John,

   Yesterday I pulled a book down from my bookshelf, and began to read. It is an old book, written by David Baron and published in 1900. It is my understanding that David Baron was educated and trained to be a Rabbi, but somewhere along the way, he found that the Messiah of the Old Testament is one and the same person as Jesus Christ of the New Testament. With this background, he understands the Hebrew festivals and their meanings, and also the Hebrew idioms, which we miss in our English translations. He opened my eyes to something that I would like to share with your readers.

   In Genesis 32 we have the story of Jacob traveling across the desert, having left Laban and anticipating meeting his brother Esau after many years of separation. Jacob wanted to make peace with Esau, but feared the meeting. He sent his entire caravan across the fords of the Jabbok river, but he remained and did not cross the river that night. The scripture reads: “Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.”

   Then the man (who was obviously and angel from God) told Jacob that his name would no longer be Jacob but Israel, which means “A prince with God.” David Baron wrote, “This symbolic transaction is a parable of the history and experience of the Jewish nation. Now is the ‘night’ period of Israel’s history, and a long, dark and dreary night it has proved. Not yet have they become a nation of ‘Israelites’ – ‘princes in all the earth,’ (Psalm 16:16).”

   He wrote that in 1900. But he predicted that Israel would indeed become a nation, but that when the “morning” would come, Jacob (Israel) would receive the wound in the thigh – the dislocating of the joint which would be very painful and cause him to limp. Following the intense pain of the wound, Jacob’s name would be changed to Israel – prince with God. Then the “Law would go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” just as Micah had prophesied, because Israel would be in a position to bless the nations who had persecuted them (just as Jacob then went and blessed Esau).

   So, I wondered if there was any revealing Gematria in this story that might shed light on its relation to today’s happenings. Wow! It blew me out of the water.

   The angel had touched Jacob’s thigh, and put it out of joint. The Hebrew word used here for “out of joint” has a Gematria value of 576. The fulfilling of this type began on the last day of the Hebrew year 5760. On that day Ariel Sharon went up on the temple mount, and the defiant Palestinians began their “Jihad” (Holy War) against Israel. The dislocated thigh gets more painful with each passing day, until today the pain in Israel is severe and unconsolable – the country is in its deepest sorrow since its establishment in 1948. And morning is here!

   Morning came with the year 5760. That year was the pivotal point in the whole chronology of man, because it ends 6000 years from the creation of Adam, and begins the great “third day” . This fact is emphasized by the Gematria: the Hebrew word for “six days” has a Gematria value (by multiplication) of 5760. The Hebrew word for “third day” also has a Gematria value of 5760 – and as if to emphasize the importance of this pivotal point in the history of man, the word for “third day” in the Greek New Testament also has a Gematria value of 5760.

   Yes, Jacob is having his deepest pain – he is having “trouble” – Jacob’s trouble. But the prophecy says “but he shall be saved out of it.” And so, when the angel dislocated (576) Jacob’s thigh, he changed his name to Israel – a prince with God. Soon, very soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will come, with his bride, and rescue Israel from her enemies. He will set up divine government in Jerusalem, which will be carried to all nations. Israel will be a “Prince with God.”

Bonnie Gaunt
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Thanks for sharing your insights, Bonnie.
John