Most mysterious bible story

lforrest · Thursday at 12:03 PM

Please share what you consider to be a very mysterious bible story. One that has you scratching your head and grasping for straws as to an explanation for why God would work in such a way. And if you wish to share your insights with others please feel free to do so.

One such story I find mysterious is when Jacob wrestles with God: Genesis 32:22-30

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[f] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

ScottA · Thursday at 12:23 PM

lforrest said:
Please share what you consider to be a very mysterious bible story. One that has you scratching your head and grasping for straws as to an explanation for why God would work in such a way. And if you wish to share your insights with others please feel free to do so.

One such story I find mysterious is when Jacob wrestles with God: Genesis 32:22-30

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[f] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Good one!

It is prophecy. Notice that Jacob had two wives (Jesus two folds); two female servants (each to serve Christ); and eleven sons (the eleven apostles); and they "crossed" the "Jabbok" (the cross, and "Jabbok" combined meaning: as crossing a stream and being emptied out).

Wrangler · Thursday at 1:14 PM

Jesus referring to trees in Luke 23 (VOICE)

Jesus (to the people in the crowd): 28 Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. Weep instead for yourselves and weep for your children. 29 Days are coming when people will say, “Blessed are the infertile; blessed are the wombs that never bore a child; blessed are the breasts that never nursed an infant.” 30 People will beg the mountains, “Surround us!” They’ll plead with the hills, “Cover us!” 31 For if they treat Me like this when I’m like green unseasoned wood, what will they do to a nation that’s ready to burn like seasoned firewood?

Also, what kind of self-centered, solipsistic person, upon seeing a man tortured would do as Jesus said, weep for ourself?

ElieG12 · Friday at 3:26 PM

Wrangler said:
Jesus referring to trees in Luke 23 (VOICE)

Jesus (to the people in the crowd): 28 Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. Weep instead for yourselves and weep for your children. 29 Days are coming when people will say, “Blessed are the infertile; blessed are the wombs that never bore a child; blessed are the breasts that never nursed an infant.” 30 People will beg the mountains, “Surround us!” They’ll plead with the hills, “Cover us!” 31 For if they treat Me like this when I’m like green unseasoned wood, what will they do to a nation that’s ready to burn like seasoned firewood?

Also, what kind of self-centered, solipsistic person, upon seeing a man tortured would do as Jesus said, weep for ourself?

That translation of the passage in Luke 23:31 is incorrect.

At no point does Jesus say that *he* was the "green tree"—that is, a tree still retaining some sap and thus still alive.

The tree that still possessed some life was the Jewish system; it would soon be completely withered—rendered a totally useless religious system, cast aside by God.

Jesus was pointing out that if the Jews were capable of condemning the Son of God—an innocent man—to death through deception, false testimony, and cruel, malicious lies, all while seemingly maintaining respect for the Law of Moses and the Levitical priests who served the true God in the Temple in Jerusalem, then what might they be capable of doing in the future, once they had been completely rejected and no longer held any real connection to the living God?

If a religious system—supposedly a light to the world (Is. 42:6)—could commit such acts while still maintaining a relationship with the true God, what could be expected of them once that relationship was gone entirely?

Jack · Saturday at 7:18 PM

Genesis 18:1-3
1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.

lforrest · 2026-09-14T13:12:45-0500

Jack said:
Genesis 18:1-3
1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.

I believe this to have been a christophany accompanied by two angels.

Moonwood · 2026-09-14T13:18:33-0500

Wrangler said:
Jesus referring to trees in Luke 23 (VOICE)
Jesus (to the people in the crowd): 28 Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. Weep instead for yourselves and weep for your children. 29 Days are coming when people will say, “Blessed are the infertile; blessed are the wombs that never bore a child; blessed are the breasts that never nursed an infant.” 30 People will beg the mountains, “Surround us!” They’ll plead with the hills, “Cover us!” 31 For if they treat Me like this when I’m like green unseasoned wood, what will they do to a nation that’s ready to burn like seasoned firewood?

Also, what kind of self-centered, solipsistic person, upon seeing a man tortured would do as Jesus said, weep for ourself?

The passage isn’t self‑centered at all; it’s prophetic. When Jesus tells the women, “Do not weep for me—weep for yourselves,” He isn’t demanding self‑pity; He’s correcting the direction of their grief. His suffering is voluntary and salvific, the very mission He came to fulfill, so pitying Him misunderstands the nature of His Passion. What they should fear is the catastrophe about to fall on their own generation. Luke makes this explicit: the sins of Jerusalem, the coming judgment, and the suffering that will fall on their children will be far worse than what they are witnessing on the road to Calvary. That is why Jesus says the days are coming when people will call the barren blessed—a shocking reversal that only makes sense in the context of siege, famine, and slaughter. He then uses the decisive image: “For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” In Luke’s narrative, Jesus is the green wood—innocent, full of life—and Jerusalem is the dry wood—spiritually dead and ready for judgment. Far from solipsism, this is compassion: He is grieving for them, not Himself. His words match the moral logic of James 1:27, which calls believers to care for the afflicted and keep themselves unstained from the world. Jesus is urging them to recognize the seriousness of sin, the fragility of their society, and the suffering that will fall on their children. The kind of person who “weeps for themselves” in this context is not self‑absorbed but wise—someone who understands that the real danger is not His suffering, which saves, but their own, which will come from rejecting God.

Jack · 2026-09-14T14:54:13-0500

lforrest said:
I believe this to have been a christophany accompanied by two angels.

The SON for certain!

Wrangler · 2026-09-14T15:17:37-0500

Moonwood said:
The passage isn’t self‑centered at all; it’s prophetic. When Jesus tells the women, “Do not weep for me—weep for yourselves,” He isn’t demanding self‑pity

That’s what would make it self centered; if we did turn our pity in the face of a man being tortured!

Moonwood · 2026-09-14T18:14:20-0500

Wrangler said:
That’s what would make it self centered; if we did turn our pity in the face of a man being tortured!

The women are not being told to feel pity for themselves. They are being told to feel alarm for themselves. “Weep” in prophetic literature is the posture of repentance, dread, and recognition of judgment—not self‑pity.

If someone sees a man unjustly tortured and then hears him say, “Don’t cry for me—cry for yourselves,” the point is not, “Be self‑absorbed.” The point is, “What is happening to me is a sign of something far worse that is about to happen to you.”

That’s not solipsism; it’s warning.

Wrangler · 2026-09-15T12:09:57-0500

Moonwood said:
That’s not solipsism; it’s warning.

Two things can be true at the same time. Simpler to say be warned than this mysterious green wood comment.

lforrest · 2026-09-15T12:39:58-0500

Perhaps Jesus was referring to his message for which he was killed, his words are life like a green tree. However the growing resistance to Rome was inflammatory. To Rome Israel had become like firewood, only good for burning.

JimKnox · 2026-09-15T14:13:32-0500

Bald head, bears and disrespectful children.

All sorts of explanations but none that satisfy completely.

WalterandDebbie · 2026-09-15T14:36:40-0500

lforrest said:
Please share what you consider to be a very mysterious bible story. One that has you scratching your head and grasping for straws as to an explanation for why God would work in such a way. And if you wish to share your insights with others please feel free to do so.

One such story I find mysterious is when Jacob wrestles with God: Genesis 32:22-30

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[f] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Hello, Brother IForest, and how are you all? We are well. Great story. Jacob Fights With the Angel: Genesis 32, especially verses 22-30, Genesis chapter 32 KJV (King James Version). After left-clicking on the previous link, each verse are links for its context if interested. Thank you: Love, Walter

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