Week 4 - Reading the Bible in a Year & Gerhard's Sacred Meditations
Jacob Gets a New Name
There is a very mysterious encounter in Genesis 32 that always fascinated me as a child. Jacob wrestles with God… and he wins? It is also fascinating to see the word shem reappear in this important text.
Jacob is on his way to meet up with his estranged brother, Esau. He is afraid of Esau because Jacob, living up to his name’s meaning (trickster), stole Esau’s birthright and blessing from their father, Isaac. So, he develops this plan to send gift after gift before him to soften Esau, so Esau will not kill him.
After sending his family across the Jabbok River, about forty miles north of the Salt Sea, Jacob had a restless night. He was not tossing and turning, anxious about reuniting with Esau, he was wrestling with a mysterious man. After wrestling for hours, the man sees that he did not prevail against Jacob then he disjoints Jacob’s hip. Jacob would not let go of this man until the man blessed him. Who did Jacob think he was wrestling? Scripture does not show us Jacob’s thoughts, but we could speculate that he thought this mystery man was his brother, Esau. This would make sense because of the demand for a blessing.
The mystery man then asks for Jacob’s name to give him a blessing and he says, “Your name (shem) shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Jacob asked for the name of his opponent. He refused and then blessed Jacob. Jacob knew immediately who he was wrestling. It was the God of his grandfather and his father. It was YHWH, who had promised to make Abraham’s name (shem) great.
Remember, it is helpful to focus on YHWH’s actions. What is he doing? He is again affirming the blessing of a father, just as he had done with Noah. He is affirming the blessing that Isaac gave to Jacob. God’s people are not perfect, because of sin, they cannot be. Jacob had swindled his brother out of his father’s blessing. Jacob himself was later swindled by his uncle Laban.
Even here, you could read that Jacob was trying to swindle Esau once again. But despite Jacob’s sin and our sin, God still is steadfast and faithful to the promises he has made. God’s people would never be holy on their own. God would supply holiness to His people and His holiness is sufficient to cover all their sins. In Christ Jesus, this promise is for you. Because Jesus died and rose again, he not only conquered death, but he made satisfaction for your sin. Jesus is sufficient. Believe in Him and have peace.
Readings
MEDITATION IV
THE NAME OF JESUS
What can be sweeter than the Name of Jesus!
O BLESSED Jesus, be Thou indeed a Jesus to me; for Thy holy name’s sake have compassion upon me! My life condemns me, but the name of Jesus will save me. For Thy name’s sake deal with me according to Thy name; and since Thou art a true and great Saviour, Thou wilt surely regard with mercy those who are real and great sinners. Have mercy upon me, O blessed Jesus, in the day of mercy, so as not to condemn me in the day of judgment. If Thou wilt receive me within the bosom of Thy compassion Thou wilt not on my account be the more straitened; if Thou wilt bestow upon me some crumbs of Thy goodness Thou wilt not, on that account, be the poorer. For me Thou art born (Is. 9:6), for me Thou art circumcised, to me also Thou art Jesus. How sweet and delightful is the name of Jesus! For what is Jesus but Saviour? And what real harm can befall the saved? What beyond salvation can we either seek or expect? Receive me, O Lord Jesus, into the number of Thy children, so that with them I may praise Thy holy and saving name. If through my sin I have lost my original innocence, have I deprived Thee of Thy mercy? If I have miserably destroyed and condemned myself, yet canst Thou not compassionately save me?
Do not so regard my sins, O Lord, as to forget Thine own mercy. Do not so weigh and measure my offences that they may out-weigh Thy merit. Do not so consider my evil as to overlook Thine own good. Remember not wrath against a culprit, but be mindful of Thy mercy towards a miserable sinner. Wilt not Thou, O Christ, who hast given me a desire for Thee, fulfill my longing desire? Wilt Thou, who hast shown me my unworthiness and just condemnation, conceal from me Thy merit and the promise of eternal life? Before a heavenly tribunal my cause must be tried, but it comforts me that in the heavenly court the name of Saviour has been given Thee; for that blessed name was brought from heaven by the angel (Luke 2:21). O most merciful Jesus, to whom wilt Thou be a Jesus, if not to wretched sinners seeking grace and salvation?
Those who trust in their own righteousness and holiness seek salvation in themselves, but I, who find in me nothing worthy of eternal life, flee to Thee as my Saviour. Save me, for I am condemned; have mercy upon me, for I am a sinner; justify me, for I am unrighteous; acquit me, for I am under accusation of sin. Thou, O Lord, art the Truth (John 14:6); Thy name is holy and true; therefore let Thy name be true in respect to me; be Thou my Jesus and my Saviour! Be Thou my Jesus in the present life; be Thou my Jesus in death; be Thou my Jesus in the last judgment; be Thou my Jesus in eternal life. And assuredly Thou wilt be, O blessed Jesus; because as Thou art unchangeable in essence so wilt Thou be in mercy. Thy name will not be changed, O Lord Jesus, on account of one miserable sinner like me. Nay, but Thou wilt be a Saviour even to me, for Thou wilt not cast out any one that cometh unto Thee. Thou hast given me the desire to come to Thee, and surely Thou wilt receive me when I do come, for Thy words are truth and life (John 6:63).
What if the propagation of original sin in me condemns me, yet Thou art my Jesus. What if my conception in sin condemns me, still Thou art my Jesus. What if my creation in sin and under the curse condemns me, nevertheless Thou art my Saviour. What if my corrupted birth condemns me, yet art Thou my Salvation. What if the sins of my youth condemn me, still art Thou my Jesus. What if the course of my whole life, defiled with most grevious sin, condemns me, yet Thou remainest still my Jesus! What if the penalty of death to be inflicted upon me for my sins and various transgressions condemns me, yet art Thou still my Saviour! What if the awful sentence of the last judgment rise up against me, yet will I trust Thee, and fly to Thee as my Jesus, my Saviour!
I am sinful, reprobate, condemned; but in Thy holy name there is righteousness, election, salvation; but in Thy name was I baptized; in Thy name do I believe; in Thy name will I die; in Thy name will I rise again, and in Thy blessed name will I appear at the judgment. In Thy name every conceivable good is provided for my soul, and stored up in reserve as a sacred treasury. Alas! how much of this good have I lost by my own distrust; and blessed Jesus, I fervently pray that Thou wilt graciously remove this distrust far from me, so that I, whom Thou dost so mercifully desire to save by Thy precious merit and life-giving name, may not condemn myself through mine own fault and unbelief.
Johann Gerhard, Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations, trans. C. W. Heisler (Philadelphia, PA: Lutheran Publication Society, 1896).