The Other Side of Jabbok

his is Jacob’s story. That is really where we need to begin, by acknowledging that this familiar story of the wrestling at the Jabbok is all about Jacob. He is the focus, the character standing at center stage. But even as we listen to this reading, we cannot assume that Jacob’s is the only story, or even the only character in this story who is worth pondering. In Scripture as in life, those in the spotlight can so capture our attention that we completely overlook what is happening on the edges or in the margins. In doing so, we inadvertently neglect those stories that are suggested but left untold. Maybe we assume they have nothing to say or nothing of importance worth listening to. But sometime, just sometimes, if we can turn our attention beyond the obvious, we may see, hear, and find ourselves challenged and surprised in ways we never imagined. Indeed, we might even find God to be present and working in the margins, places where we least expect God to be found! What would happen if we looked, in this story, where we did not expect the action to be? This is Jacob’s story, after all, and I suspect that we have always heard it that way. But have you ever wondered about the view of the other side of the Jabbok? What was the story of those whom this text does not even acknowledge by giving them names, but who were sent across the stream, so that Jacob could be left alone in his wrestling? While today’s text – in its single-minded focus on Jacob - does not name these characters, we know who they were… or at least some of them. Here, on the other side of the Jabbok was Rachel, with whom a younger Jacob had been so utterly smitten that he worked for seven years to win her hand in marriage, only to discover that Laben, his devious father-in-law, had slipped Rachel’s older sister, Leah, into the marriage bed. As a result, Jacob had to work still another seven years to earn Rachel as his bride. Here, on the other side of the Jabbok was Rachel’s son, Joseph, who was the apple of his father’s eye, who would be sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and who would end up in Pharaoh’s household in Egypt. Here, on the other side of the Jabbok was Leah (the older sister) and her children, Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah. Here, on the other side of the Jabbok was Rachel’s handmaid, Bilhah, whom Rachel had given to Jacob when her own womb was barren, and the sons she bore, Dan and Naphtali. Here, on the other side of the Jabbok was Leah’s handmaid, Zilpah, who had born Gad and Asher to Jacob as well. So here, on the other side of the Jabbok, were Jacob’s wives, maids, and children, as well as servants, herdsmen, and their families that are not even numbered. And so, while the text barely mentions any of these, in its effort to tell Jacob’s story, they were all there. They, too were heirs of the promise, the future of God’s chosen people, and we can be certain that they had their own stories to tell. T

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