Sunday, April 13, 2008

Jacob and Jesus

David Edwards
April 15, 2008

Interpretive Question: Who was the man whom Jacob wrestled?

Jacob spent 21 years working for Laban, his father-in law. He was rich with livestock when he returned to the Promised Land with his two wives, concubines, children and servants. While passing through Edom, Jacob sent messengers to his brother, Esau. He believed that Esau might try to kill him because of the way he had cheated him years before. He sent herds of animals to his brother as gifts. Next he placed his concubines and their children between himself and Esau. Behind them came his wife, Leah, and her children. In the rear were Rachel and her precious son, Joseph. All of these passed over the river, and only Jacob returned to the far side, and it was night. Genesis 32: 24 tells us that a man wrestled with him.
A Jewish commentary, The First Book of the Bible by Jacob (page 45) states that the man who wrestled with the patriarch that night was an angel. Because he had to ask him his name, he must not have been God. An angel can be a prophet, but not God. John J.Davis in Paradise to Prison cites Hosea 12: 4 as evidence that this was an angel who attacked Jacob.
Bruce K. Waltke in Genesis, A Commentary (Page 116) The invisible God humbled himself and initiated this all night wrestling match. Jacob must have discovered early on that he couldn’t prevail physically over this opponent, but he held on. Jacob was “prayerfully clinging to God’s grace.” He, who had the blessings of prosperity, was clinging to the blessing of overcoming his enemies. He, who in the past had prevailed through trickery, would from then on prevail with God. “God sanctified Jacob’s absolute.” Just as it was God who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, it was God who wrestled with Jacob in the dark. But one cannot see God and live. God is omnipotent so one touch to Jacob’s hip socket should have ended the battle. Suddenly, his hip was out of joint, and he had lost the wrestler’s pivot of strength.
God knew with whom He was wrestling, but when Jacob demanded a blessing, God asked him to repeat his name. This forced him to own up to his past for the name Jacob meant heel grabber or trickster. When he embraced his new name, Israel, God purged him from his old. Only God himself has the authority to impart new life. Jacob did not fight with an angel.

Another exciting writer to address this question was the theologian, George Bush. In his Notes on Genesis, (pages 168 – 177) he began “Here then it is obvious.” Jacob knew a man attacked him. (Esau could have sent an assassin.) but His simple touch dislocated Jacob’s hip. No man can see God and live. This was “no created angel, but that divine person, the sent of God; The Messiah that was to be…was really manifested in flesh and blood.” Jacob had the Son of God in his power, an advantage too precious to be neglected. He needed a blessing on the spot, and he extracted one before dawn.

The Son of God didn’t need any palm pilot to grab Jacob on the far side of the river that night. The fugitive from treachery was returning home to face his brother’s revenge. His wits would not be sufficient. He was coming to collect on a prayer sent up twenty years before.
“If God will be with me …so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God.” Genesis 28: 20-21.
Early in the struggle Jacob realized that his opponent was not an angel, and that this was not mortal combat. This was a contest of endurance with the Son of God. Jacob was prayerfully clinging to Jesus Christ in the flesh. He, who had attained much through subtlety, was for the first time determined to secure God’s guidance in dealing with his enemies. His new name, Israel, meant “God’s fighter.”

Monday, March 24, 2008

Who Were the Sons of God?

Interpretive Question Two—Who were the Sons of God?

When people began to multiply on the earth, the sons of God saw the daughters of men…and took them wives…” (Genesis 6: 2) S. R. Driver (Westminster Commentary 1948) believed that the sons of God or “of the gods” were not men but heavenly beings. He cited Job 1: 6 where they were in company with Satan, a fallen angel. In the New Testament Jude 6 tells what God did for fallen angels. Driver proceeded to embellish his theory of “semi-divine supra-mundane beings.” Then he told us that it’s all an ancient Hebrew legend. The purpose for verses 1-4 was to account for the origin of a supposed race of pre-historic giants. He did not believe that Genesis is actual history.
The sons of God were demon possessed tyrants who ruled the earth. Bruce Waltke (Genesis: A Commentary, page 916) borrowed from the fallen angel theory, but his heavenly culprits didn’t get in bed with people. They simply demonized men, who claimed to be gods, who in turn acquired royal harems (took them wives). The giants (nephilim) in verse four were the offspring of these “nobles, aristocrats and princes.” Stephen Schrader (Liberty Bible Commentary), 1982 agreed. The leaders in the days before the flood were wicked and violent. They were not angels or necessarily descendants of Cain or Seth.
John Calvin was eloquent when he answered the question. He believed that God “adopted by special privilege” the descendants of Seth to “remain separate from others.” These were the sons of God who intermarried “ with the children of Cain and other profane races.” Calvin believed that they rejected their calling from God. He taught that men must choose wives “possessed of necessary endowments” not just physical attractiveness.
The sons of God were the kings of their time. The one who has the biggest might decides what is right. They were not angels and not necessarily demon possessed. They were not all descendants of Seth or Cain. They simply invoked the name of God to gain increasingly more power: first over extended families, then neighborhoods and finally cities. In Genesis chapter 4 Lamech decided to take two wives, and then tells them to spread the word. “Somebody injured me, and I killed him ( and I will do it again).” It was men like him who saw the daughters in chapter 6 and “took all which they chose. ”Wives “possessed of necessary endowments” was a foreign concept by that time.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Analysis of “Parable of the Vineyard” in Isaiah 5

Analysis of “Parable of the Vineyard” in Isaiah 5



The Vineyard symbolizes the nation of Israel. My Well Beloved (God) goes to great lengths (hundreds of years) to prepare His vineyard. The location is the side of the hill that gets just the right amount of sunlight. The soil is fertile, and the owner removes the many stones. He chooses healthy plants. He fences the perimeter and builds a watchman’s tower to protect His investment. He hollows out a winepress. He expects to harvest the highest quality fruit. Instead, He receives wild grapes.

God, My Well Beloved, had spent hundreds of years nurturing His chosen people to produce spiritual fruit. In Isaiah’s time sin and rebellion are the fruits He is receiving for His efforts. The people of Judah fail in many ways. In verse 7 God anticipates justice but He sees oppression. The people abuse alcoholic beverages in verses 11 and 22. They seem to wave their sins in God’s face in verse 19. They call evil good and good evil.

The owner of the vineyard reacts. He takes away the fences and the wall that protects the vineyard. He stops cultivating the vines and stops the rain. He knows that briars and thorns will take over.

God allowed the Babylonians to conquer the Southern Kingdom just as He allowed the Assyrians to carry off the northern ten tribes earlier.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Late Bloomer

Of course we want to read all the forwards we receive and pass them on. Right?



You can come here, smell the flowers, and slip away unnoticed or pull a few weeds.