DAILY BIBLE READING --AUG. 30/2000
It is not generally known and little appreciated as to what a powerful man Jacob was. He wrestled with God all night, and was clearly more powerful than God, as God Himself admits. Not only could God not overpower him, but even after God had touched Jacob's hip with a wrestling trick to wrench it--when daylight came, God still could not release Himself from Jacob's incredible grip. Jacob forces God to bless him, and then he allows God to go free. As far as we know, it was the only time God ever tried to best Jacob. With ordinary men, God was able to smite in a very superior manner, but Jacob was a world champion master wrestler and retired undefeated. He never did fully recover from the wrenched hip, however, because the bone was pierced with six holes where the fingers of God had penetrated through the Earthly Flesh...
Genesis 32
24
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25
When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
26
Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27
The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.
28
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
29
Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
30
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." |
