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,