JEHOVAH GAVE JACOB THE RARE "GIFT OF CELIBACY" UNTIL HE WAS TRICKED INTO MARRYING
LEAH INSTEAD OF RACHEL AT AGE 84. HIS EVIL TWIN ESAU (FATHER OF THE EDOMITES) MARRIED 2 WIVES AT AGE 40 (GENESIS 26:34). |
The Hebrew name JACOB is transliterated into English as JAMES . . . and is a very, very popular name!
The same Angel of JEHOVAH who wrestled with Jacob at the brook Jabbok inspired Moses to write the Book of Genesis:
And Jacob arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. After taking them across the brook he sent across all his possessions. Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” So he said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob only, but Israel; for you have struggled with Elohim and with Man, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him saying, “please tell me your name." But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Penuel: “For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life is preserved.” The sun arose on him as he crossed over Penuel, limping on his hip. That is why the children of Israel to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Jacob's hip was wrenched at the thigh muscle (Genesis 32:23-32).
Even though it was the center of the old world geographically and prophetically, ancient Israel was small, only about the size of the state of
Massachusetts. Jacob's life-changing encounter with the Angel of JEHOVAH happened at a tributary of the Jordan River.
 The brook Jabbok is called the Zarqa River today. |
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 Jacob wresting with the Angel of JEHOVAH. |
After his rebirth, Israel lived for another 50 years, departing for the Paradise section of Sheol in 1731 BC—when he was 147 years old. Before departing, he blessed his 12 sons, and he predicted that the tribe of Judah (Jews) would survive until Shiloh or the Messiah came:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from his loins, UNTIL SHILOH COMES; and the people shall be gathered unto him (Genesis 49:10).
That was a marvelous prophecy because only 2 tribes, Judah and Benjamin, returned to rebuild the Temple after the end of the Babylonian Captivity in 457 BC.
Shiloh or the Messiah came 483 years later. He ministered for 3½ years, and by his death and Resurrection on the Mount of Olives he made all the Temple sacrifices obsolete.
The Jews who rejected their Messiah continued offering animal sacrifices, so 40 years later, in 70 AD, the Romans completely destroyed the Temple and Old Jerusalem (Daniel 9:24-27).
That was a remarkable fulfillment of patriarch Israel’s prophecy! The Jewish nation did survive until the Messiah’s first coming fulfilled most of the great prophecies of the Bible!
At the Exodus, JEHOVAH told Moses that all the firstborn in Egypt would die unless their doorposts were covered with the blood of the Passover lamb....That Passover lamb foreshadowed the Lamb of Elohim who would die for the sins of the world 1500 years later!
He also compared all the firstborn to donkeys or asses:
But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn males among your children you shall redeem (Exodus 13:13, 34:20).
Apeman Charles Darwin was wrong because man's closest relative is a donkey or ass! That doesn't deny the fact that there are many very intelligent and "highly educated" donkeys or asses!
At the beginning of the Messiah's ministry a ruler of the Jews visited him at night to avoid excommunication by the Sanhedrin:
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Joshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent from Elohim; for no one can do these signs that you do unless Elohim is with him.”Joshua answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Elohim.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Joshua answered, “verily, verily, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of Elohim. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Saint John 3:1-8),
Nicodemus did not know that the Man he was speaking to was the same divine person who wrestled with Jacob and changed his name to ISRAEL. Nicodemus was not "born again" until after the Resurrection of Christ on the Mount of Olives!
The fab 4: Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were "born again." Saint Peter was "born again" on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3, I Saint Peter 1:23).
Hebrew of the Hebrews Saul of Tarsus was acting like an ASS until he was "born again" on the Damascus Road. Here is his account of that divine encounter as related to King Agrippa:
Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of JEHOSHUA of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So I said, "Who are you, Adonai?" And he said, "I am JEH-HO-SHUA of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 26:9-15).
Saint Patrick—the patron saint of All-Ireland—was "born again" while a slave in Hibernia....Ex-monk Saint Saint Martin is the most famous (but not the most beloved) "born again" German....Jacob would have made a great monk because he had the rare "gift of celibacy" until he married Leah and Rachel at age 84 (Genesis 29:16-25).