James Nisbet Commentary - Genesis 32:26 - 32:26

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James Nisbet Commentary - Genesis 32:26 - 32:26


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

‘
WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN AM I STRONG’

“He said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except Thou bless me.’

Gen_32:26

Esau, with all his amiable qualities, was a man whose horizon was bounded by the limitations of the material world. He never rose above earth; he was a man after this world; he lived an eminently natural life. Jacob, on the other hand, was a man of many faults, yet there was a continuous testimony in his life to the value of things unseen. He had had wonderful dealings of God with him, and these had only the effect of whetting his spiritual appetite. When the opportunity came he availed himself of it to the full, and received from the hands of God Himself that blessing for which his soul had been longing. Notice:

I. He was thoroughly in earnest; he wrestled till he got the blessing.

II. If we wish to gain a blessing like Jacob’s we must be alone with God.—It is possible to be alone with God, even in the midst of a multitude.

III. Jacob’s heart was burdened with a load of sin.—It crushed his spirit, it was breaking his heart; he could bear it no more, and so he made supplication. He wanted to be lifted out of his weakness and made a new man.

IV. In the moment of his weakness Jacob made a great discovery.—He found that when we cannot wrestle we can cling; so he wound his arms round the great Angel like a helpless child. He clings around those mighty arms and looks up into his face and says, ‘I will not let thee go except Thou bless me.’

V. He received the blessing he had wrestled for.—As soon as Jacob was brought to his proper place, and in utter weakness was content to accept the blessing of God’s free gift, that moment the blessing came. He received his royalty on the field of battle, was suddenly lifted up into a heavenly kingdom and made a member of a royal family.

Canon Hay Aitken.

Illustration

(1) ‘The victory came after Jacob was crippled. It was when the disabling touch came, when he felt his utter helplessness, when he could simply cling, that he prevailed. Second, it was a triumph of persistence. Helpless to struggle, he could still cling, and he clung till the blessing was given. The prophet Hosea (Gen_12:4) says: He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and made supplication to him. His words have become the proverbial expression of importunate desire. I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me. So the secret of success in prayer is twofold; on the one hand, to realise our own helpless; and, on the other hand, to hold fast until blessing comes. God lets himself be conquered by the prayer of humble and persevering faith. Very beautifully does Charles Wesley’s famous hymn, “Come, O Thou Traveller unknown,” sum up the teaching of the story:—

Yield to me now, for I am weak,

But confident in self-despair;

Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,

Be conquered by my instant prayer.’

(2) ‘What was this Divine blessing? Deliverance from Esau? Not at all. That was a secondary thing now. Jacob had learnt that there was a mightier adversary than his brother to dread: that sin incurs more fearful consequences than earthly retribution. Reconciliation with God—that was a far more urgent need with him, and it is a far more urgent need with us, than even reconciliation with a revengeful brother. And he blessed him there—on the spot, that night. The face of God, which his sin had hidden, was now revealed to him: i.e. he had the blessed assurance of forgiveness and acceptance. And without any definite promise of safety he could now go forward, calmly and trustingly, to meet Esau.’

(3) ‘The question has been raised as to whether the story should be treated as an account of a purely spiritual struggle. The answer is twofold. The original narrator did not understand it in that way: he believed in a real, physical wrestling, speaking and laming. But we, for our own learning, may apply the whole in the most spiritual fashion possible, following the lines of F. W. Robertson’s Sermon (First Series, Third Sermon), or drinking in what Dean Stanley properly called Charles Wesley’s “noble hymn”:

Come, O Thou Traveller unknown,

Whom still I hold, but cannot see!

My company before is gone,

And I am left alone with Thee:

With Thee all night I mean to stay,

And wrestle till the break of day.’

(4) ‘There was each morning during his first sojourn in the Soudan one half-hour during which there lay outside General Gordon’s tent a handkerchief; and the whole camp knew the full significance of that small token, and it was most religiously respected by all, whatever was their colour, creed, or business. No foot dared to enter the tent so guarded. No message, however pressing, was carried in. Whatever it was, of life or death, it had to wait until the guardian signal was removed. Every one knew that God and Gordon were alone in there together.’