Jacob’s Trouble, His Dark Night of the Soul In End Times Bible Prophecy and YOU!
You have probably heard the saying that the night is the darkest just before the dawn. Metaphorically speaking, when circumstances conspire against you and the outcome looks the bleakest, that is often when the rays of hope begin to shine through the darkest darkness and the outcome suddenly reveals itself. A way forward unexpectedly manifests itself out of the obscure gloom of apparent defeat and hopelessness. People of faith can more easily relate to such a scenario. This was exactly the place in which the patriarch Jacob found himself when returning to the land of Canaan—the future Promised Land. He had reached the pinnacles of success in his earthly endeavors, and now circumstances beyond his control in front of and behind him were conspiring to take everything away including his very life This is not only the story of his life, but each of us has likely found ourselves in similar spots as well. Deliverance and victory often emerge out of the darkest and bleakest periods of life. This is a test of our faith that if we are to progress to the next level in our spiritual growth, we must pass.
Genesis 32 is the story of Jacob’s return to Canaan after having been exiled from his homeland for 20 years. His exile occurred after he obtained his divinely promised birthright through shrewd if not unscrupulous means from his brother Esau resulting in his having to flee Canaan for fear of his life due to his brothers desire lust for vengeance. Jacob took refuge in the region of Babylonia at his Uncle Laban’s home, where he married Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. After twenty years working for the greedy and treacherous Laban, Jacob had to flee Babylon with is father-in-law in angry pursuit. As if that were not enough, while Jacob and his family are returning to Canaan, they encounter Jacob’s brother Esau who, still angry after two decades after being cheated out of his inheritance, along with his small army, not only stood in Jacob’s way from entering the land of his promised inheritance, but also wanted to kill Jacob.
This account of Jacob’s personal, spiritual struggles also has prophetic, end times implications relating to the regathering out of exile of the twelve tribes of Israel (the Jews and the Christians) and their return to the Promised Land in Israel under Yeshua our Messiah at his second coming. The Scriptures refer to this time period as “Jacob’s Trouble” (see Jer 30:7).
Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. (Jer 30:7)
The ancient Jewish sages believe that the encounter between Jacob and Esau (no doubt informed by Jeremiah’s prophecy) is prophetic in nature and will happen again in the end times, but this time on a much larger scale, and also involving the numerous descendants of Israel (or Jacob) and Esau (or Edom). That is to say, the Israelites of the end times will be attempting to return to their ancestral homeland, while the modern descendants of Esau (the forces of Antichrist as represented by the antichrist religion of Islam and their Elohim-hating allies) will be blocking their way. As we proceed in this study, we will see whether this prophecy is beginning to come to pass in these last days.
Not only this and by way of historical context, the Jewish sages speak of two major redemptions in Israel’s long history. The first redemption occurred when YHVH delivered the oppressed and enslaved children of Israel out of Egypt at the exodus. History will then repeat itself in what the Jewish sages refer to as “the second or final redemption,” which will occur at the end of this present era when the Messiah will regather and lead his exiled and scattered Israelite people back to the Promised Land in fulfillment of numerous biblical prophecies.
Rolling the time line backwards a little in the present story of Jacob, not only had Laban chased his son-in-law out of the area of Babylon, but Jacob was also being blocked from entering Canaan by his murderous brother Esau (or Edom). This is reminiscent of Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites as they were exodusing Egypt only to find their escape route blocked by the Red Sea. Pharaoh was the first Edom, if you will, or Edom is the second Pharaoh. In both instances, YHVH’s people were or will be forced to rely totally on him for deliverance from their enemies who were both in front of and behind them.
Initially, Jacob deals with his crisis in a typically human way—by scheming and conniving “to save his own skin,” so to speak, instead of having faith in YHVH “to work things out.” He figured that by bribing his angry and bloodthirsty brother with wave after wave of gifts, he might appease and assuage his Esau’s desire for murderous revenge (Gen 32:13–20).
Yet Jacob’s bifurcated response to this present danger by resorting to both appeasement and prayer was not acceptable to YHVH, who wanted Jacob to be a man of unmitigated faith, that is, to solely trust in him. Or as Job put it, though you slay me, yet will I trust you (Job 13:15).To bring Jacob to this point, a part of Jacob had to die: his prideful self-reliance and his inclination toward extricating himself from difficult situations through his own cunning ingenuity. This innate tendency of his, not unlike our own, was based on fear of death, and not on faith in YHVH. The Bible tells us that where there is fear, there is no love (1 John 4:18), and that YHVH has not given his people a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). For Jacob to mature spiritually, YHVH wanted him to leave the fear and faithless aspect of his human nature on the east side of the Jordan where Babylon (a spiritual metaphor for the old carnal and sinful man and the ungodly ways of this world) was located. In its place, a faith-filled man who would totally trust YHVH in all things had to rise up; Jacob could no longer trust in his soul man (i.e., his mind, will and emotions) to determine his actions; rather, he had to rely on the Spirit of Elohim to lead him as it informed his inner man or personal spirit, which would, in turn, lead his soul forward in the walk of faith. Only a man of faith, who is mighty in the Spirit, will be worthy to enter the Promised Land. The children of Israel learned this lesson the hard way too. The carcasses of older generation that lacked faith in and obedience to YHVH littered the wilderness en route to the Promised Land.
For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it…Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience…(Heb 4:2, 6)
Like Jacob’s descendants later learned, he too had to discover that his old man, who lacked faith, had to die just before entering the Promised Land. But this was a difficult process. This is because Jacob had to come to grips with his own limitations and overcome the ugly side of his innate human nature that was directed by his mind, will and emotions and not by the Spirit of Elohim. This internal battle between the soul and the spirit occurred during a “dark-night-of-the-soul-encounter” when Jacob wrestled all night with the Messenger of Elohim (Gen 32:22–32).
The result was that in this struggle Jacob became permanently lame in his hip (Gen 32:32). He became physically injured, but more importantly, he became humbled in his heart. His soul man (i.e., his mind, will and emotions) became subservient to his spirit man (under the leading of the Spirit of Elohim). Out of his wrestling match, he gained a new identity, a new heart and a new name. Jacob the “heal catcher” became Israel “the prince of El [God]” or “the prevailer with El.” By wrestling with and overcoming his own soulish or carnal limitations, that is, his own pride, self-reliance on his mind to figure things out instead of trusting Elohim by walking in the faith and in the Spirit, he became a broken and changed man. By trusting in YHVH, he became a vessel that the Creator could use to further his plan of redemption as promised to Abraham, the father of our faith, for it was through Jacob that the birth of birth the nation of Israel was to occur.
Through events leading up to Jacob’s dark night of the soul, he learned a vital spiritual lesson: His human attempts at appeasing Esau gained him nothing except a slimmer net worth via the loss of material possessions. On the other hand, his wrestling with and surrendering to the Messenger of Elohim—who was, in reality, the preincarnate Yeshua—gained him and his descendants not only a nation and the Promised Land, but ultimately the whole world, through Yeshua the Messiah, and a place in YHVH’s eternal kingdom.
Interestingly and as part of a larger picture that would latter play out prophetically in the Bible’s pages, as a gambit to save his own skin from his vengeful brother, Jacob divided his family into two camps in the hopes that if Esau killed one group, the other would survive and vice versa. This was another one of his schemes that failed to work, but which has tremendous end-time prophetic implications. Genesis 32:2 records that Jacob called the name of the place where he split his family into two camps Mahanaim, which is a Hebrew word meaning “two camps” and is the plural of the root word machanah meaning “encampment, camp, camp of armed host, army camp, company or body of people.”This spot is near the River Jabok, which is a tributary to the Jordan River and is located on the east side of that river in the modern country of Jordan.During the time of the nation of ancient Israel, it was located in the Gilead region on either the border between Gad and Reuben or Gad and Ephraim. The Song of Solomon makes reference to mahanaim in chapter 6:13 where we read,
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon you. What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the company [Heb. m’kolah] of two armies [Heb. mahanah].
The Hebrew word m’kolah means “dance.” I see a correlation between Song 6:13 and Genesis 32:2, since mahanaim in Genesis and machneh or “two armies” in the Song of Solomon are the same word; the former is the plural and the latter is the root word.
What is the prophetic connection between these two biblical passages? It appears that Genesis 32 is a prophetic shadow-picture of just how Jacob’s descendants will come back into the land of their inheritance prior to Yeshua’s return. This prophetic scenario is confirmed in the Jeremiah 30:7—the Jacob’s trouble prophecy. In Jeremiah’s prophecy, the context is Jacob’s end time descendants (the Christians and the Jews) returning from their captivity and exile in the nations of the world.
“For behold, the days are coming,” says YHVH, “that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel [the house of Israel who would become the Christians] and Judah [Jews],” says YHVH. “And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it… Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day,” says YHVH of hosts, “That I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve YHVH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. (Jer 30:3, 7–10,
Obviously, this prophecy along with a resurrected King David to rule over a regathered and reunited Israel (i.e., Christians and Jews) hasn’t occurred yet. This will happen at Yeshua the Messiah’s second coming. The corollary to this prophetic passage is Ezekiel’s Two Sticks Prophecy where, again in the end times, the two houses of Israel are regathered and reunited with King David ruling over them in the sight of the Messiah (Ezek 37:13–27).
However, prior to the end times regathering and reunification of the twelve tribe descendents of Jacob, the Bible foretells that the twelve tribes of Israel, who will be divided into two camps (Jews and Christians) as they enter the Promised Land of Israel. They will then have to confront the modern, blood thirsty descendants Esau or Edom, who will be blocking the way as Esau did to Jacob long ago. Who are Esau’s modern descendants? Many of them are the Palestinian-Arabs and their Muslim allies.
Both camps (Judah and Ephraim [see Ezek 37:15–16; 19–20]—as presently represented by the Jewish and Christians peoples) are beginning to and will continue to return to the land of Israel out of end-times spiritual Babylon (see Rev 18:4) where they have been in servitude to the Babylonian the Great New World Order antichrist system, even as Jacob was a servant to Laban (who lived in the area of ancient Babylon). Judah and Ephraim will not defeat Esau through appeasement (Gen 32:20) as Jacob tried to do with Esau. Appeasement got Jacob nowhere except monetarily poorer, and the modern state of Israeli has largely, until most recently, been dealing with the Palestinians as Jacob did with Esau by giving in to their demands in exchanging land and prisoners for peace. Appeasement didn’t work for Jacob, and it has not worked for the Jews in Israel either. The modern nation of Israel has also been relying on its superior military might to defeat its enemies with varying degrees of success. But ultimate victory will only come through repenting of their soulish self-reliance (on appeasement and its military might), and by trusting in Elohim and in the Messiah to deliver them as Jacob learned long ago in his night of the dark soul.
As our father Jacob did, so the end-time Israelites will have to learn to trust Elohim to help them to overcome their enemies who want to kill them. This will involve a face-to-face wrestling with and Elohim (Gen 32:28), where they will be forced to learn to trust in him and to walk in obedience to his Set-Apart Spirit as opposed to trusting in their own fleshly machinations and resources. As Jacob found out, this is something that YHVH requires in order for his people to return to the Promised Land. The end times Israelites (both Jews and Christians) will have to prevail with YHVH and demonstrate to him that they are serious about wanting to possess their promised inheritance, and at the same time, overcome themselves (the carnal and sinful man within) with their pride and self-reliance, and the notion that they will return to the land of Israel by their own strength and prowess apart from YHVH’s divine direction and empowerment.
When YHVH’s end-time people (both the Jews and Christians) finally repent of their pride and die to “the sinful self” as a people-group, this will please the Father and he will give his people victory over their enemies. (Remember what Yeshua said in Luke 17:33, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”) Appeasing one enemies, as the modern Israeli government has had a long history of doing with the Palestinians, will get them nowhere, even as it gained Jacob nothing. YHVH’s people must confront their demonic enemy head-on in humble faith in the Abrahamic Covenant promises of YHVH. As with Jacob, we as collective Israel need to spend a dark night of the soul wrestling with YHVH. We need to get a good look at Elohim’s face to see who he really is, which will in turn help us to understand who we really are spiritually. Only when we are finally humbled, will we learn to place our trust in the promises and protection of YHVH resulting in our being transformed from being a Jacob (meaning “heel catcher, supplanter, a deceptive sneak thief”) into an Israel (meaning “a prince of El or prevailer with El”) with a new name and identity.
All Jews and Christians both individually and collectively must go through the same process. The good news is that the kingdom of Israel will rise up. Spiritual Jacob will get transformed into the One New Man (Eph 2:15) and bride of Yeshua the Messiah (Rev 19:76–9).
How can we be sure that this will happen? Because IT IS WRITTEN in YHVH’s Word! The two camps or two houses of Israel, as alluded to in the Song of Solomon 6:13, will eventually learn to dance with each other in preparation to dancing on their wedding day with Yeshua our Sar Shalom (or Prince of Peace), who is their heavenly Bridegroom to come. Only then can we become the bride of Yeshua, even as the Shulamite (derived from the Hebrew word shalom) woman was to Solomon (another word derived from the Hebrew word shalom) in the Song of Solomon. This will occur when the people of Elohim have made peace with King Yeshua and with each other as the Song of Solomon (shalom) and Genesis 32 both prophetically depict.
Jacob’s trouble was a phase through which the self-confident and self-reliant Jacob had to go. The humbling of Jacob was necessary, for he was a self-made man, who had started 20 years earlier penniless, homeless, and fleeing for his life in disgrace as an exile in a foreign land, and through his own hard work and self-reliance had now amassed a small fortune along with wives and children.
En route westward back to Canaan, Jacob endured his own wilderness experience, even his children would encounter several generations later, when they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. No one enters YHVH’s physical of spiritual Promised Land without going through the refining fires of dying to self—of self abnegation. The way of cross is the only entrance fee to Paradise! The ticket price is at the same time free and the most expensive price one will ever pay for anything, for it requires death to self!
What type of individuals does YHVH not permit as well as permit to enter into his land of promise? The answers are in Hebrews 4:1–11 where the writer lists the sins of doubt and unbelief, faithlessness, hardness of heart, not resting in YHVH, and reliance in the works of the flesh as factors that kept the children of Israel out of the Promised Land for forty years. As with the prodigal son in the Yeshua’s parable who had to repent of his sins and return to his earthly father (Luke 15:11–32), even so the descendant of Israel in the end times must return to the home of their Heavenly Father (Beth-El or House of El/God). To return to the land of his Beth-El (Gen 28:19), Jacob had to manifest brokenness, humility, a new identity, repentance of his prodigal ways. The same will be true of both the Jews and the Christians in the end times at the return of Yeshua the Messiah. Each person will be required to repent of their sin of disobedience to YHVH and unbelief in the Messiah, and then accept Yeshua the Messiah not only as their Savior but as their only Lord and Master. They must die to self and resurrect as a new creation—as an unconditional servant and disciple of the Messiah.
The end-times Israel of Elohim, who are the descendents of Abraham and the patriarchs (Gal 3:29; Rom 4:16; 9:8–11), are now following in their father Jacob’s footsteps leaving their exile and captivity in spiritual Babylon (of which both Christianity and Judaism are a part and both of which contain a mixture of both good and evil elements, see Rev 18:4). They are returning westward across the Jordan River into the land of promise, to their spiritual inheritance, which is defined in terms of YHVH’s covenants with Israel (Eph 2:12–14). Some of the lost sheep of the house of Israel (i.e., the Jews of the tribe of Judah) are now already returning to the land of Israel in a physical sense, but they will still eventually have to accept their Jewish Messiah. For the rest of us, we must first begin returning to the land spiritually in our hearts and minds. Currently YHVH is calling out a growing remnant of redeemed believers to embrace this vision by returning to the Hebraic roots of their Christian faith. Jacob’s life is a prophetic road map of what each saint must go through to obtain his fuller spiritual inheritance. Furthermore, Jacob’s life is not only a prophetic picture of what all Israelites individually must experience, but also of what all Israel collectively or nationally must go through.
On an individual basis, Genesis 32 is a study of how we often deal with major trials and stressful situations in life. We can learn much from our patriarchal father, for his journey back to Elohim and to the Promised Land is similar to ours. For example, Jacob (a) was gripped by fear, (b) resorted to fleshly schemes to appease his brother’s wrath and “to save his own skin” and that of his family, and (c) at the same time he expressed faith in YHVH by uttering what some consider to be the first prayer in Scripture (Gen 3:9–12). Jacob resorted to the “shotgun approach” by resorting to several strategies simultaneously in hopes that at least one would work to his benefit. He was afraid, he schemed, and he prayed in hopes that he and his family would be saved from certain death.
How many of us have resorted to similar tactics to save our skin when faced with when facing insurmountable and deadly obstacles? We exercise “the strong arm of the flesh” as well as our mustard seed-sized faith in the hopes that if a miracle does not occur our schemes will somehow work out? Does YHVH’s grace cover us in such times of spiritual weakness and lack of faith in him? Yes. For example, Yeshua healed the son of the man who said, “I believe, help my unbelief,” (Mark 9:24). But as we mature spiritually, YHVH requires more faith and less faithless carnality from his people. YHVH even sometimes forces his people into situations where they will be forced to have faith in him or die. This was the case with the children of Israel who, when exodusing Egypt, found themselves trapped between “the devil and the deep blue sea” so to speak.
How does Jacob’s wrestling all night with the Messenger of Elohim and him becoming a lame and humbled man with a new name (i.e., a new spiritual identity) figure into this process? As we have learned, Jacob didn’t gain the victory through appeasing Esau (verse 20), but by wrestling with his own limitations and coming out a broken, humbled and spiritually changed man.
So when did you last face such a trial? How did you handle it? Like Jacob who schemed and plotted? Or are you learning to “let go and let God” as the old saying goes? To walk by faith and not by sight? To trust and obey YHVH? In Proverbs 3:5–7 we are instructed,
Trust in YHVH with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding [or knowledge and wisdom]; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear YHVH and depart from evil. (emphasis added)
Thus, Jacob’s story is also ours. Understand its deeper spiritual implication and then fully embrace it. Each of us will go through many dark night of the soul struggles as YHVH, like one peeling away the outer layers of a rotten onion to get to the edible layers, works to peel away from us the layers of sin, carnality and faithlessness, so that we can become his princely and glorified children, who will rule and reign with Yeshua the Messiah forever. The process of wrestling with and overcoming the world, the flesh and devil, as Paul outlines in Romans chapter seven, will last a lifetime, but like Jacob, if we fail to give up and are willing to continue to wrestle through the darkest hours of the night, we too can become prevailers with YHVH and receive the spiritual reward of inclusion in the Promised Land of our spiritual inheritance!
