"Israel"
Jacob has never prayed before.
But the fear he has in seeing his brother Esau again for the first time in 20 years (an Esau who is approaching with 400 armed men) has overwhelmed him, and he cries out to the Lord in prayer:
“Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
[Genesis 32:9-12]
Receiving no answer to his prayer, he sends his flocks and herds and his wives and children across the river ahead of him and is left alone as night falls.
Alone, but not alone:
“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.”
[Genesis 32:24-32]
The mysterious man proves to be more than a man. It’s as if all of Jacob’s previous struggles with men have really been struggles with God. Jacob is a trickster and a liar, but he’s also stubborn and persevering, and here he refuses to give in. Finally, as dawn is breaking, the opponent touches him in the thigh (the groin?) and disappears, after giving Jacob the new name, “Israel,” which means something like “He wrestles with God” or perhaps “God prevails”.
From now on, Jacob will be Israel, and he will walk with a limp.
The deceiver now has a new identity. Now, limping, he’s ready to walk before the Lord in the new Way.
To be a bearer of the Covenant, Jacob will need to seek righteousness, but he will also need to be bold and persevering.
He is now the man the Lord needs.