Jacob at Penuel: The blessing of God
“I will not let You go unless You bless me!” (Genesis 32:26).
Jacob was in the house of Laban, his uncle, for twenty years. He spent those years under the authority of a man who was shrewder and more materialistic than Jacob ever was. God taught him some bitter lessons during that time; he also learned about the faithfulness of God’s promise, “I am with you” (Genesis 28:15). God also fulfilled His promise to take Jacob safely home.
He returned home as the wealthy head of a large family. At the brook Jabbok he sent his wives, children, household and great possessions ahead of him. And he stood alone once more. He must have remembered the day when he was alone at Bethel, and God spoke to him of His marvellous grace.
This time God did not speak to him in a dream from heaven. Instead, He came down to Jacob and wrestled with him (Genesis 32:24-31). This unusual event conveys all the struggles that were in Jacob’s life and was the means God used to bring him into blessing. The woman in Mark 5 discovered the power of the Lord Jesus in a simple touch. God did not throw Jacob to the ground to end Jacob’s struggles. No, He touched Jacob’s hip, and he was helpless. Then, just as like Jesus on the road to Emmaus, God “made as though He would have gone further”. But Jacob cries, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” (Genesis 32:26). This cry expressed the need that had always been in Jacob’s heart. He had sought blessing by being ruthless and cheating his brother. He had experienced the goodness of God as he struggled in Laban’s house. But there was something more he needed. God’s question is powerful. “What is your name?” (Genesis 32:27). God knew Jacob’s name. He wanted Jacob to know it. Why? Because it conveyed everything he was naturally. It summed him up as a man. He answers, “Jacob”. And God immediately responded by giving him the new name “Israel”. In response, Jacob asks God His name. But God says, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” (Genesis 32:29). And God blesses him. God was, as it were, saying to Jacob, “You know Me. You met Me at Bethel. I was with you all those difficult years in Laban’s house, and I am with you now.” The difference was that Jacob saw God face to face. He understood at last that we find true blessing in the presence of God. He loves and cares for us and wants us to know the reality of His presence every day of our lives. Job wrote at the end of his struggles with suffering and pain:
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).
Jacob called the place Peniel because he had seen God face to face. From that day onward, every step Jacob took was a reminder that God had blessed him. He knew his weakness, and he knew the power of God in that weakness. Many more struggles and much suffering awaited Jacob. But he was transformed by the blessing of God’s presence into a person who blessed others. Jacob blessed Pharaoh and he blessed his own children and grandchildren. In Hebrews 11:21 Jacob, the man who began his life so far from God, ended his life so close to God. He worshipped leaning on his shepherd’s staff and blessed his children in the name of God, who had shepherded him all the days of his life. “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Psalm 23:1).
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