Jacob wrestling God. Jacob and Esau Part 2.
5-3-20 – Connect Group Questions
Short discussion
-has your life (especially your faith) ever felt like a wrestling match with God?
-what do you think of the quote: “wherever you go, there you are?”
Longer Discussion
-Gen. 32:24-31 – what are your thoughts or questions about this story?
-why did the “man” wrestle Jacob? Who was this person?
-why does Jacob receive a new name?
-how is it that Jacob was “blessed” but also walked away limping? How do those two go together?
-Gen. 33 – in what ways does Esau’s receiving of Jacob parallel the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15?
For personal reflection
-lessons from Esau – who do you need to forgive?
-lessons from Jacob – what unresolved issues do you need to deal with in your own life?
Genesis 32:22-31
22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the 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 is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, 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 place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.