Skip to content Decoding the Torah Season 1: Paul, Jacob, and YOU—Wrestling With God May 19 · 21 min ...more
Decoding the Torah Season 1: Paul, Jacob, and YOU—Wrestling With God
May 19, 2025 · 21 min
Rabbi Schneider explores the deep spiritual significance behind the prohibition against eating the sinew of the hip in Jewish law. Uncover how this Biblical principle applies to our lives today.
Series Discovering The Jewish Jesus May 19, 2025 · 21 min · Discovering The Jewish Jesus
Rabbi Schneider explores the deep spiritual significance behind the prohibition against eating the sinew of the hip in Jewish law. Uncover how this Biblical principle applies to our lives today. ...more Show the full description Show less Rabbi Schneider explores the deep spiritual significance behind the prohibition against eating the sinew of the hip in Jewish law. Uncover how this Biblical principle applies to our lives today.
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Rabbi Schneider is equipping the body of Christ, building the church, and evangelizing the world. From the Old and New Testament, learn the biblical roots of Christianity and Jesus' Jewish heritage.
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The Wrestling of Jacob: A Lesson in Humility 0:07 Did you know that there are 613 laws in the Torah? And this revelation answers questions that we sometimes don't have answers for if we just read the0:19 New Testament. Let me ask you a question. Is God willing to hurt us because he has an objective in mind that he can't accomplish0:31 without bringing us through some pain? Well, we're gonna answer that question today by looking at 1 of the laws in the Torah. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but Baruch Hashem, the word0:43 of God, abides forever. Now you're gonna have to stay with me. I'm gonna give it to you piece by piece. First, I'm just gonna state the law. The law is this. It's called the prohibition0:55 against eating the thigh muscle of any animal. Now I know that for some of you, you're wondering what the heck is going on? What what's what's going on here? But again, there are 613 laws1:07 from the Torah that the rabbis have brought forth, and 1 of these laws is that we can't eat the thigh muscle of any animal. Where does that come from? It comes from the scripture in the book of1:18 Bereshit, the book of Genesis chapter 32 verse 32. I'm gonna read the scripture that it comes from, then I'm gonna give the context so you can understand the concept of all this. Here we go.1:30 Therefore, to this day, the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew, that's a connective tissue, of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh because he this is actually the1:42 mysterious angel or god incarnate that touched Jacob in a god encounter that Jacob had because he or the angel or god touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the1:54 hip. So let's put it in context here. Many of us have heard the Hebrew title Bethel. It means house of God. Bethel, bathhouse,2:06 El God. Where does the word Bethel come from? The title Bethel. It comes from the time in the book of Genesis when Jacob was running for his life2:18 from Esau. Many of you know the story of Jacob and Esau. They were twin brothers. Esau was the eldest. Esau biblically was entitled to the birthright, to the2:29 father's blessing of the firstborn son. But Jacob wanted the birthright. And Jacob's mother favored Jacob, and Jacob's mother wanted Jacob to have the birthright. So 1 day,2:41 when Esau was out hunting, Jacob took a hairy animal skin and put it on his forearm, and he went to his dad, Isaac, who was blind at the time, and2:53 he disguised himself as Esau. And Isaac, the father said, well, you don't you don't sound like Esau. And Jacob said, no. I'm Esau. Isaac, still being skeptical, told3:06 skeptical, called Jacob over and said, let me let me touch your arm, because Isaac knew that that Esau's arm was hairy while Jacob's was smooth. So Jacob with the hair connected to3:18 his forearm put his arm so that Isaac could feel it. Isaac felt the hair, and then Isaac being deceived by Jacob went forth and blessed Jacob with the blessing of the3:29 firstborn. Well, when Esau got back from hunting and discovered that Jacob had stolen his birthright, he was furious, and he was intent on killing Jacob. So Jacob's mother told Jacob to3:41 flee. Jacob left in terror, fearing for his life, and here he was now all alone in the wilderness. He had left everybody he knew. He had left his family, everyone he knew3:53 from where he had grown up because he's fleeing and he's alone. And he goes to sleep alone in the wilderness, and he finds a rock that he uses as a pillow, and he falls asleep with that4:05 rock under his head, and he has a vision of a ladder going up to the heavens from the rock where his head is laid. And he sees these angels ascending and descending upon4:17 the ladder. Yeshua, Jesus referred to it in the gospels. And then the Lord told Jacob that he was going to bless him. And he promised Jacob that he was going to inherit the land, and4:29 Jacob encountered the Lord there. And when Jacob woke up, he said, surely God is in this place. And he titled that place Bethel, the house of God. Well, 20 years4:41 has gone by since that encounter as we come to our scripture reading today in Genesis 32. 20 years has gone by. Jacob has been alone, then he but but he's not fully alone because he gets a new family.4:53 Remember? He he he begins to work for Laban. He marries, Leah and Rachel. And, but finally after 20 years, the Lord speaks to him again. So I'm reading now5:05 from the book of Genesis chapter 31 verse number 13. God's coming back to Jacob 20 years later and says this, I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to me.5:16 Now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth. So god's saying, I want you to go back home now. I want you to meet Esau.5:28 We're picking up now, and I'm going to the 30 second chapter, and I'll pick up in this, ninth verse here. Oh, god of my father, Jacob is speaking Abraham and god of my father5:40 Isaac. Oh, lord, who said to me, return to your country and to your relatives. I will prosper you. We just quoted that verse where the lord told them to return from the previous chapter. So god Jacob is now5:52 speaking back and saying, lord, you're saying to me return. And he says, I am unworthy of all the loving kindness and of all the faithfulness which you have shown to your servant. For6:04 with my staff only, I cross this Jordan, and now I have become 2 companies. Jacob kept on multiplying, 2 wise, many flocks, many herds, very, very wealthy. And then6:16 Jacob play prays, deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he will come and attack me, and the mothers with the6:27 children. So he spent the night there, then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother, Esau. So Jacob decides that he's gonna try to6:40 calm Esau's anger by sending him a gift before Jacob himself meets him face to face. Let's continue on now in the 20 fourth verse. Then Jacob was left alone,6:52 and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. So Jacob has this encounter where he wrestles with God. The language is very mysterious. When you we read through this, the word he, you're gonna hear me7:04 read in the next verse, the he here is is some type of God incarnate in this experience that Jacob had where Jacob is wrestling with God or some type of angel from the throne of God. And7:16 it's very mysterious because the scripture's gonna tell us that Jacob was wrestling with this man, with this angel, and that Jacob was prevailing. How could Jacob wrestle with7:28 God and prevail? Well, God was letting him win, but God was doing something in the process. It didn't feel to Jacob like God was letting him win. Jacob was striving with all his strength.7:40 Let's continue on. Then he saw that he had not prevailed against him. This is the Lord speaking. God saw that he had not prevailed against Jacob. He, then the7:52 Lord, touched the socket of his thigh, so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with them. Then he said, this is the lord speaking, now let me go for the dawn8:04 is breaking. God's kinda letting Jacob, you know, exert his strength. But he, meaning Jacob, said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to8:15 him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. He said, your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you8:27 are striven with God and with men and have prevailed. This is what the the name Israel means, when it is striven with God or 1 that prevails or God prevails. So after8:39 Jacob wrestles with God and keeps on wrestling and keeps on wrestling and keeps on wrestling, and God kinda lets him win a little bit, then God dislocates Jacob's hip and changes his8:51 name to Israel. Notice the next verse. Then Jacob asked him and said, please tell me your name. But he said, why is it that you asked my name? And he blessed him9:03 there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved. Now the sun rose upon him9:15 just as he crossed over Peniel, and he was limping on his thigh. Therefore, to this day here we go. Here's the law, where the law comes from. Because of this incident, therefore, to this9:27 day, the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the9:39 hip. So today, Jewish people still do not eat the sinew of the hip, and we're asking ourselves as New Testament believers, what is the application of all this9:51 for me today? Beloved, there is tremendous application here. Now I want you to consider this. Jacob's10:03 name was not changed to Israel. Hear me carefully. God did not change Jacob's name to Israel until after God dislocated10:15 Jacob's hip. And after the Lord dislocated Jacob's hip, Jacob walked with a limp for the rest of his life. God could not bless10:27 Jacob until God first broke Jacob of all self reliance and pride. And this is the key. God10:38 cannot bless us with the fullness of what he wants to give us until we are first humbled and broken of self reliance and of pride.10:50 God's power, beloved, is manifest in us through our weakness. There's a famous Jewish exegesis or commentary11:03 called Bereshit Rabbah, once again, an ancient Jewish exegesis in the book of Genesis. And Bereshit Rabbah offers this insight. The thigh is the seed of11:14 pride. The holy 1, blessed be he, said to Jacob, you rely on your thigh, I will strike it. And so god breaks us of self reliance11:26 and pride in order to bless us. And so I began today by asking the question, will God ever hurt us because he's got a higher purpose in mind? Let11:38 me tell you. When god dislocated Jacob's hip, it cost Jacob something. He had to struggle with a limp, a physical, weakness for the rest of his life.11:50 God will hurt us at times, not because he wants to hurt us for the sake of delighting in our pain, but because he can't do in us what he wants to do unless he breaks us once12:02 again of pride and self reliance. In fact, the great apostle Paul that we all admire so much experienced the same thing in his life. Like Jacob, Paul12:14 was blessed with tremendous revelation. Jacob encountered God going up and down on the ladder from heaven to earth. Jacob encountered God a second time that we read about here.12:26 Likewise, Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Jesus spoke to him. Paul saw the blinding light. Paul received tremendous revelation. But after Paul received12:38 the revelation, a messenger of Satan, the scripture tells us, was sent to Paul to keep Paul from exalting himself12:50 because of the tremendous revelation which Paul received. So Paul receives this tremendous revelation, but what happens next? God dislocates, so to speak, Paul's hip. It13:02 wasn't exactly a dislocation of a hip. We don't know what it was. All we know, it was a messenger of Satan, and the messenger of Satan was sent by God. There's another conundrum for New13:14 Testament believers that don't know the Hebrew Bible, but this is exactly what Paul said. Paul said because of the abundance because of the abundance of revelation that was given to me13:26 so Paul tells us why the messenger of Satan came. Because of the abundance of the revelation that was given to him to keep him, Paul said, from exalting himself. A messenger of13:38 Satan was sent to him, which brought torment to Paul. Paul prayed 3 times, Lord, take this pain away. Take this pain away. Take this torment away. And after the third13:50 time, most of us know the story, the Lord responded to Paul, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. In other words, Paul, as you rely on me, you're gonna get through, and Paul's and the Lord14:01 continued and said to Paul, for my power, Paul, will be perfected in your weakness. This is the same phenomenon, beloved, that we see going on here14:13 in the life of life of Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. God dislocated his hip so that Jacob would become reliant on the Lord, and you know what? The Lord will do the same thing in your life and my life.14:25 So next time that you encounter a trial, next time that you encounter hardship, recognize that God may be in that trial. God might be in your hardship,14:38 even what some of you might be dealing with right now. You're going through a difficult time. It could be anything. And God might be right in the center of what you're going through because like he did with14:49 Jacob and like he did with Paul, he's breaking you of self reliance so you'll become completely dependent upon him. He can't fully bless you, beloved, until he15:01 first humbles you. You see, our challenges become a metaphoric gateway for spiritual transformation.15:13 Our challenges become a channel for us to receive divine favor. Our tendency towards pride as human beings must be dealt with, and so the15:25 Lord protects us from our pride by bringing us through challenges. Listen to what Paul said in second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 and 10 about this very subject. After Paul realized15:37 that God was bringing him into challenges, that this messenger of Satan was actually sent from God to keep Paul from exalting himself so that God's power could be perfected in Paul. Because15:49 remember when Paul said remove this torment, God said, Paul, my power is gonna be perfected in your weakness. Here's what Paul realized after that about going through challenges and trials, about going through times when16:00 his hip was dislocated. And by the way, this law, not to eat the sinew of the hip, reminds us of this. This is why in Israel, we don't eat the sinew of a hip and why we remind ourself that God16:12 perfects his purposes in our life through our trials oftentimes. So this is what Paul said in second Corinthians 12 9 and 10. Most gladly, therefore, I'll rather boast about my16:24 weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for16:36 Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So this law that we derive from rabbinic Judaism out of the Torah,16:48 of a hip socket, reminds us how God uses the trials in life and actually orchestrates the trials and challenges we face in life, oftentimes to16:59 transform them into a channel of blessing. To break us of pride, to break us of self reliance, so we become open to receive his power. And in closing today, I wanna make 1 more17:11 application. The rabbis also see in this story of Jacob the fact that we shouldn't let physical, weaknesses or physical disabilities17:24 or physical impairments stop us. Because Jacob continued to wrestle with God even after his hip was dislocated. So17:35 this is a word of encouragement according to the rabbis that when we're struggling physically, when we we we run into some type of physical challenge or something that, takes some of our17:47 capability away in the natural, we shouldn't let that stop us even as Jacob kept on resting with God even after his hip was dislocated. And I say17:59 that to you, beloved ones, with tenderness because I know that some are struggling with very difficult situations, and I don't wanna seem, insensitive or callous to that. But it is a word of encouragement to keep giving18:09 God our best, keep doing our best, even when we're facing physical challenges because Jacob continued to wrestle with God after his hip was dislocated, and beloved, he was18:21 fully blessed. I hope this is helpful for you today. I love you. I just want to pray over you. May God continue to strengthen you amidst whatever trials and whatever18:33 challenges that you're facing. May the power of the resurrection of King Jesus be perfected in your life as you rely on God through the challenges that you'll18:45 inevitably encounter as you journey through this earth on your own personal walk. Beloved, God causes all things to work together for good to those that love Him18:57 and to those that are called according to His purpose. Yevarechecha Yawah Yishmerecha, my friend. May God richly bless you. Father, we worship you today and we love you19:09 today. We thank you for using everything in our life for the purpose of filling us with your glory, filling us with your strength, and blessing us. Until next time,19:20 beloved, this is Rabbi Schneider saying to you, God bless you, I love you, and shalom. I hope you're enjoying this series on19:32 decoding the Torah, ancient wisdom for a modern world. There's something about studying the Hebrew Bible and making the connection to the New Testament and Jesus' words that just brings19:44 revival and it strengthens us. If you're being blessed by my teaching, beloved, I want to humbly ask you, would you consider financially supporting us? The truth is it costs money19:56 to do what we do. The television, the radio, the prison system, everything that we do costs money, and we can't do what we're doing without people that love the20:08 ministry and believe in us and believe in what we're doing. So I just want to once again say to you, if you just feel the Holy Spirit just knocking on the door of your heart to make an offering to the Lord through20:17 Discovering the Jewish Jesus today, just be obedient. That's all I ask. Yeshua promised that everything that we do unto him will come back pressed down, good measure, and running into20:29 our lap. Thank you very much for your love and support.In this video 0:00 The Wrestling of Jacob: A Lesson in HumilityThe Missing Piece of God's Plan for the Last Days Rabbi Schneider Nov 2
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