Wrestling Jacob

The story of “Wrestling Jacob” in Gen 32 is a staple of evangelical piety. Interpreted as being about prayer, and tied in with the account of the “importunate widow”, it has been the basis for much teaching about perseverance in intercession, and the need to wrestle with God until he blesses us. 

I don’t want to question all aspects of that kind of teaching, although I have some doubts about elements of it. But I am sure that it is not really the subject of this passage. The problem is that when we attach a bit of popular piety to a passage, we end up not hearing what the text is really saying, and fail to take the shock or strangeness of the passage seriously. We read it through the spectacles of popular piety, rather than wrestling (pun intended) with the text. 

Interaction with non-evangelical readings can be helpful here, as they often hit us harder with the force of the text than do smoothed-out Sunday School bowdlerisms. As an example, although I really dislike Rachel Held Evans’ conclusions regarding the “Sacrifice of Isaac” in Gen 22, I seriously love the way she wakes people up to the stark horror of what is going on. We daren’t lose the shock of the text!

Gen 22 is shocking, and so is 32. What we have here is not a friendly bout of tag, a tussle between macho chums, even a moment of Old Testament horseplay. It is an alarming, even terrifying attack on a man who is already at the end of his resources, alone and afraid. It is the stuff of horror movies, and we domesticate it at our peril. How is it possible to avoid that domestication, to avoid contorting and squeezing the text, and at the same time treat this passage, as with all the Old Testament, as a book about Jesus, as he himself saw it (Luke 24)? 

When looking at narrative, it is good to be alert to any markers in the text itself as to what the writer thinks is significant. Not every biblical narrator does this, and not in every account, but where such markers crop up we would be foolish to ignore them. In the account of “wrestling Jacob” we have several elements that scream that Israel ought to remember what happened. We have two name changes (place and man), and we have an ongoing food taboo which would remind every Jew of this account as he/she butchered a carcase or roasted a joint. These elements tell us that what happened here is formative. Immediately we are alert – and perhaps looking for something deeper than “our nation got its name because our ancestor once spent all night praying.”
  

 

This passage is about the fundamentals of Israel’s (and our) relationship with God. Jacob’s own name means “heel grabber” – he has been wrestling since birth. There is a play on his name, the verb to wrestle and the name of the stream here – Jacob is jacobbing by the Jabbok. He has always tried to fight for his rights – and more than his rights, at times. He wants to win by his wits, by his cunning, by his deceit. 

Now he finds himself in a fearful situation. Behind him is Laban, the uncle from whom he stole, and to whom he can never go back. Ahead of him is Esau, the brother he cheated, who terrifies him. He has split all his wealth into two so as to cut his losses if Esau swoops to attack, and he has tried to sweeten his twin with gifts as they draw closer together. 

With all his family, people and possessions on the Esau side of the stream, Jacob finds himself alone, scared and weak. And in the darkness he is attacked. All night long, he fights for his life, until suddenly, when he finds he “cannot win”, the man who attacked him makes absolutely clear with just a touch that he can disarm, disempower, destroy Jacob at will at any time, and could have done so all along. All of Jacob’s strength and cunning, all his trickery and self-reliance, are overturned and shown to be utterly valueless in this terrifying encounter. The self-made man becomes the met-his-match man. With a lurch in the pit of his stomach he learns that, if he has appeared to do well for a time, it is only because his appalling adversary has come down to his level. The mystery attacker has allowed him to win, as a dad allows his three year old to beat him in a race. There is no true parity of power here, no close call, no photofinish. The fighters seem well-matched, but fleetingly, and only because one has chosen to limit his power. Jacob thought there was a contest – but actually, there is no contest, and he perceives who the Enemy is that has attacked him in the night. 

The horror of the encounter is obvious, but the shock of the passage comes in the tail end of the fight with that touch. And the striking thing is that, in the light of what it reveals about Jacob’s attacker, the surprise is then NOT in the sudden touch of power but in the fact that Jacob appeared to be holding his own at all. THAT is the mystery here: Infinity has robed himself in Finity.

  
Jacob is beaten and he knows it, but still he hangs on. He has met someone far more frightening than Laban and Esau, and yet he is alive! He even appeared to have had the upper hand for a while. This Adversary has chosen to come in weakness! So Jacob, defeated and knowing it, holds on and asks for a blessing. And he is blessed. For that is why this Mighty One attacked him. God, the Mightier Wrestler, has come vulnerably, to overthrow Jacob’s cunning self-reliance once and for all, and so to bless him truly.

If I were filming this, I would close with a huge zoom, dawn shot. As the massive sun comes over the horizon, it silhouettes Jacob, Jacob limping away from the scene, a changed man. That limp will always be with him – and with his people via the culinary reminder built into the passage. But the limping man is no longer simply Jacob, the Cunning Wrestler. He is Israel, the Limper who met the Conquering God and was blessed.

Here is the heart of the story, and the reason why it is formative for Israel as a people and normative for their understanding of God and his gospel. It is about their forefather, the self-reliant schemer, reaching the end of himself. He reaches the end not because he has just run out of steam, but because he has been attacked and overthrown by God. (This is the real, authentic God – Jacob has other gods – he has stolen Laban’s… was that purely for monetary value or as yet another way of hedging his bets, a clever move in the wrestling ring of appeasing possible divinities? ) In this power encounter with the Living God, in his overpowered weakness, Jacob has at last found true blessing, a changed identity, even a new beginning.

This self-reliant schemer is not just anyone, nor is he an Everyman. He is a patriarch, a nation-founder. As with his father and grandfather, his experiences are Israel’s experiences. What happens to him, happens to all, and all are to learn from it and live by it.

The Old and New Testaments are different. There is a discontinuity between them. But there is also massive continuity – that is the understanding of the NT authors and of Jesus himself. And this formative story for OT Israel is still a normative account for us. For what happens to Jacob in Gen 32 is still the shape of the gospel. This account is not to teach us about one (albeit crucial) element of piety. It is about the fundamental nature of our relationship with God. We can’t safely encounter him with our cunning or our strength. We can’t come with our clever arguments and self-justification. And we certainly can’t come with a few idols in our baggage as back-up!

Who is the most frightening person in the universe? The one who will judge the living and the dead, that’s who! He is coming... but he has already come, and at our size, vulnerably, woundably, even killably. For in that meeting, we did kill him. But he rose! When we perceive who That Man is and what he will do, we see our defeat. Like those who killed him, convicted of the horror of Christicide at Pentecost, we cry out, “What shall we do?” “Hang on in there”, says Peter – “Believe on this same name, and you will be blessed, you will be forgiven!"

What is a Christian? Someone who, awed by the power, majesty, holiness and justice of God in Christ, admits defeat, discarding their “goodness”, their strength, their cunning, their self-reliance, and clinging to the Saviour in powerlessness and yet the assurance that he has come close to bless us. That is what Jacob had to learn – and the whole nation in him. This moment was formative – normative – for him. The Cunning Wrestler was renamed after his Conquering God. The only hope of Israel, and us, is consciousness of weakness and awe in his presence, and thus confidence in his power alone, and in his desire to bless and save. Are you clinging on to him in defeat?

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Years ago when I began working on this story, I found some help from the commentaries, but it was only at the end of the process, when looking for hymns, that I realised how close Charles Wesley’s great hymn Wrestling Jacob is to the theme as I perceive it. Isaac Watts apparently said of this hymn “that sin­gle po­em is worth all the vers­es I have writ­ten.” It is a towering achievement as a religious poem, but best of all, I think it gets right to the heart of Genesis 32 as read in the light the New Testament.
 

FIRST PART.

Come, O thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see;
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with thee;
With thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell thee who I am;
My sin and misery declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name;
Look on thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.

In vain thou strugglest to get free;
I never will unloose my hold:
Art thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let thee go
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

Wilt thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable name?
Tell me, I still beseech thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let thee go
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

SECOND PART.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak;
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name be Love.

'T is Love! 't is Love! Thou diedst for me;
I hear thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Pure, universal Love thou art;
To me, to all, thy bowels move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see thee face to face;
I see thee face to face and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

I know thee, Saviour, who thou art,
Jesus, the feeble sinner's friend;
Nor wilt thou with the night depart,
But stay and love me to the end;
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

The Sun of Righteousness on me
Hath risen, with healing in his wings;
Withered my nature's strength; from thee
My soul its life and succor brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt till life's short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness, I
On thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from thee to move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey;
Hell, earth, and sin with ease o'ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And, as a bounding hart, fly home;
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and thy name is Love. 

Charles Wesley

A hymn for Dawkins, for Isis and for us.

A favourite hymn 

Ye servants of God,
your Master proclaim,
and publish abroad
his wonderful Name;
the Name all-victorious
of Jesus extol:
his kingdom is glorious;
he rules over all.

2 God ruleth on high,
almighty to save;
and still he is nigh:
his presence we have.
The great congregation
his triumph shall sing,
ascribing salvation
to Jesus our King.

3 Salvation to God
who sits on the throne!
Let all cry aloud,
and honour the Son.
The praises of Jesus
the angels proclaim,
fall down on their faces,
and worship the Lamb.

4 Then let us adore,
and give him his right:
All glory and power,
all wisdom and might,
all honor and blessing,
with angels above,
and thanks never ceasing
and infinite love.

This hymn, by Charles Wesley, has long been a favourite. I love its deceptive simplicity - it is a hymn of praise to Jesus which sneaks a lot of doctrine in by the back door! Or to be fair, it is a hymn of praise from a poet with a light touch but a deep grounding in essential Christian doctrine. I love its internal logic: the way verses 1 and 2 and 3 interconnect to make massive statements about the deity of Christ. I have put those connections down to Charles Wesley's genius. 

But I may have been wrong. As I started to write about the hymn, and researching its original text, I had some surprises. The version with which we are familiar is shorter than the original, and leaves out two (or thirteen - see below) verses. The first of my much-loved  Christological connections just doesn't happen the same way when the current verses 1 and 2 are distanced by two others. 

It is the missing material which locates the hymn specifically in its historical context. It was 1744, a year of considerable turmoil and fear of a French invasion, and the Methodist societies were being, rather oddly to us, accused of being disguised Roman Catholics, or at least of being Jacobites - supporters of the exiled pretender to the throne, James Edward Stuart. In fact, the Wesleys' older brother Samuel had indeed shown some support for the Stuarts, but Charles and John were vocal supporters of King George and the Hanoverian line. If anything, Charles was even more painstaking than John in distancing himself from any semblance of rebellion; on Tuesday, 6 March, he wrote to his brother urging him not even to use the name Methodist, but strictly to emphasise that the movement was faithful to the Church of England. 

Throughout this period there were public demonstrations against the Methodists, with a serious level of violence to contend with on an almost daily basis; stones thrown in the street and drunken trouble-makers frequently entering meetings to hurt and disrupt. In addition, there were dangers inherent in the movement itself; at Leeds on 14th March the floor of the upper room in which Charles was preaching gave way under the mass of hearers. Although everyone escaped with their lives, there were some serious injuries. 

Something of the flavour of the times can be seen in, for example, John Wesley's journal entry for 23 and 30 January:

"On Monday, January 23, a great mob gathered together at Darlaston, a mile from Wednesbury. They fell upon a few people who were going to Wednesbury, and among the rest, on Joshua Constable's wife, of Darlaston. Some of them threw her down, and five or six held her down, that another might force her. But she continued to resist, till they changed their purpose, beat her much, and went away. 

Mon. 30.—The mob gathered again, broke into Joshua Constable's house, pulled part of it down, broke some of his goods in pieces, and carried the rest away; particularly all his shop goods, to a considerable value. But not satisfied with this, they sought for him and his wife, swearing they would knock their brains out. Their little children meantime, as well as themselves, wandered up and down, no one daring to relieve or take them in, lest they should hazard their own lives. 

Against the backdrop of such tension and violence, the Wesleys issued a pamphlet of hymns under the title, Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution. Several hymns were prayers for the king, a purposeful demonstration of loyalty. Just to take one example:

1 SOVEREIGN of all! whose will ordains
The powers on earth that be,
By whom our rightful Monarch reigns,
Subject to none but thee:

2 Stir up thy power, appear, appear,
And for thy servant fight;
Support thy great vicegerent here,
And vindicate his right.

The first edition of the pamphlet was published on 1st March, when the French had made a first unsuccessful invasion attempt, thwarted by storm force winds in the channel. Ye servants of God was issued in the second version of the pamphlet, which came out around a month later. It was the first hymn in a new section entitled Hymns to be sung in a tumult, and it is likely that Charles Wesley had both the recent weather and the political and spiritual turmoil of the country in mind. 

It is interesting to look at the original text, which has three sections. 

Part 1 

1 Ye servants of God, 

your Master proclaim,

And publish abroad 

his wonderful name,

The name all-victorious 

of Jesus extoll;

His kingdom is glorious, 

and rules over all.

2 The waves of the sea 

have lift up their voice,

Sore troubled that we 

in Jesus rejoice;

The floods they are roaring, 

but Jesus is here,

While we are adoring, 

he always is near.

3 Men, devils engage, 

the billows arise,

And horribly rage, 

and threaten the skies:

Their fury shall never 

our stedfastness shock,

The weakest believer 

is built on a Rock.

4 God ruleth on high, 

almighty to save,

And still he is nigh, 

his presence we have;

The great congregation 

his triumph shall sing,

Ascribing salvation 

to Jesus our King.

5 Salvation to God 

who sits on the throne!

Let all cry aloud, 

and honour the Son!

Our Jesus’s praises 

the angels proclaim,

Fall down on their faces, 

and worship the Lamb.

6 Then let us adore, 

and give him his right,

All glory, and power, 

and wisdom, and might,

All honour, and blessing, 

with angels above,

And thanks never ceasing, 

and infinite love.

This section contains all of the hymn we know, but the two additional verses shift the emphasis solidly to the rule of God and of his Christ over a world of human and demonic persecution. There is a sub-theme of Christ's presence "in the praises of his people".  

Part 2

1 Omnipotent King, 

who reignest on high,

Thy mercy we sing, 

thy haters defy,

We give thee thy glory, 

tho’ Satan oppose,

And gladly adore thee, 

in sight of thy foes.

2 The reprobates dare 

their master proclaim,

And loudly declare 

their sin and their shame;

Presumptuous in evil, 

their god they avow,

Their father the devil; 

and worship him now.

3 And shall we not sing 

our Master and Lord,

Our Maker and King, 

by angels ador’d,

Our merciful Saviour, 

who brought us to God,

And purchas’d us favour 

by shedding his blood.

4 Yes, Lord we adore, 

tho’ all men deny,

And tell of thy power, 

triumphantly nigh:

O Jesu, we bless thee, 

our Jesus proclaim,

And gladly confess thee, 

for ever the same.

5 In tumult and noise, 

we sing of thy grace,

More mighty our joys, 

more hearty our praise,

Our triumphs are higher, 

and warmer our zeal,

And thee ever nigher 

than Satan we feel.

6 The sinners we see, 

who Satan obey,

Much happier we, 

much wiser than they,

Our Master is greater, 

he makes us his heirs,

And O! How much better 

our wages than theirs!

7 Our Jesus is near, 

whenever we sing,

Among us we hear 

the shout of a King;

Our voices are stronger 

than theirs who blaspheme,

And surely we longer 

shall triumph than them.

This section takes up more directly the nature of the opposition. It is satanic, and it is doomed. This should encourage believers to boldness in praise and boldness in proclamation. Once again the fact of Christ's presence with those who sing his praises us affirmed. 

Part 3

1 All conquering Lord, 

whom sinners adore,

Remember thy word, 

and stir up thy power,

Drive Satan before thee, 

his advocates chase:

Or let them adore thee, 

or yield to thy grace.

2 O pity, and spare, 

and save them from death,

Pluck’d out of his snare, 

snatch’d out of his teeth;

Almighty Redeemer, 

to whom all things bow,

Cast down the blasphemer, 

and rescue them now.

3 O why should he take 

thy purchase away?

Thy fury awake, 

and fly on the prey;

Thy purchase recover, 

that Satan may feel,

Thy kingdom is over 

earth, heaven, and hell.

4 O answer the prayer 

of prevalent faith,

In mercy forbear 

these children of wrath,

And give them repentance, 

let mercy take place,

Reverse the sad sentence, 

and save them by grace.

If the middle section appears in any way to be simply gloating in the certainty of ultimate triumph, the last section gives the hymn it's real goal. As many rise in hate against the gospel and gospel people, Wesley is not simply certain of their downfall at the end of time: he is praying for their much swifter capitulation to the power of the gospel. His argument at the heart of the section is based in his understanding of Christ's atonement: Jesus died for these people, how can that redemptive price be wasted? The aggression in the language is fantastic - calling on Christ to "fly on the prey" is not language for the faint-hearted!

Conclusions

If you start to look into something, be prepared to go where your research takes you, and be ready to let go of your initial ideas! In my case, a fascination with the Christological affirmations in the hymn as we know it has led to a totally different view of it as seen in its original form. 

Having said which... the editorial genius behind the version we know cannot be overestimated. I am now trying to check this, but I think, given the earliness of the edit, that it was probably John Wesley himself who, not for the last time, had a happy ability to abbreviate one of his brother's hymns  and thus create a text of universal appeal and usefulness. The logic links I have loved ARE there, and someone spotted them. They are still worth laying hold of as you sing the hymn. Jesus is God! God's reign is Jesus' reign! The salvation Jesus achieved is God's salvation! 

But the unedited version is worth discovering. As we ourselves head into a time of uncertainty and rising persecution, as we hear terrible news of violence against Christians and churches, the certainty and hope of this hymn should encourage us. It is a song to strengthen the faint-hearted. It is a song to put backbone into the spineless. We may not need to sing all 17 verses, but we need their spirit. 

That is especially so of the final section. The Wesleys ministered at a time not simply of persecution, but of persecution because the Evangelical Societies were seen as dangerous to the country. The established church had, by and large, slipped into Deism - a religion that stressed the otherness and distance of God to the point that any call for repentance or action based on His presence and power was seen as rather threatening and even "unEnglish". It is not hard to imagine how the early Methodists' radical call might be heard as "contrary to British values" today. Nor is it hard to see the present slide into post-modern vagueness within the church as an echo of the Middle-of-the-roadness of  Deism. The crying need of the church in general and of the Salvation Army in particular today is not to embrace ever more fully the "spirit of the age" as the 18th century Anglicans did, but to regain the fire and fervour of our Methodist forebears. 

The sheer evangelical aggressiveness of the final section of the original hymn is breathtaking. This is surely how we should be praying for Dawkins, for the government, for Isis, for our pagan neighbours. This is not the church on the back foot, cowering in the corner. This is fighting talk, and it is based in the certainty of Christ's victory.