When Jacob is at the end of his possibilities, God gives him a new identity. From now on, God will fight for him.
When a man stands in Jacob’s way at the ford of the Jabbok (Nahr ez-Zarqa), he probably does not know who he is dealing with (Genesis 32:25-32). Is it one of Esau’s fighters or Esau himself? He enters the fight and struggles with his unknown opponent. When he suddenly dislocates his hip, he is on the defensive. But he does not want to give up, he wants the recognition of the divine promises.
Only when Jacob is blessed do his eyes open: It is not his brother Esau, but God who has appeared to him in human form. From now on he is to be called “Israel”. This means: “El (God) is fighting”.
Jesus was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11), who suggested that he should help himself and not wait for God to act. But Jesus refused to help himself.
When we stop fighting for ourselves but hold on to God and leave the battle to Him, we experience a new dimension in our lives. Jesus says in John 1:12: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Through Jesus we are given a new identity. As God’s children, the heavenly Father takes care of us.
Jacob goes from being a “heel-holder” (the meaning of his first name) to a “God-holder” for whom God takes care.
Messiah images in the Torah
- God seeks us – Adam where are you?
- The possibility of a choice – Two trees in the Garden of Eden
- Neediness instead divinity – A new view
- God’s master plan – Salvation through a human being
- A divine clothing – God acts
- A world upside down – Kai and Abel
- Living in the presence of God – Enoch
- God is calling – Noah
- A king-priest like Melchizedek
- God visits Abraham
- Life through a sacrifice – Isaac
- The ladder to heaven – Jacob
- New identity from Jacob to Israel
- Messiah Ben Joseph – Joseph the son of Jacob
- Shiloh, whom all nations will serve – Blessing on Judah
- Moses, the prototype of the Saviour
- References to Jesus in Moses
- The Passover Lamb
- The pillar of cloud and fire
- God wants to be with us – The tabernacle / The temple
- The snake on a pole – An image of a new beginning
- The rock in the desert – Faith is not a method
- A prophet greater than Moses
- A star from Jacob – Bileam