Israel, Is It? (Genesis 25-33)

Ryan Scott Carrell - September 21, 2025

About 2,500 years ago, the people who wrote much of what we call the Bible were violently removed from their homes in Jerusalem and forced to live in the city of Babylon, about 900 miles away. As they found themselves wrestling with this new reality, they also wrestled with huge questions that many of us have probably asked at one point or another. Who am I? Is there a god? If there is a god, who are they? And do these god or gods care about me? 

For many of us, these might be uncomfortable questions. Perhaps we were raised in a home or a religious environment where questions were frowned upon. But for the Hebrew people, these questions were a lifeline helping them navigate their circumstances as they wrestled with their identity, their faith, and their understanding of God. And that wrestling is exactly what today’s story is about, as we look at a man whose name was literally changed to one who wrestles with God. But before we get there, we have to start with where we meet him the first time, when he’s given his first name Jacob, which means one who grasps the heel.

Genesis 25:21-26 (NRSVUE) 
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah (whose story we looked at last week) conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is to be this way, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger." 24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob (which means heel-grasper).

How people were named in the Bible, like a lot of the ancient world, was a way to capture something significant about their character, their circumstances, or their destiny. Names weren't just something you put on a name sticker at a party; they told stories and often revealed something about the person and the story to come.

Esau’s name was about his physical appearance. It literally just meant hairy. Jacob’s name was about his actions, grasping at his brother’s heel. And this part of the story isn’t just a random introduction; it’s a description of what had already happened in the story, and a foreshadowing of what was to come.  

Genesis 25:29-34 (NRSVUE)
29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom. 31 Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

This is a striking contrast to the story of Rebekah we saw last week. In that story, she showed hesed, which we learned is a Hebrew term for empathy, compassion, and hospitality. When Rebekah saw a stranger in need, she went far beyond what was expected to care for him. But instead of reflecting that same compassion, Jacob saw his brother's desperation as a predatory business opportunity. This behavior continued, and many years later, with the help of his mother, he stole his brother’s blessing from his dying, blind father. 

For the exiled people, this is what they needed to hear. These characters were not perfect and had moral complexity. They knew their history. They knew their people had made a lot of mistakes. Despite that, God was faithful and forgiving. But while God might be those things, Esau was not.

Genesis 27:41-44 (NRSVUE) 
41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob." 42 But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah, so she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away.”

Esau's anger forced Jacob into a twenty-year exile. For the exiles hearing this story, the parallels would have been unavoidable. They, too, had been unfaithful, they too were far from home, and they too were wondering if reconciliation was even possible. As they wrestled with these questions, the story shifted again when Jacob decided to return home.

Genesis 32:3-7
3 Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now, 5 and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ” 6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed…

Four hundred men sounded less like a welcoming committee and more like an army. So, in response, Jacob made preparations for what he thought was coming. But then, he sent everyone across the river and stayed behind, leading to this very odd passage.

Genesis 32:24-26 (NRSVUE)
24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”

This wrestling match is a radical departure from the religious understandings of the cultures surrounding them. In the ancient world, gods were distant and angry. The idea of wrestling with a deity, physically or spiritually, was ridiculous. Being blessed and renamed to reflect that reality was even weirder. But that’s exactly what happened. 

Genesis 32:27-28
27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.”

Imagine how this story sounded to the exiles in Babylon as they wrestled with fundamental questions about God and their identity. As they did that, they were told that their ancestors' identity, and their identity as a people, was not dependent on geography or political power, but on choosing to wrestle with the divine. And then, the story continued, metaphorically showing them how the wrestling would eventually lead them to reconciliation.

Genesis 33:1-4 (NRSVUE) 
1 Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. 2 He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

The man who had just wrestled with God, after twenty years of separation, was finally able to reconcile with his brother. For the exiles, they saw hope in their own story. God wasn’t going to punish them for their questions; he was going to use them to lead them home.

For many of us, we’ve been told that our questions, doubts, and arguments with God would be things that would push us away from our faith. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our wrestling with God isn't a sign our faith is weak; it's a sign our faith is real.

And that’s why they told this story.

So, this week, permit yourself to wrestle with God about whatever is on your heart. Not to demand answers, but to engage in honest relationship. You might discover that the God you wrestle with is the same God who ultimately blesses you—and that wrestling itself becomes what transforms you into who you're called to be.