Genesis 32:28 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Genesis 32:28

Comments

His name was changed because he had encountered the Lord and that encounter had transformed him. He needed to be given a new name to reflect this, and only God knew what that name should be. Only God knows the full wonder of what he has made us in Christ. You will no longer be called supplanter, but Israel – literally ‘prince’, prince with God. This was the outcome of his successful wrestling with the Lord. He had prevailed against all the difficulties and all the resistance; he had obtained the blessing. A prince has favour with the king and can enter the royal throne room. Such a person has power with God and man.Tell me your name, says Jacob. He knows it is God – we see this by how he names the place – but he wants the assurance that it is the Lord he has been struggling with in this mysterious experience. He is denied his request and asked, ‘Why are you asking?’ Some say Jacob wanted to know some deep thing, too deep for him. But it is far more likely that it means you have no need to ask, because you already know. Yes it was part of his struggle to know who he struggled with, but he had overcome. God blessed him there with the blessing he had been seeking. His life would be preserved, whatever took place with Esau. Once he is allowed to prevail and is given a new name, he realises he has seen the Lord. He calls the place Peniel, meaning the face of God. Jacob is in no doubt that it is the Lord himself that he has been wrestling with. What an uplift to him! He is so assured, so warmed; he realised he was in the hand of God. But before he gets to this comfort he has to go through a profound struggle. That was the way for him. Peniel – I have seen God face to face. Real prayer almost sees the face of God. Look at the intensity of this prayer. It becomes so intense and personal, and it has this assurance bound up with it that God has heard us. I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Application

Why did the angel of the Lord wrestle with Jacob? Why did God seemingly, when Jacob was at prayer, put up his hand and say, ‘You must struggle. You must agonize. You must plead. You must cry out for help. You must be truly repentant. You must appeal to me with a believing heart. You must plead for this blessing. I will not hear a slight, superficial, easy cry.’ Many or most of our prayers are quite easy, and there's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes God puts up his hand, and you have got to be more in earnest, more longing, more trusting. This was such an occasion. Perhaps pleading for souls is such an occasion. Perhaps praying for a family member, praying for a certain individual, praying for an act of witness, praying for a great endeavour, praying for a visitation in the community, praying for a great undertaking. Perhaps these things all require something more than just, ‘Lord, bless our effort.’ You feel you have almost seen God face to face. This is the lesson of this passage. There are prayers which are delightful, praises and petitions, and there are some prayers that are so important we had better really be in earnest.

When you come to the Lord, you become a member of the family of God. You obtain such status: you are a child of God. We wrestle with God for salvation, for the sick, or for souls, and what blessing comes to us! Jacob knew he was dealing with but something wonderful and deep. Names have meanings. So what does God’s name mean – what is the special character of my God revealed here? The answer given by Charles Wesley in his hymn about this encounter – ‘Come, O Thou Traveller unknown’ – is love and mercy and forgiveness. From that time Jacob had a much deeper relationship with the Lord, and Esau admitted him to the land.

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Genesis 32:28 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Genesis 32:28