“the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance” (Ps. 105:11, NKJV)
Back to the story in Gen. 32 which leads to Jacob’s change of name, for within it is nestled the promise to Elijah, and to us. In verse 22 we read, “And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok.”
The name of the place God chose for Jacob’s deepest confrontation with his false self is Jabbok, a word that has a significant meaning in the original Hebrew: the place of emptying. Before you and I, and Jacob and Elijah, can gain the fullness of our authority, we need to be thoroughly purified and delivered from everything that is not God within us (1 Cor. 3:12-15).
A few general remarks about this appointed time.
Firstly – Jacob was seventy-nine years old when this life-changing event took place. Granted, he did eventually live to the age of 147 years old, but it is nevertheless absolutely encouraging to see that even on a ripe old age such a radical change in spiritual identity is possible. Be encouraged!
Secondly – note that according to verse 22, Jacob sent his entire company across the river, but himself remained in the delta between the two rivers: “the wrestling occurred when Jacob was at the threshold of the land of promise, for the Jabbok River in Gilead flows into the Jordan River from the eastern frontier” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary). From a geographic perspective this forms a V-shaped sheath – symbolic for Jacob becoming born again.
Thirdly – Jacob must descend in his brokenness and false identity (this is the meaning of ‘Jordan’), before he could access the inheritance of Gilead, a heap of testimony.
Fourthly – this locality symbolises the edge of the East, the other reality, or then: the third dimension. Ps. 105:10-11 describes it as follows: “And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance,’”. Our inheritance, part of an eternal covenant, is to receive our identity in the Christ, and to also become part of all the other identities of the Christ. Please selah!
Fifthly – it is very important to realise that Jacob is here about to make an “eternal covenant”, as Ps. 110:10 made it clear earlier. David beautifully sings the praise of this covenant on his death bed in 2 Sam. 23:5, once he has thanked the “God of Jacob” (verse 1) for it: “Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; will He not make it increase?” Take note – El Olam, “The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms …” (Deut. 33:27). It is according to the order of this eternal God, Paul makes clear in Rom. 16:26, that we heathens belong to Jacob’s eternal covenant.
- Selah: Please selah about what is asked in point number three above.
- Read: 37-38; Ps. 96; 2 Cor. 5.
- Memorise: 2 Cor. 5:1-2.
