Genesis 32:25-28 Bible Teaching

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“for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “

Genesis 32.25-33.20
May 14th 2023
BREAK THROUGH MESSAGE
So, we left off last week covering verse 24 of chapter 32 where Moses wrote:

24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

And we talked all about wrestling, about inward inspection, and about the parallels to Christ in the Garden.

We cannot leave this story without pausing to make a break-through insight (at least for me).

The more difficult to see breakthroughs the more earth must be moved to see them, and so let’s move some dirt.

So, let’s read on now from Genesis 32: 25-28

25 And when he (the angel) saw that he (the angel) prevailed not against him,(Jacob) he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he (the angel) said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he (Jacob) said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
27 And he (the angel) said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: (which means, A prince for God) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Alright, back to verse 25:

25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

Have you ever wondered about the strangeness of this wrestling match and how this messenger from God, who was so powerful that at the end of the match Jacob will say that He saw God face to face but that the angel could not prevail against Jacob?

I mean it says it right there – and when he saw that he prevailed not against him???” And then it seems in response to this he chooses to hobble the man?

What is happening here? And what is the meaning? And then even after the hobbling the messenger says at verse 26

26 Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he (Jacob) said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

I mean, what is up with the apparent weakness of this messenger and the apparent strength of Jacob who at this point appears to be setting the terms of this negotiation before letting the messenger go?

No listen, we are going to skip the picnic today, we are going to instead, put on our bathing suits. We going to walk right out to the jacuzzi and pass it by, and we are going to walk to the shallow end and pass it by and we are going to go straight to the ten meter board, 32.6 feet above the water surface, we are going to climb to the top, walk to the end, turn and jump into the deepest end of the pool.

The reasons are super important to our understanding of a number of things overlooked in the economy of God and Man and if you are willing, your world just open up just a little bit more to what is truth in the faith and what it not.

As always, my views are subject to being wrong, limited and may change – but I don’t think so and stand before our God taking full responsibility for what I am about to teach in His cause.

I want you to think about the very first chapter of Genesis where God says matter of factly, “let us make man in our image.”

(Beat)

First of all, this tells us plainly that human beings are made creations by God. And that as a result there is a hierarchy there. But we cannot get around the biblical fact that human beings are made IN HIS IMAGE.

We spent a lot of time describing what this looks like (back in that chapter) but I want to open our minds up to this fact.

Does this mean that we are just animals. Hardly. Human beings, made in God’s image, have ENORMOUS capacity for all manner of advances, thinking, creativity and power.

I scan though YouTube shorts at night trying to fall asleep and am just amazed at the abilities I see on display from human beings today.

Their power, their intellect, their ability to create in arenas of technology, art, sports and athleticism, science and literally every facet of the human world.

And while the animal world will present some amazing respective attributes, like we see in the beavers industry, a bears ferocity, a cheetahs speed and the honeybees collectivity, Man – male and female created He them – is directly made in His image and we have capacities that continue to unfold at an alarming rate.

Unfortunately for us, the whole human population, captured in the persons of Adam and Eve, chose to become their own Gods and to do their own will, and the human race fell from possessing the power of God spiritually.

So, while we remain fantastically equipped, we all have a moral fault and fall far far below the ranks of our creator, causing Him to frankly say to Adam in Genesis 3:19 and in the face of His rebellion,

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Pretty humbling, right? But God would move forward victoriously and make it possible for all human creations to get realigned and restored to full capacity given to Man at creation through spiritual rebirth. Something that all of us are tuned into here, praise God.

Anyway, Man was made in His image – remember that as we move forward through this text.

So, we come to these passages about the literal father of the Nation of Israel. All of his sons are back at camp (except Benjamin who has yet to be born) and he is out in the night wrestling with a messenger of some sort or another – heavenly or earthly we cannot tell but Hosea does identify him as an angel. And we read:

25 And when he (the angel) saw that he (the angel) prevailed not against him,(Jacob) he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he (the angel) said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he (Jacob) said, I will not let thee go, unless you bless me.
27 And he (the angel) said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

Now listen very carefully to what the messenger says to Jacob now

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: (which means, A prince for God) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

When the messenger asks Jacob for his name this was not a question asked because it wasn’t known by the messenger but it appears to have been asked to help set the stage for the name change to follow – kinda like, what is your name? “Jacob,” then in the face of this fact the angel says back at verse 28

28 Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

The name Jacob was supplanter or heel catcher. But now he was to be renamed, “Israel” – which is a compound word, of sawraw (where we get Sara, like the Name of Abrahams wife) and Elohim,

Where the angel says

“for as a prince thou has power (the Hebrew is sawraw) “with God” (El) and in this verse we have the name established, even created, which is Israel

Pronounced, Yis sawRaw El
“YIS-SAWRAW-EL”

So, after the great “prayer-struggle” at Peniel, Jacob is given the name because, the messenger says, or ” for . . . as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “

Before we discuss this more, we know that Israel is the common name used to describe Jacob’s descendants, who were later called, the Children of Israel, right?

The children of the one who was?????

“as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”

If someone was to ask, “Why did Jacob have his name changed, we could quote the messenger who tells us . . .

It is BECAUSE Jacob, the former heel catcher, was found to be “as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “

Then these were this prince’s children by blood and genealogy, right? In the end we refer to them still today as Jews, Israelites, but most importantly, “the children of Israel,” who again, was given this name because,

“as a prince he had power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”

We recall that when God made man in His image that God commanded Man to

“Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Looking back at Jacob and his life thus far, from seeing the latter to heaven, to working with Laban, to obtaining his wives and his children, to the replenishing with them to multiplying both with of the spotted and straked we now have Jacob doing what?

Literally, and actually here?

Having dominion over (listen) “every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Am I wrong or did not the angel himself just tell Jacob that He had prevailed? Which comes from the Hebrew term to “control, subdue, and prevail” over.

He did. By wait? Listen to the line again with reference to Jacob being given the new name that He was given:

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “

And then FROM THIS Jacob is NAMED ISRAEL as are all who came from Him materially, genetically, genealogically and by blood.

We aren’t really sure who can fully embrace this title today materially even if they look Jewish or live in Jerusalem because the genealogical records have for the most part been destroyed and the bloodlines polluted where they are beyond genealogical recognition.

But this is the name of the actual people who materially came from him – ISRAEL

AGAIN

“for or BECAUSE as a prince thou has power with God and with men and has prevailed.”

Look the heck out. Do you know what this name is depicting Israel to be? They were from the start to be a formidable force on earth with those made in God’s image and moving forth and being fruitful, and multiplying, and being plentiful and subduing and having dominion, right?

They were going to have power with God and with men because they had “prevailed” or done what God commanded Adam to first do with his created person.

From this point forward we are going to read and learn all about THIS material nation doing what?

“Going about with the power of God and man and prevailing.”

After the death of King Saul ten of the tribes assigned this name “Israel” to themselves, as if they were the whole nation (2nd Samuel 2:9-10,17,28; 3:10,17; 19:40-43) and the kings of the ten tribes were called “kings of Israel,” while the kings of the two tribes were called “kings of Judah.”

After what is called the Exile, “the name Israel is designated the entire nation or all the tribes.

Just as a brief aside to whet our understanding of the term the Exile in the Old Testament, it refers to a time in the future when the material children of Israel, whose beginning we are reading about right now, are taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon.

This is automatically not in harmony with their very name because being taken captive is incongruent with having the power of God and man and prevailing, right?

This exile is generally called the Babylonian captivity and it is an important period of biblical history because both “the captivity or exile” and the return or restoration of the Children of Israel were fulfillments of Old Testament prophecies.

Now listen, who did God use to imprison the nation? He used BABYLON as His agent of judgment against Israel due to their sins of idolatry and rebellion against Him.

There were actually several different times during this period (607-586 B.C.) when the Jews were taken captive by Babylon but more on that much later.

Generally speaking, however, there will be a time when the nation of Israel will stage a rebellion against Babylonian rule over them and each time the Nation rose up Nebuchadnezzar would lead his armies against them and they would dominate with power.

This ultimately led to him laying siege to Jerusalem for over a year, killing many people, destroying the Jewish temple, taking captive thousands of Jews, and leaving Jerusalem in ruins.

Do we not read of this very thing happening again in 70AD and was prophesied and promised by Jesus when God used the Roman armies a the final agent against material Israel – but in that day the destruction was utter and complete and Israel would be defined as something very different?

Interestingly, as prophesied in the Old Testament, the Nation of Israel would be allowed to return to Jerusalem after??
70 years of exile.

And that prophecy was fulfilled in 537 B.C., when the Jews were allowed by King Cyrus of Persia to return to Israel and begin rebuilding the city called Jerusalem and its temple. We will read about this return from exile under the direction of Ezra which led to a revival among the Nation with the rebuilding of the temple.

A study of the history of what is called Jerusalem would blow your mind if you are interested as it has, according to history, been besieged, attacked numerous times but literally leveled only twice – first with this Exile under Babylon for 70 years and then the second and last time in the 70AD destruction, which would serve as God’s final bill of divorcement from her material body and his looking to make Israel something else.

How? Numerous reasons but they include:

The diaspora of those material Jews who survived would lead to the assimilation of their tribes with the world.
The genealogical records we lost through fire delivered by the Romans when
The material temple and material Israel was leveled and replaced.

WHY? Because true Israel, was now not known by genealogy or blood.

This caused Paul to write in Romans 9:6

“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:”

Or as he adds in Romans 2:28-29

“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

Now. Notice something here. It’s significant. Super significant.

Let’s look back at the renaming of Jacob here in Genesis 32. What had Jacob just done? He wrestled with an angel (according to Hosea) all night long and the angel could not prevail.

Jacob, exercise dominion because the angels says in renaming him “for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “

When Israel failed to live up to its namesake, when they lost being a prince with power with God and with man and ceased prevailing, God allowed Babylon to put them in captivity.

So, what’s up with the messenger hobbling him?

Do you remember what God said when he looked down upon the children of men at the tower of Babel? He came down and looked at the creation of these fallen souls to unify in a human cause and Genesis 11:6 says,

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Why? How? Because they were made in the very image of God, and they were expressing themselves in and through this power and God said, “they are unstoppable.” So, God hobbled them, and confuses their language so as to put an end their fallen godless efforts.

Here we have Jacob, “as a prince hast thou power with God and with men “prevailing” over everything including this heavenly messenger, and in the same spirit as Paul having a thorn in his side that God would not remove, the messenger, humbles Jacob in his flesh – which was not made in God’s image, showing him his continued reliance on Him as a man.

That is a backflip we make 32.6 feet above the deep end of the pool. But we’re not done.

Because of Jacobs tenacity, the angel gives Jacob a new name – literally in direct connection to the power Jacob exerted as a Prince, which was literally in His right as a Human being made in God’s image to have dominion and to prevail. Listen yet again to what the messenger says

“Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but (THY NAME shall be called) Israel: for . . . as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Now, I want you to think about this nation that would come from this man and be called after this very distinct and meaningful name materially.

We are going to read about how they were led by God the power of God and man to dominate and subdue and prevail over the material nations around them; they materially invaded and in the name and power of God they physically dominated and prevail and this would also give them power before men who feared them.

Everything that they did, as incomprehensible as some of it is to us was a reflection of them possessing the power of God and of men in prevailing.”

Taking of life. Wiping out of whatever was not godly.

And like Jacob, but unlike the people of Babel, they would do this most effectively by and through the power of God. And when other nations would witness this strength (like David would have over Goliath and the Philistines) men of other nations would be greatly impressed and they would fear.

This was very much part of being part of the material Nation of Israel and its KINGDOM, called Israel, again “BECAUSE it had the power with God and with men and prevailed.”

Jesus even references this power and force when he says (in one of the most obscure passages in scripture which has long eluded me) but when he says, speaking of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:12 says

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”

What does all of this suggest? Here comes the mid-air triple twist –

that to be a Jew, a material Child of Israel, by virtue of his name and power, in those days, IN THOSE DAY, was to be someone who lived by power of God and of men and was visibly understood to be dominators on earth.

As a result they were physical warriors, indomitable forces with God having their back and amounting to them being feared and respected by Man because of their ability to prevail.

This is why David was so revered as their King. He was a mighty man of blood, but a man after God’s own heart. And this is WHY they believed that the Messiah who would come from his line would be a Messiah that would be literally Israel – a prince by the power of God and Man who prevailed!

That he would be a prince that would sit on a material throne and put the Roman Empire along with the rest of the world under His material thumb.

This is understandable because this is the very origin of the name Israel! Given to Jacob who had prevailed, subdued by the power of God AND men.

This was the Kingdom of the Nation – it was a theocracy, it was material, it was bold and temporal and was called to move forward in God’s image on earth.

But the narrative was misunderstood and extremely myopic as the love of God, and the spirit of peace, and the goodness of God toward all men was lost in this message.

So, when the meek and lowly Messiah enters the scene, they couldn’t receive Him – I mean most couldn’t even relate to Him.

He was like a reed growing out of dry ground. He had nothing that men would desire. His liberation offered “was to return human beings to the first estate of the first parents, to make us whole spiritually, which would move all takers from Babel, back to the garden where we would reside in peace and gentile dominion, not bloody rule and dominion by the sword.

The nation of Israel, literally embracing the name given to the literal father of his twelve sons, sought to dominate as a prince by the power of God and the fear of man, to prevail, just as Jacob did ever over a heavenly messenger.

And they believe that the true King of the New Jerusalem would lead them to reign over the world and their enemies forever more.

But this was not the case – in fact the true prince of peace was to reign over the heart and not theocratically, not materially, not politically, not through bloodshed – this is why the faith today cannot, should not reflect the expectations placed on the material Nation of Israel when it was formed!

Not in any way! We are Israel, but we are NOT Israel materially.

Listen carefully to what Paul says about true Israel. Ready?

“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

To be bloodline Israel, material Israel from the start, one was to be powerful with God AND man, but true Israel, inwardly and of the heart is in the SPIRIT Jews, , and not the letter, with their praise coming solely from God (LISTEN) and NOT of men.

ADD BOARD

But he is a Jew who is

“one inwardly, and the circumcision is that of the heart, and in the Spirit and not in the letter, “WHOSE PRAISE IS NOT OF MEN, but of GOD!”

Oh, that we could teach believers today that the faith is not pleasing to the world who love displays of power, might and materialism, not in theocracy but that true Israel is inward, and therefore it is not pleasing to men, but to God.

The faith our King established is actually of an completely different economy, folks. To embrace the economy of “Jacob turned Israel” is to embrace our being made in God’s image as under the fall – but Jesus brought a very different definition of Israel to the world.

Human beings, by the very nature of their flesh in which we thrive continue to miss this reality and want to continue to relate to Israel materially, to the pleasing of Men and to prevailing on earth here and now!

When we read through how God leads the Nation of Israel, we will see how violent, how warlike and how material it will be. Why? When creations in God’s image are employed physically in this world this is what it would and should look like. Exactly.

They would exact judgment, they would take life, shed blood, and they would show what God’s judgment on earth literally looked like because their very name is “the Prince of God. And this display of power would serve to impress men of other nations, and would be a direct pure expression of the name Israel itself.

But after John the Baptist, who Jesus said
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John,” true or real Israel, would be of the heart, inwardly, spiritually and would not, would not, would not be something any longer that would or could “please, impress or instill fear in Man” – any more than Christ pleased the men of His own nation when He came to earth!!!

Instead, Christ was the embodiment of what Adam was supposed to be – but wasn’t. He was the embodiment of God in flesh, who was not just material Israel but spiritual Israel, which means so so much more.

After this night Jacob the supplanter would become Israel, “a prince who prevails with God and man.” So, is the Nation that follows-in thereafter to be.

But like Adam, they turn – repeatedly – endlessly, to other God’s, to self-will, to fear and flesh and in the end help prove that our war is NOT against flesh and blood here on earth, as Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 10:3-5

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

In this and other instructions we learn that believers and followers of Christ are NOT waring against this world like material Israel did.

We are warring against the self, the fallen man, the inward soul and against darkness that is in spiritually high places by and through the things of the Spirit.

To war and prevail against men is to please and impress men (at least some) but Paul plainly states:

“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

You want the praise of men? Build a tower. Make a name for yourself. Follow the trends and fads of the faith. Rise up against the evils of this world and men will praise you. In this way you will truly be material Israel.

You want to be rejected of men but praised of God? Be, do and follow His Son, who was despised and rejected of men, who was put to death by His own, who brought nothing but His own willingness to do the will of His father to the world.

You will be misunderstood, not fear, despised and rejected but not seen as prevailing to anyone, but you will be whom Paul refers to as an inward Jew – true Israel – comporting oneself the way God made man in the beginning and NOT how God used Jacob and those who came from his loins.

We are the circumcised of the heart, we are inwardly Israel, inwardly princes and princesses living by the power of God but not pleasing to men.

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