Originally published in the July 1969 issue of The Christadelphian magazine
Wrestling Jacob
WRESTLING not only with the angel but with himself, Jacob grew through many afflictions—often brought on by his own errors but still divinely controlled—to become Israel, the man of faith, the man of God. Only gradually did he come to recognize and rely on the continued presence in his life of “the God which hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which hath redeemed me from all evil”; too often, even while constantly pursuing the promise to Abraham, he had relied upon his own will and his own cunning. Only at the last did a chastened patriarch receive the joy of reunion with the beloved son so long given up for lost whom God had sent ahead to “save much people alive”.
This is the theme unfolded in yet another contribution to the series of biographical studies of some of the great figures of the Old Testament. Written by bro. Harry Whittaker, it has his verve in style and keenness in Biblical research. He can be relied on to bring out much that is fresh and stimulating, the product of his close eye for detail in the narrative. As he himself hints in his foreword, not all will agree with all his interpretations: “Inevitably in some places more than one interpretation is possible. Sometimes the author has mentioned more than one view. Sometimes the reconstruction has necessarily been guided by his own judgment of probabilities. Readers should bear in mind that in many places a confident clear-cut interpretation of the facts narrated is hardly possible. This notwithstanding, the main lessons of the life of Jacob stand out stark and clear. In it, one is persuaded, there is much of value for the modern disciple wrestling with his own problems of faith.”
The applications to modern life are often apt and pointed, and convey much exhortation. An example is the comment on Jacob’s family life with Leah’s pathetic desire to secure her husband’s love and Rachel’s bitterness at her barrenness: “Those of the seed of Abraham in the twentieth century who find their family life cursed with baneful envies and jealousies do well to recognize what a poison these can be, banishing contentment and peace of mind, embittering day-to-day relationships, drying up the milk of human kindness—and achieving nothing whatever of lasting good. These sorry results flow usually from a selfish unwillingness to come to terms with an unpalatable situation.”
On Jacob’s attempts to influence the breeding of Laban’s flocks by his “peeled withes”: “There are many Jacobs in the service of God today—men and women who have received clear, gracious, divine assurance of the forgiveness of sins, of unfailing heavenly care and guidance, and by ceaseless angelic concern for all their affairs, and who yet live as though altogether convinced that their own wit and wisdom and scheming and contriving are worth more than anything that the heavenly minister can achieve. It is enough to make angels weep with disappointment. Yet, happily, with some the day of realization comes, as it did for Jacob, early enough to transform a life of assertive self-dependence into a pilgrimage of faith.”
And a fine piece of spiritual insight, based on the promise “Kings shall come out of thy loins”, when Jacob returned to Bethel: “Is it possible that Jacob interpreted the word ‘kings’ as an intensive plural (an idiom not uncommon in Old Testament Hebrew) meaning ‘a great King’? This would explain his prompt action in setting up as a pillar the stone which earlier had been the place of sacrifice and the site of the heavenly ladder. Now, anointed with blood-red wine and with oil, it became also the symbol of a Messiah-King who was to reach this high office through the shedding of his blood to bring reconciliation between heaven and earth.” As the writer points out earlier in the book, here is “the pillar and ground of the truth”, and Paul’s words on “the house of God” in 1 Tim. 3:15–16 deliberately recall the occurrences at Bethel.
Altogether, a good example of what can be done in this field.
