Jacob: Entering into the Sabbath

Jacob: Entering into the Sabbath

And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have commanding power with God and with men, and you have prevailed and you have been made complete.” Genesis 32:29.

וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ

 כִּי אִם יִשְׂרָאֵל

 כִּי שָׂרִיתָ עִם אֱלֹהִים וְעִם אֲנָשִׁים

 וַתּוּכָל

Jacob had wrestled or labored (Hebrews 4:11) with this strange being all night long in a solitary place.  But Jacob persevered and refused to give up.  He also recognized that this person was supernatural, and he refused to let this being go until He had blessed him.  He recognized that this person had the power of HaShem, and possibly was HaShem or the Messiah himself, and therefore had the power to bless him.  It was the blessing that Jacob was pursuing, and he refused to give up until he had possessed it.

And he (the angel) said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking,” but he (Jacob) said, “I will not let you go unless you have blessed me.”

וַיֹּאמֶר שַׁלְּחֵנִי כִּי עָלָה הַשָּׁחַר

 וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא אֲשַׁלֵּחֲךָ כִּי אִם בֵּרַכְתָּנִי

At this point HaShem changes Jacob’s name to Israel and uses the word  תּוּכָל . The word  תּוּכָל (prevailed) is from the root יכל and it is the same root that HaShem uses concerning what He had created when He declares the Sabbath שבת in Genesis 2:1-2 for the seventh day of creation.

Now the heavens and the earth were completed and all their host.

יְכֻלּוּ

הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל צְבָאָם

And God completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He did.

יְכַל

  אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה

 וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה

This shows that by prevailing Jacob entered into the Sabbath rest of HaShem. In the blessing of HaShem Jacob received a new spiritual nature.  Jacob’s name was changed.  He had a new identity.  This is the New Birth that you and I receive after we have believed on the Messiah Yeshua.   .המשיח ישוע It is written “and then the LORD blessed him.”  He received the blessing after he had wrestled with HaShem.  Thus we enter into the Shabbat שבת of G-d which He had finished from the foundation of the earth and the heavens.

When we walk and live in our new spiritual identity bestowed on us by the blessing of HaShem, we enter into the rest or the Shabbat שבת and into the “Day which is all Shabbat” יום שכלו שבת.

This is an awesome thing, because we see the face of G-d.

 And Jacob named the place Peniel,

for [he said,] “I saw G-d face to face, and my soul was saved.”

וַיִּקְרָא יַעֲקֹב שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם פְּנִיאֵל

 כִּי רָאִיתִי אֱלֹהִים פָּנִים אֶל פָּנִים

 וַתִּנָּצֵל נַפְשִׁי