Chapter 9: The Wrestling

The night before they would meet Esau, Jacob sent his family across the Jabbok River. Then he went back and stayed alone on the other side.

A man appeared and wrestled with him until dawn. Jacob would not let go. The man struck Jacob's hip and knocked it out of joint, but still Jacob held on.

THE MAN“Let me go, for the day is breaking.”

JACOB“I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

THE MAN“What is your name?”

JACOB“Jacob.”

THE MAN“Your name will no longer be Jacob. It will be Israel — because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have overcome.”

The man who arrived at that riverbank was Jacob — the deceiver, the grasper, the man who had spent his life taking what wasn't his. The man who left was Israel, which means he struggles with God.

At daybreak, he crossed the river and took his place at the front of the line, ahead of his wives, ahead of his children. He walked toward Esau limping — the hip that God had struck would never fully heal.