LESSON XII.--MARCH 20.

JACOB'S NEW NAME.--GEN. 32:9-12; 24-30.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.--GEN. 32:26.
      TIME.--About B. C. 1739.
      PLACE.--Peniel, east of the Jordan, on the brook Jabbok.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 27:41-46; Gen. 28:13-15; Gen. 31:11-13; Gen. 32:1-8; 13-23; Hosea 11:1-3; Luke 18:1-8.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. A Cry for Help; 2. The Struggle in the. Night; 3. A New Man with a New Name.

INTRODUCTION.

      Twenty years at least have passed since the vision at Bethel; twenty years passed in Haran in the service of Laban; Jacob was now on his return to his father's house, attended by his two wives and a numerous family, also rich in cattle from his thrifty partnership with Laban. Never, during all this long period, had he seen his open-hearted brother Esau whom he had injured. But now, on the point of returning to his native country, the news was brought to him of his brother's approach with 400 armed men, which made a meeting inevitable. Jacob made all his dispositions and arrangements to prepare for the worst. He sent over the brook Jabbok, first, the part of his family which he valued least, and who would be the first to meet Esau; then those whom he loved most, that in the event of danger, they might have the greatest facility in escaping; then Jacob was left alone in the still, dark night. It was in this crisis, when he was still uncertain whether Esau still nourished the purpose to slay him, held twenty years before, when he was filled with anxiety and foreboding, that he sought in the night season communion with God, and enjoyed the remarkable vision that is the subject of this lesson.

      Peniel, the place where this incident occurred, had its name handed down to the after ages. The place became the chief sanctuary of the Transjordanic tribes. Jacob was still on the heights of the hills east of the Jordan, beyond the deep defile where the Jabbok, as its name implies, "wrestles" with the mountains through which it descends to the Jordan. In the dead of night he sent his wives and sons and all that he had, across the defile, and he was left alone; and in the darkness and stillness, in the crisis of his life, in the agony and fear over the issue of to-morrow, there "wrestled" with him one whose name he knew not, until the dawn rose over the hills of Gilead.--Stanley.

      Taking all precautions to propitiate a brother whom he had so greatly offended, he spends the night at the ford of Jabbok, deep down where it enters the Jordan--a mental struggle from which he comes forth, no longer Jacob, "the Supplanter," but Israel, "a Prince of God." It is not necessary to materialize the scene, for the soul is the true sphere of that wrestling which secures spiritual blessing. Nor does even the halting on his thigh [88] involve any physical struggle, though it implies miraculous agency. Its lesson is only an enforcement of what had preceded;--that human policy is no safe reliance, but that he must trust in God. He must be made to feel, too, that he to whom he looks as his Protector, and on whose promises he relies, is pure and holy, and has no pleasure in deceit. The mighty struggle was that of God with the still resisting evil of his nature,--a struggle which cannot be spared to any one who is destined to high spiritual ends, and conscious of being so. His whole past had been, from first to last, more or less a web of craft and contriving. He had striven with men, and might flatter himself that he had overreached them; but he has now to contend with God. The agony was long and terrible,--through the darkness of the night till the dawn--but it was the wrestling of the new higher life with the old and evil; the agony of repentance and new birth, and from it he emerged a new man with a new name. It was needed that he should have such a preparation to enter aright on his great inheritance, from which now only the Jordan divided him.--Geikie.

      I. A CRY FOR HELP.--9. O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord. In order to see the force and fitness of this prayer the circumstances must be kept in mind, The "Lord," Jehovah, the God of the covenant made with Abraham, renewed with Isaac and with Jacob, who had promised to Jacob at Bethel that he should be protected in Haran and led back to his father's house, directed him to return and he had gone thus far, in obedience to the command, on the route to Canaan. Now the tidings had come that Esau, the brother whom he had overreached and supplanted twenty years before and who had determined on his death, was marching upon him with 400 men. Incapable of making a defence, he appealed to the God of the covenant for his protection. It will be observed that Jacob pleads his petition and enforces his prayer by declaring that he was involved in the danger that threatened him by obeying the divine command. It was the Lord who said to him, "Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee."

      10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies. The humility of his petition [89] is the best of evidences of a lowly and contrite spirit. He ascribes all that he possesses, not to himself, but to the divine blessing. He had twenty years before "passed over this Jordan" with his staff as his only possession, a wanderer, carrying forth no property, and with no attendants, but now his possessions had increased to such an extent that he had "become two bands."

      11. Deliver me . . . from the hand of Esau. He counts it certain that Esau was marching upon him in order to fulfill the purpose formed twenty years before. His fears might have been due, in part, to his own guilty conscience, for there is no proof that Esau cherished a bloody purpose. Still Jacob seems to have regarded Esau as a man of savage ferocity, ready even to slay "the mother with the children."

      12. Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good. He stands upon the divine word and quotes it to press his plea. It is his hope and his strength. Cavillers have criticised this method of petitioning God, but it is proper to remind him of his promises. He loves to see us place reliance on his word and stand upon it when we come to him in supplication. Then there is the great covenant promise that his seed should be made as the sand of the sea. In order to the fulfillment of this covenant it was needful that God should preserve the offspring of Jacob from the destroyer. The prayer of Jacob is very simple, very trustful and very touching.

      II. THE STRUGGLE IN THE NIGHT.--24. And Jacob was left alone. After his prayer he had proceeded with his preparations which had occupied the day. He had first prepared a splendid present for his brother which was sent on in advance with a conciliatory message. He then took his wives and children over the brook Jabbok, a stream at the ford where he crossed, about thirty feet wide. Having sent his entire encampment across the stream he returned, probably because he wished to spend the night alone in prayer. There wrestled a man with him. Various opinions have been held of Jacob's antagonist. Hosea, in chapter 12:3, calls him "the angel," while Jacob says in verse 30, "I had seen God face to face." It is probable that, as in the case of the three visitants to Abraham, it was an angel who came as a representative of the Almighty. Some have held that whatever may have appeared to Jacob, the struggle was mental and spiritual, the angel wrestling with [90] the soul of Jacob. Whatever may be true it is easy to discover the real meaning of the conflict.

      25. When he saw that he prevailed not against him. The Speaker's Commentary says: "The mystical meaning of the whole transaction must be of this kind; the time was an important epoch in Jacob's history. It was a turning point in his life. There had been much most faulty in his character, which had led him to much trouble, and subjected him to long penitential and reformatory discipline. He was now returning after an exile of twenty, or more probably of forty years, to the land of his birth, which had been promised to him as an inheritance. It was a great crisis. Should he fall under the power of Esau and suffer to the utmost for his former sins? or should be obtain mercy and be received back to his father's house as the heir of the promises? This eventful night, this passage of the Jabbok, was to decide; and the mysterious conflict in which, by divine mercy and strength, he was permitted to prevail, is vouchsafed to him as an indication that his repentance, matured by long schooling and discipline, and manifested in fervent and humble prayer, is accepted with God." I think the spiritual force of "he prevailed not" is that Jacob was not willing to surrender his self-confidence, his self-trust and his selfishness. The divine messenger wrestled with his spirit to induce him to surrender his sins and cast himself entirely in the arms of God. There was still a trust in his own craft and strength and a readiness to cling to his old sins until he was taught his helplessness. The hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint. Thus he was taught his physical helplessness, and to humble him. "As Paul had a thorn in the flesh given to humble him lest he should be too much exalted by the abundance of the revelations given him, so Jacob's lameness was to keep him mindful of this mysterious scene, and that it was in gracious condescension that the victory was yielded to him."--Jamieson. He was brought by the physical infirmity which showed him that he was helpless in the hands of God, into that very frame of mind that fitted him, by renouncing self, to prevail with God. Paul said, "When I am weak, then I am strong." It was when Jacob saw his weakness that he was strong enough to prevail.

      26. I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. This is the culminating point of the struggle, the very acme of the conditions to successful prayer. In the outward form of the contest, which shadows forth the spiritual conflict, Jacob stands maimed and almost helpless. As if to test him, at daybreak, his [91] antagonist, who had shown him that he was as wax in his hands, exclaimed, "The day dawns; let me go." Then the helpless Jacob, fully conscious of his own weakness and needs, ready to die in this struggle for the divine help rather than to die without the divine help, exclaimed, "I will not let thee go," etc. As though he had said: I cannot be denied. I have thy promise; it touches this very case; protection and succor I need or I fail; I cannot let go my hold. I must have help and have it now, or I perish. This is the spirit of all successful prayer. The widow who demanded justice of the unjust judge (Luke 18) would not be denied, and teaches us to "pray always and faint not." Rachel travailed on her knees over her barrenness and exclaimed, "Give me children, or I die," and God heard her and took away her shame. John Knox carried the case of Scotland, given over to Romish idolatry, to the throne of grace, night and day, and those who listened to his wrestlings with the angel of the Lord in his closet would hear him exclaim, "O God, give me Scotland, or I die!" God heard him and delivered Scotland from the Romish yoke. Judson, the missionary, once said: "Whatever I have set my heart upon and asked earnestly and persistently of God, in some way, but perhaps not in my way, and at some time, but perhaps not in my time, has always been bestowed."

      III. A NEW MAN WITH A NEW NAME.--27. And he said, What is thy name? His name is asked, not for information, but in order to call attention to his former, and to show the need of a new man who would be worthy of a new name. The name Jacob, meaning "Supplanter," was a continual reminder of the narrow, selfish life that he had lived in the past. He had supplanted his brother by overreaching him, had been overreached by Laban in the matter of his daughters, but had then craftily overreached him in business. Henceforth he must not be a "Supplanter." There must be a new life with a new name.

      28. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Israel means a "prince with God," one who prevails with God, who has prevailed in the struggle of prayer and obtained the blessing he sought. The change of name thus indicates the change in Jacob's relations to God and to Esau which followed his victory in this prayer-struggle. "The strength by which he prevailed was as truly God's as that by which God in outward show contended against him. Indeed we must not consider God in this transaction as acting in the double capacity of an adversary and an assailant."--Bush. From this time Jacob became a new man; his selfishness and his duplicity are seen no more. It was after this wrestle in the darkness that he got a new heart, a new [92] character and a new name. Hast prevailed. The fact that he had prevailed with God was a pledge that he would prevail with men;--with Esau on the morrow,--because it was a proof that God would watch over and protect him. Whoever prevails with God will also prevail with men.

      29. Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. A new name had been bestowed on Jacob, and this emboldens him to ask the name of his celestial visitor, whom he doubtless recognized as the messenger of Jehovah. It is possible that he wished to know his name in order that he might invoke his help in time of need. If this was his purpose, it was a mistaken one, and the name is not given, perhaps for the same reason that God took the body of Moses. Instead of the name he received a blessing. He had cried, "I will not let thee go, unless thou dost bless me," and in this request he prevailed. Blessed him. An interest in the angel's blessing is better than acquaintance with his name. The tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge. Thus Jacob carried his point;--a blessing he wrestled for, and a blessing he had; nor did ever any of his praying seed seek in vain. See how wonderfully God condescends to countenance and to crown importunate prayer. Those who resolve, though God slay them, yet to trust in him, will at length be more than conquerors.--Henry.

      30. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. The word Peniel means "the face of God." Jacob, conscious of the divine blessing, thought that he had looked upon the divine face, a mistake on his part we suppose, as Hosea declares that he wrestled with an angel, and Christ affirms that no man hath seen God at any time. The name continued for many centuries to cling to the spot as a memorial of the event.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      We cannot ever escape our sins. Their consequences will come upon us in the hour of trouble.

      The greatest foe we have is ourselves. If we can prevail over self we will prevail with God.

      To every saint is given a now name. It implies that he has laid aside the old character, and has a new heart and new life.

      In time of trouble God is the only sure refuge. If we can only rest in the rifted rock we are secure and safe from all harm. [93]

      It is right in danger to take all possible human precautions, but the strong reliance must be on God. "Trust in God and keep your powder dry."

      Jacob's new name was Israel. All saints are of the true Israel; that is, prevailers. How full of promise it is that God should call his praying children by this name! It is a pledge that they shall prevail with him.

      The true Israel are the children of Israel who are men of firm faith and earnest prayer. This is the significance of the phrase.

      He who wins God to his side will win man. He who prevails with God will prevail with man.

      THE DAY BREAKETH.--Let it break. Jacob might have replied, What is that to me? I have a thousand reasons why I will not let thee go, and even the breaking of the day is one of them. A perilous day is approaching. This day I will meet with my brother Esau. I stand in special need of thy blessing. Thou doest well to remind me of it that I may cleave the closer to thee.--Bush.

      EXCEPT THOU BLESS ME.--Latimer so plied the throne of grace with his "Once again, once again, restore the Gospel to England," that he would have no nay at God's hands. He many times continued kneeling and knocking so long together that he was not able to rise without help. His knees were grown hard like camel's knees, as Eusebius reports of James, the Lord's brother. Paul prayed thrice, that is, until he had his desire.--Trapp.

      PRAYER IN THE BIBLE.--Our Savior prayed himself into an "agony," and we are bidden "to strive in prayer," even to an agony (Rom. 15:30). Nehemiah prayed himself pale (Neh. 2:2). Daniel prayed himself "sick" (Dan. 8:27). Hannah prayed, striving with such an unusual motion of her lips, that old Eli, looking at her, thought that she was drunk (1 Sam. 1:13). Elijah put his head between his knees, as straining every string of his heart in prayer (1 Kings 18:42). He prayed, and prayed, saith St. James, and by his prayer he had what he would of God.--Ibid.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Outline the trouble between Jacob and Esau. 2. Give the changes that had taken place since their parting twenty years before and the condition [94] of each. 3. Describe the circumstances that surround Jacob at Peniel; on the march, at the ford of Jabbok; point out where he was, near Palestine. 4. Show why he was so startled when he heard Esau was coming. His fears spring from his sins. 5. Show what grounds he had for confidence and courage. 6. Show how he leans upon the covenant in his prayer. 7. Describe the night scene, all alone, in the mountain gorge, and the wrestle in the darkness. 8. Point out the spiritual significance of the wrestling. 9. Show that "Unless thou bless me I will not let thee go" is the key to all successful prayer. 10. Indicate the meaning of Jacob's dislocation of his thigh, and how it helped to victory. 11. Show why the new name Israel was given. 12. Point out those who are the "children of Israel now," and how they prevail.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: