Jacob 3: The Face of God

Genesis 32-36

Sorry for the late entry. The Cotton household has turned into an infirmary as my wife and younger son are now repeating my Monday experience with a bug that’s been spreading all over Lubbock.

In Genesis 32, we find what is easily one of my top five biblical passages. Isn’t it funny how great fear and traumatic experiences can stir strong experiences of the presence of God (“no atheists in foxholes!”)? Jacob has an experience with angels and then sets about his greatest manipulation yet – a parade in honor of his brother. The last time they have spoken, Esau was screaming that he would kill his twin brother for cheating him out of his rightful double portion of Isaac’s inheritance. The story is hilarious. Esau and his family are accompanied by a militia of 400 fighting men. In the wilds of southern Canaan it was wise to be armed. Jacob has only his swindled wealth and his family and flocks. He divides his people so that at least part might escape Esau’s wrath. Then Jacob gets really desperate and prays. But notice he is only slightly repentant (one “I’m not worthy”), but instead holds God to his word of covenant (not that Jacob’s word has been worthy anything). After prayer the parade begins, hoping to call on the much stronger and armed Esau’s sense of sympathy. After that, the coward sends all the woman and children ahead of him. But his real battle is ahead, a mano a mano with God.

The wrestling match with a man all night is one we can relate to in key times of stress – the sleepless nights, the wrestling with decisions and options. But the real match is with God and about who we will be in that situation. Jacob (the trickster) has now met his match. He is always used to coming out on top, but now he will win by losing – a metaphor for life in both the Jewish and Christian perspectives. Jacob will not let go without the man’s blessing, so the man gives him a new name, Israel. Remember “Tatanka” in the movie Dances With Wolves? The Native Americans gave Kevin Costner's character the new name. Jacob is renamed “one who struggles with God”. So would be the history of the nation by that name, and so it is with those who are part of what Paul calls “the new Israel,” like you and me.

Jacob sets up another altar and names a holy place, “Peniel”, which in Hebrew means "face of God". In the end, Esau sees the parade and laughs. Jacob gives his rehearsed speech, with all the overdone, “I am your servant, you are my Lord” stuff. How ironic that the prophecy of Isaac was that the older would serve the younger. Clearly, at least in rhetoric, the language is the opposite. But what “the struggler with God” experiences is the power of forgiving grace. And the words Jacob uses with Esau in 33:10 are powerful, “For to see your face is like seeing Peniel – the face of God.” Is there anything more humbling and disarming than to see the face of God in the one you have hurt, who has chosen to forgive you? I guess we could see what Jacob says as the ultimate manipulation, but I really think it is sincere.

In Genesis 34, it’s all back to deception, with the defiling of Dinah and the vengeance taken by her brothers. Deception, retaliation, and increasing theft and violence. This, too, is the story of God’s people – a blessed and gifted people, but self-centered and misdirected. In Genesis 35, Jacob returns to Bethel, the place where he saw the ladder of angels. God tells him to go there and Jacob makes a new commitment of his family to God and gets rid of the idols and the jewelry they had accumulated. Jacob’s life has come full circle and he is different. The covenant from Genesis 28 is now renewed and updated in Genesis 35.

Genesis 35 is also one of great grief: Rebekah’s nurse, Rachel and Isaac all die. Rachel dies in giving birth to Benjamin. Joseph and Benjamin were her two sons. The story of Joseph to follow has everything to do with who their mother was. In the burial of Isaac, the mention that both Esau and Jacob participated together is important.

Take a moment to consider the times when your life has come full circle – in what you do, in where you are, in who you know, and your renewal experiences with God. The places and the people are often somewhat the same, but everything is different, thanks to the amazing grace and the reconciling power of God.