Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 3, Session 3

Summary and Goal

In the past few sessions, we have followed Jacob as he tricked his father and brother, fled from his home, and traveled to Paddan-aram to find a wife.

Even amidst more deception by Jacob and others, God was faithful to His promise to be with Jacob and bless him.

In this session, we will see that God did more than just provide Jacob with a family and possessions; He was also faithful to be at work in Jacob.

God was changing the patriarch—slowly but surely—as He positioned him for the task he had been given.

We will see that in the same way, God is faithful to keep His promises to us and that we too are to respond to His gracious provision of salvation through demonstrating new life in Christ.

Session Outline

Jacob’s old name reflects his flawed character (Gen.

32:24-27).

++Jacob’s new name reflects the grace God has shown him (Gen.

32:28-32; Rev. 3:12).

++Jacob’s new name reflects the task God has given him (Gen.

35:9-15).

Session in a Sentence

God is at work changing His people so that we may fulfill what He has called us to do.

Christ Connection

God’s renaming of individuals in the Old Testament reflects both privilege and responsibility.

As Christians, we bear the name of Christ.

We receive both the privilege of salvation and the responsibility of mission.

Missional Application

Because we have been given the new name of Christians, we live in a manner worthy of the name we have received so that others may praise God for His transforming power.

Group Time

Introduction

Page 121 of the DDG.

If God was writing Scripture about you, think about what that story would look like from the point of view of the omniscient God of creation.

Is Jacob truly that much worse than we our, if the very thoughts and intents of our hearts were to be revealed on written page by God? Yet...

God repeatedly reminded Jacob of the promises He had made to his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac—promises that had been passed on to him.

But despite these repeated promises and experiencing God’s faithful provision, Jacob was still a flawed man, a schemer and a deceiver.

Instead of resting in the promises of God, he took matters into his own hands time and time again.

But along with the promises God had given Jacob, He was also at work transforming Jacob’s character.

Interact: Ask group members the following question.

Why does one’s character matter so much to God?

(a person’s character ought to reflect the character of the Creator; God’s promises of blessing the world are fulfilled primarily and ideally through people of godly character; the good news of the gospel ought to have a positive effect on one’s character or else the world will see no benefit to faith in Jesus)

Jacob failed to rest in God’s promises.

In the very same way, we have our own struggles of faith.

· Jacob took advantage of his brother for the birthright and deceived his father for the family blessing.

· God had promised to give Jacob a family, but he ended up taking on four wives.

· God had also promised Jacob the land and told him to go back home (Gen.

31:3)—where there lived a brother who wanted to kill him years earlier.

What would he do?

Would he take matters into his own hands again?

Or would he trust God to do what He had promised time and time again?

· Jacob’s struggles with faith mirror our own struggles toward Christlikeness.

We too constantly grasp to control the situations we face, especially those that make us anxious or fearful.

What are ways we seek to control our situations without God in the equation?

Definition of ungodliness: living throughout the bulk of our week without much of even a thought for God.

Jerry Bridges, “Respectable Sins”

We speak of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God who deeply cares for us and intimately knows each one of us.

Yet like Jacob, at least at times, we seem to live as though that reality weren’t true.

We too turn inward, trusting in ourselves to make things happen instead of waiting on God.

God did more than just provide Jacob with a family and possessions; He was also faithful to be at work in Jacob.

God was changing the patriarch—slowly but surely—as He positioned him for the task he had been given.

We will see that in the same way, God is faithful to keep His promises to us and that we too are to respond to His gracious provision of salvation through demonstrating new life in Christ.

Point 1: Jacob’s old name reflects his flawed character (Gen.

32:24-27).

Say: In Genesis 31, God told Jacob it was time to go back to the promised land, so Jacob sent messengers ahead of his family to speak with his brother, Esau, hoping to find favor with him.

When the messengers returned, they reported that Esau was coming to meet Jacob—with four hundred men.

So Jacob formed a plan to appease his brother and save his family.

He sent them ahead of himself in waves until he was all alone, but he wouldn’t be alone for long.

Genesis 32:24-27 (DDG p. 122).

24 And Jacob was left alone.

And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?”

And he said, “Jacob.”

DDG (p.

122)

Verse 24[25] establishes that Jacob was the only one remaining behind,437 contributing to the mystery of the unidentified assailant.

The opponent is blandly identified only as “a man” (ʾîs).

There is no explanation provided for the attack.

The word “wrestled” (wayyēʾābēk) is a play on “Jabbok” (yabbōk, vv.

24, 26[25, 27]).

As a play also on Jacob’s name (yaʿăqōb), it is a prelude to the name change he receives by virtue of outdueling the “man.”

The passage heightens the name “Jacob,” for it conveyed as much as anything the selfish character he exhibited until his transformation at the Jabbok.

Mention of the “dawn” also prepares us for the closure of the nightlong struggle, showing that Jacob and the “man” possessed remarkable strength and endurance (cf.

v. 26[27]).

Moreover, mention of the dawn infuses the narrative with mystery, since the unidentified “man” wishes to remain anonymous.

Physical strength characterized Jacob’s life: at birth grasping the heel of Esau (25:26[27]), moving the stone to water Rachel’s sheep (29:10), and working Laban’s herds for twenty years in difficult conditions (31:38–40).

Here he vigorously clinches the “man,” who in what appears to be desperation injures the patriarch in a failed attempt to free himself.

The irony is that Jacob’s physical weakness will recall the transformation of his moral strength.

An apparent victory for Jacob was threatened at the last moment when the “man” wounded Jacob by a blow (nāgaʿ + bĕ) to the hip (yārēk),438 dislocating the joint (v.

25[26]).

The intensity of the strike required by the intruder to weaken Jacob cannot be determined from the text.

The phraseology (nāgaʿ + bĕ) may indicate a mere “touch” (3:3; Exod 19:12) or an aggressive “strike” designed to harm (26:29; Ps 105:15; Ezek 17:10).439

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol.

1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 556–557.

Interact: Ask group members the following question.

How has God humbled you through circumstances to force you to rely more on Him?

God forced Jacob to confront who he was DDG (p.

122).

The Lord dealt a second blow to Jacob that night, through this wrestling match.

While this one wasn’t physical like the first, in many ways it was more devastating.

It came when the “man” asked Jacob for his name and Jacob responded by saying his name out loud—the second blow.

Commentary: Jacob’s name has many similar meanings: “trickster,” “supplanter,” “heel-grabber,” and “deceiver.”

As we have seen, Jacob’s past was littered with the manipulation and trickery of his own family.

The fearful situation he was in that evening as he prepared to face his brother was a direct result of his life of deception.

Jacob’s name was not happenstance; it reflected his nature and character—the core of who he was.

Gen. 27:36

And so, in asking Jacob for his name, the Lord was not seeking information but inviting Jacob to confess his character at last: “I am Jacob.

I am a deceiver.”

Up to this point, Jacob consistently relied on his namesake character in whatever circumstance he faced.

God was going to do an amazing work with Jacob and Esau the next day, but Jacob needed his own moment of clarity first.

So God paved the way for Jacob to meet Esau in complete humility, and it was humility that paved the way to reconciliation.

God required Jacob’s humility for something beyond just a family reunion.

God was continuing His march toward blessing all of humankind with a greater reconciliation—one that would come through Jacob but not feature Jacob.