That Night at the Jabbok
-I think it’s safe to say this was stirred up by reading Joseph Allen Nichols’ “Another Exodus” the other day-
__________________
Was it God?
Having come to strive with man?
Had you seen him all along?
Jacob?
Is that why you, rising in the nighttime,
Saw them safe across the water?
And came back to linger alone?
Jacob?
Could you have died?
If you had not held on so tightly,
Struggling until dawn?
Jacob.
He had to maim you to get loose and you still held on
He had to maim you to get loose
He had to maim you,
Jacob,
Grappling through the darkness till the light
cracked through.
I won’t let go until you bless me
I won’t let go
I won’t
There will be consequences for your toiling with the Lord.
All your questions will not be answered
But you will leave this place with a new name
And you will walk like a man broken.
10 thoughts on "That Night at the Jabbok"
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
struggling until dawn….grappling through the darkness till the light cracked through. I think of Leonard Cohen’s famous line about depression – the crack where the light gets through. Depression is my angel, as relates to this beautiful telling, Jane. I truly think nothing is ultimately answered, though, but what matters is either the meaning laid upon us, the meaning we make, or both. I’m never sure.
I’ve wondered about the story of Jacob, all of the stories.
Ring the bells that still can ring ❤Thank you for your take on this, Manny. Consuming curiosity is one of my angels, so to speak – lack of answers plagues me to no end. I remember my college teachers’ focus on meaning-making in education…maybe this is why.
Mike – me too.
The repetition, and the three (single) penultimate lines, Give this a haunting, haunting sensation, Jane.
I’m drawn to think of Doctor Who and his “rebirths,” the way we shift and change (or are shifted and changed) by our wrestling with what Life throws at us. The poem I posted last night, even, parallels this circle of thought.
Very fine writing! (And the highest praise we get during this month, or any, is knowing something we wrote has helped jog a piece out of a reader 💙)
Had to come back: Particularly like your observation that Jacob came back to this encounter (the question of did he already know). There is bravery in facing the Shadow Side in that action and reframes the whole story, if so
I was hoping you’d see this! I’m captivated by this passage in Genesis. Who came to wrestle? Why? The thought of being stirred up in the middle of the night to take care of the people he was responsible and coming back to fight alone…what would have happened if he slid on over the ford with all of them… maybe no struggle, maybe no pain, maybe no transformation. Shew.
That choice (in most of the Biblical stories) is what resonates deepest for me. Does Jonah answer the call, and to what end or purpose? Does Moses’ inclination not to do so (after all, Aaron had already been prodded) matter in the end? What if someone less hardheaded had ruled Egypt, as opposed to Pharoah? Those human choices and hubris seem to drive the stories, even as some ineffable plan seems it would take place regardless of what the players chose.
Love your poking at the bears.
It certainly brings all of them closer – and what about Paul with his thorn. The process of renaming… Jacob to Israel. Saul to Paul. Poking at the bears is my favorite way to think of this now.
Definitely. You have my head spinning on several ideas now too!