestry and inheritance in the Lord begins…
“And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 23‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons saying, In this way you will bless the children of Israel, saying to them, 24“The LORD will bless you and He will keep you. 25The LORD will make His face to shine upon you and He will be gracious to you. 26The LORD will lift His countenance to you and He will establish Shalom for you.” 27And they will put My name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.’” (Numbers 6:22-27)
The Lord blesses you with His Shalom, meaning that nothing good shall be withheld from you. You are complete in Him – lacking nothing because He is everything! “I have strength to overcome all things in the One Who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)
SHALOM
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