2.13.2017 WRESTLING JACOB by Charles Wesley

 This poem and those directly following, single and by category, come from the Source Book of Poetry compiled by Al Bryant (1968)



note: the Jewish people, called out of Egypt by God to enter the promised land (the land area which God had originally promised to Abraham and his descendants, that the current nation of Israel occupies) came from ABRAHAM, his son ISSAC and his son JACOB, the last of whom fathered 12 sons, whose progeny became the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel in the time when the Old Testament was written. Jacob had tricked his older brother, Esau, out of receiving the birthright which belonged, always to the oldest son and then left for a foreign land when he heard the Esau was about to kill him. Genesis 32 recounts the return of Jacob into the land promised to Abraham's descendants and what happens when he hears that Esau is on his way to meet him with a sizable band of men. the account of that most crucial night in Esau's life begins in vs 20 as he is sending the last of  his two wives, his sons, his servants and his flocks over the river..
'and say ye moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. for he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me and afterward I WILL SEE HIS FACE; PERADVENTURE HE WILL ACCEPT OF ME. (note - scared that this was his last night on earth. so went the present (animals) went over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.  and he rose up that night and took his 2 wives and his 2 women servants and his 11 sons and passed over the ford Jabbok.  and he took them and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.  and Jacob was left alone and THERE WRESTLED A MAN (note - God) WITH HIM UNTIL THE BREAKING OF THE DAY. and when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. and he said, let me go, for the day breaketh, and he said, I WILL NOT LET THEE GO, EXCEPT THOU BLESS ME.
and he (God) said unto him, What is thy name?
and he said, Jacob.
and he (God) said, THY NAME SHALL BE CALLED NO MORE JACOB, BUT ISRAEL (means 'one who strives with God):  FOR AS A PRINCE HAS THOU POWER WITH GOD AND MEN AND HAD PREVAILED.

and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.
and as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. therefore the children of ISRAEL EAT NOT OF THE SINEW WHICH SHRANK, WHICH IS UPON THE HOLLOW OF THE THIGH, UNTO THIS DAY:  because he (God) touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Charles Wesley, the younger brother of John, used this event to as the topic of a hymn/poem entitled WRESTLING JACOB.

Come, O thou Traveller unknown,                      
 Whom still I hold, but cannot see!                      
My company before is gone,                                
and I am left alone with thee;                              
with thee all night I mean to stay,                        
and wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell thee who I am,
my misery or sin  declare.
Thyself has called me by my name;
look on thy hands and read it there.
but who, I ask thee, who art thou/
tell me thy name and tell me now.

in vain thou strugglest to get free;
I never will unloose my hold.
art thou the man that died for me?
the secret of thy love unfold:
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I  thy name, they nature know.

wilt thou not yet to me reveal
thy new, unutterable name?
Tell me, I still beseech thee, tell;
to know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, they nature know.

'Tis all in vain to hold thy tongue,
Or touch the hollow of my thigh:
though every sinew be unstrung,
out of my arms thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, they nature know.

what though my shrinking flesh complain,
and murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain:
when I am weak, then I am strong:
and when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

My strength is gone, my nature dies;
I sink beneath thy weighty hand;
faint to revive and fall to rise;
I fall and yet by faith I stand.
I stand and will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak:
Be conquered by my instant prayer:
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
and tell me if thy name is Love.

'Tis Love! 'Tis Love! thou didst for me;
I hear thy whisper in my heart.
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Pure, universal Love thou art:
To me, to all, thy bowels move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

I know thee, Saviour, who thou art,
Jesus, the feeble sinner's Friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart,
But stay and love me to the end:
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

The Sun of Righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in his wings;
Withered my nature's strength; from thee
My soul is all laid above:
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Contented now, upon my thigh
I halt, till life's short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness, I
On thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey;
Hell, earth and sin, with ease o'er-come;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
and as a bounding hart fly home,
through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and Thy name is Love.  Charles Wesley