The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/genesis/32.htm

If you remember back, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, and as I said, he apparently didn’t value his birthright very much, or God made it trivial to him because God’s plan was to further Jacob.

And Jacob and Rebekah had deceived Isaac, dressing Jacob up in hairy animal skins and representing himself as Esau. Then Esau was angry because Jacob had received the blessing he should have been given. The only one faultless in this story was Isaac, himself.

So Esau and Jacob were at odds and Esau was very angry with Jacob. And now Jacob was returning to the land, to his brother, and he didn’t know what to expect. He sent messengers ahead to tell Esau that he was coming, but the messengers returned, telling Jacob that Esau was coming to meet him and bringing about 400 men with him.

Esau was living in a land named Edom. He was very hairy with red hair, so it is fitting that the definition of “Edom”, is “red”.

So Jacob split his family up so they could not all be attacked all at one time, and the Bible says he sent his wives, servants, and children across the Jabbok River at the ford of Jabbok; from my research, that is west of the Jordan River and today, lies in modern day Jordan.

But Jacob stayed by himself on the east side of the Jabbok, and there, the Bible says that Jacob wrestled with a Man all night, until the break of day. Notice the word “Man” is capitalized, meaning it is a Holy name. This “Man” was without a doubt, Jesus.

And it says that “He” (Jesus) realized He could not defeat Jacob, so when it was dawn, “He” asked Jacob to “let Him go”, and Jacob refused until the “Man” blessed him. And the “Man” blessed Jacob, touched his hip joint which apparently dislocated it, and then changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

And Jacob proclaimed that he had seen God, face-t0-face.

Now you can read this, you can comprehend it, but can you understand it? First off, why would Jesus come and “wrestle” with Jacob. The only thing I can think of is that Jesus cam to bless him, and Jacob was startled and began wrestling with him. At this point, Jacob was still fearful of Esau, and perhaps he thought it was Esau or one of Esau’s servants who had come to subdue him.

But when Jesus asked Jacob to let him go because the sun was coming up, why would Jesus need to do that? He was fully capable of overpowering Jacob.

Then Jacob says that “he has seen the face of God”. If that was the case, why didn’t Jacob’s face shine as did Moses’? The brightness and Glory of God was too much for Israel; it was so much in fact that the Hebrews could not look upon Moses! So why didn’t Jacob’s face shine?

I know, I can look up one of hundreds of answers to my questions, but their answers no doubt have to be “assumptions” as mine are, because reading the text doesn’t give those answers. I have even purchased a Hebrew Bible translated into English, and is even more confusing because the word “Man” isn’t capitalized in the book of study.

So, more things to pray for. Pray for an open heart and mind. Pray for the Spirit of God to come and lead you as you study. Pray that God gives you knowledge and understanding of what you’re reading. And lastly, have faith that God didn’t present His Word as a quiz, that the most important things, the “Meaning of Life” will be readily apparent to you. Amen.