All of us walk with a limp. The question is whether or not you know it.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is January 31, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called From Then On, He Walked With A Limp. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 32, Mark 3, and Esther 8.
Please open your Bibles to Genesis 32.
When I was in college, I was riding my bike across campus one day and I noticed some girls a ways up the path, coming my direction. I thought it would impress them if I jumped my bike off a little staircase—maybe about 4 or 5 steps, right in front of them. Girls like that, right? I got up a little speed, hit the edge of the steps, pulled back just a bit on the handlebars, sailed through the air, and landed the jump beautifully. It was a crowning moment. I turned my head towards the girls and gave them a winning smile… and ran right into a tree. As I lay on my back staring up at the sky, all I could hear was the sound of these girls laughing at me as they disappeared down the path.
I got a humbling. Thankfully, I did not hurt anything more than my pride, but my pride was bruised, battered, bloodied. Metaphorically, I walked with a limp from that humbling for quite a while. In today’s Scripture for Students, we’re going to read about another humbling, but this humbling is so severe, the main character in this story is going to literally walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
Please follow along with me as I read Genesis 32:22–32,
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.
24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his 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 has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
First, let’s admit that this is kind of a strange story. The main character I mentioned earlier is Jacob. If you’ve been keeping up on your reading through the M’Cheyne reading plan, you know that Jacob is kind of a shady character. A few chapters back, Jacob stole his twin brother Esau’s birthright and his father’s blessing. Jacob got tricked by Laban into marrying Leah before Rachel, but God blessed Jacob with 12 children. Eventually, Jacob needed to move back to Canaan and he fleeced Laban on the way out—pun intended. And as he heads home, now with a huge family in tow, he is really worried about meeting Esau again. Almost everything about his life has been shady. But God is about to give him a humbling.
It says in verse 24 that when Jacob was alone, a man appeared to him and wrestled with him. Who is this guy? Well, as we keep reading, we learn that this is God himself. Jacob realized this is true by verse 30, because he recognizes that he has seen God face-to-face and yet was not destroyed. So he is wrestling with God.
And this was not a quick match; it says they wrestled until the break of day. Jacob must have been very strong, or very determined, or both, because he won’t let go of his opponent. In verse 27, God asks Jacob, “What is your name?” He’s not asking this because he doesn’t know Jacob’s name; instead, God is about to change his name as a way to show that his character has changed, too. We learned in chapter 26 that the name Jacob means “He takes by the heel,” which is kind of a polite way of naming him, “Cheater.” But here, God tells Jacob that from now on, he will be known as Israel, which means, “He strives with God.” By giving Jacob this new name, he is telling Jacob who he is: that he is God himself.
Jacob tries to turn the tables on God by asking his name, a way of asserting his own strength and authority. But God won’t have it. Instead, he blessed him. He gives Jacob his divine favor—favor that leads to fruitfulness and flourishing.
When the episode is finally over, Jacob seems to draw a sigh of relief and calls the place Peniel, which means “the face of God.” Names mean a lot in the Old Testament.
But there is one more feature here. I intentionally skipped over verse 25 until now: when God saw Jacob’s determination to wrestle with him, God touched Jacob’s hip and put it out of joint. These verses don’t tell us, but I’ve got to imagine that a dislocated hip was really painful. In fact, verse 31 tells us that he left that place with a limp because of his hip. And this moment is so significant that it says in verse 32 that the Jewish people do not eat the sinew of the hip socket as a way to remember and honor Jacob. Or Israel, as he is now known.
Jacob got humbled, and he walked away with a limp. I think you could say that from here on out, Jacob’s actions and attitudes are honorable. He was a changed man. And this is a really significant moment for the Jewish people because by changing Jacob’s name to Israel, God is giving a name not just to one man, but to the entire nation. This would become a nation that would strive with God, appealing to God for a blessing. And God would bless them in many ways, as we will see as we keep reading.
The main thing we need to take away from this passage is the significance of this moment in the life of Israel, but we can learn from it personally, too. God loves humility and if his people don’t humble themselves, he will humble those he loves.
In fact, that seems to be God’s way: he loves those who are humble and he humbles those he loves. We’ve already been humbled by our sin: we know that we are weak, sinful, and prone to wander from God. Each of us already walks with a limp before God. Will we see that for what it is and agree with the importance of humility in our lives, or will we need to be humbled? Let’s do that work of humbling on ourselves so God doesn’t have to.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!