Quick Note – Genesis 32:22-32 – Humble Yourself Before God

Genesis 32:22-32 – “²² The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 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.” ²⁸ Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” ³¹ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.”

I’m not feeling so well today, so I figured, I would just share with you an interesting thing I read from a commentary today.  It comes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.  The passage is from Genesis 32, which speaks of how Jacob wrestled with God, yet even after wrestling with Him all night, he still came to the same conclusion – that it is by God’s mercy he was preserved.  Jacob, a man who used to be the ultimate deceiver, did not play any tricks, did not act like Loki from Thor; he humbled himself before the great and mighty God, knowing that it is only by His mercy that he lives.  Humble yourself before Him as well.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

7. Jacob gives a new name to the place; he calls it Peniel, the face of God (v. 30), because there he had seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God. Observe, The name he gives to the place preserves and perpetuates, not the honour of his valour or victory, but only the honour of God’s free grace. He does not say, “In this place I wrestled with God, and prevailed;” but, “In this place I saw God face to face, and my life was preserved;” not, “It was my praise that I came off a conqueror, but it was God’s mercy that I escaped with my life.” Note, It becomes those whom God honours to take shame to themselves, and to admire the condescensions of his grace to them. Thus David did, after God had sent him a gracious message (2 Sa. 7:18), Who am I, O Lord God? ^[1]

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^[1] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: Complete and unabridged in one volume (72). Peabody: Hendrickson.