Dempster on Jacob’s Wrestling with God

Two birth scenes frame Jacob’s life: the struggle with Esau in the darkness of the womb, when he is born Jacob (Gen. 25:22-23), and the struggle with God in the darkness at the Jabbok river, when he is reborn Israel (Gen. 32:25-33). Similarly, two nocturnal divine encounters shape his life: the dream at Bethel (Gen. 28:10-22) and the struggle at Jabbok….

Just as Abram became a new man when he was circumcised and consequently renamed ‘father of many nations’, so Jacob becomes born again as ‘Israel’ after being crippled in a desperate struggle with a divine assailant (Gen. 32:25-30). As Geller remarks, this passage is extremely significant: ‘the eponymous ancestor of the nation is about to receive a national name.’ In what amounts to a second-birth experience, he fights in the darkness not with his brother (in the womb) but with God. He wins the fight by losing – by being broken – and facing up to his identity (Jacob – Deceiver). Consequently, he tells God who he is (Jacob the deceiver, the heel grabber) and has his name changed to Israel (God’s fighter). Jacob wins the blessing and will be God’s conquering warrior on earth. But he does not emerge unscathed; he is now lame, wounded in the thigh (Gen. 32:26, 33) – the place from which the descendants will come (Gen. 46:26, Ex. 1:5). Jacob has been circumcised in his spirit.

Stephen Dempster
Dominion and Dynasty — p. 87-88

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him.

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