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Exegetical Essay Jacob wrestles with God (Genesis 32:22-32)
Maria Grace, Ph.D.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: The story of Jacob (Genesis 25-36) 3
Selected passage: Jacob wrestles with a Man (Genesis 32:22-32) 4
Setting, genre, geography, and main characters 5
Main themes revealed in the passage 7
a. The Manʼs Identity 7
b. Encounter with God 9
c. Jacob becomes Israel 10
d. Blessing and name-giving 12
e. Memory of the event in the following generations 13
Conclusion 14
Bibliography 15
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Introduction: The story of Jacob (Genesis 25-36) The story of Jacob, presented in chapters 25-36 of the book of Genesis, is a
narrative of different episodes, tied together by itineraries or genealogical references.
Written as family narratives, the individual stories betray diverse origins that leave
scholars uncertain about their specificity.
For the purposes of this essay, the Jacob story (Genesis 25:19-36:43) is read as
a unity, and a literary entity with a life of its own. In this light, it is seen it as a story of a
personʼs journey, in which the main character, Jacob, flees from Canaan to Haran and
finally returns to Canaan. Within this journey, there is also a journey through the land of
promise in 33:18-35:27, after the return. This itinerary presents Jacob as a person and a
family in constant movement, a theme anticipating the portrayal of Israel in the book of
Exodus, as a peoples journeying out of Egypt through the wilderness to the promised
land.1
Israel as a nation begins with Jacob. In the story, Jacobʼs character and
personality develop throughout a series of events, until he becomes Israel. Jacobʼs
becoming Israel is the overriding theme in his story as it unfolds through the narratives
of four main themes, namely: a) the Divine Promise for land and descendants (28:3-4,
13-14; 35:11-12), and for Godʼs presence and care for Jacob (28:15; 31:3); b) the Divine
Blessing from God to Jacob (32:29; 35:9); c) Godʼs speaking to Jacob to promise
(28:13-15; 31:3; 35:11-12), to command (31:3, 13; 35:1), to advise (31:12), to bless
(32;29), and to name (32:28; 35:10), and; d) Conflict, which starts at the onset of the
1 (The New Interpreterʼs Bible, 516)
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story (25:19-34) and finds its full expression in the Jacob-Esau relationship, as a result
of Godʼs decision to elect one person (i.e., Jacob) over another (i.e., his brother Esau)
for carrying the promise given to Abraham.
Selected passage: Jacob wrestles with a Man (Genesis 32:22-32)
At first glance, the passage seems to be an interruption of the story of Jacobʼs
encounter with Esau, after a 20-year separation. It describes a brief episode that
happens while Jacob and his family are on their way to the land of Seir, the country of
Edom, where his brother Esau lives. Jacob is seeking reconciliation with Esau, but he
fears Esauʼs wrath. Jacob invokes God, claiming of the divine promises God made to
him.
The passage begins with restless Jacob waking up in the middle of the night and
passes his entire family, servants and animals onto the other side of the river Jabbok,
then crosses the river again and returns to his campsite. Left alone in the dark, he is
attacked by a mysterious man, with whom he wrestles till dawn. In an effort to escape
Jacob, the man hurts Jacobʼs hip. But Jacob will not let him go, unless he receives the
manʼs blessing, whereupon the stranger changes Jacobʼs name to Israel, while refusing
to reveal his own name. As the stranger disappears in the morning light, a limping
Jacob renames the site of the encounter Paniel (i.e., “Face of God”), and a dietary
restriction is instituted for the generations of Israel, in memory of Jacobʼs divine
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encounter. 2
Setting, genre, geography, and main characters
The encounter happens at night, next to the river Jabbok, while a crossing is
taking place. The ambience is mysterious, dark, ominous. The story is told briefly, yet
with a dramatic tone. The events unfold quickly, climaxing with the rising of the sun,
where the blessing and name change take place: injured Jacob becomes Israel and the
stranger disappears.
The river at the scene of Jacobʼs struggle with the mysterious being reminds of
many folk tales of river-spirits that fight with humans seeking to cross their abodes.
Travelers would have to appease the spirits through libations, sacrifices, or other rituals,
in order to be granted passage. Another popular motif in folk tales is that of the demonic
being who attacks humans during the night but who becomes impotent with the break of
dawn. A way to prevail over those demons is to hold onto them long enough, until they
lose all their power in the full light of the day.
But this episode, narrated within the monotheistic Israelite context, cannot be
categorized as a folk tale. The mysterious stranger does not ask for a sacrifice nor does
he impede Jacobʼs passage. He meets Jacob only after everyone else has crossed the
river and he wrestles with him. In contrast to folk tales, in which the demon becomes a
shape-shifter during the struggle, changing guises from bird to serpent to animal, this 2 The New Interpreterʼs Bible, 564
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stranger is presented as a non-described man. In folk tales it is the human that ends up
injuring the demon. In the biblical story it is the human Jacob who is being injured by his
assailant. Finally, Jacobʼs asking for his adversaryʼs blessing proves that he cannot be a
demon, because the notion of eliciting blessing from a demon has no place in the
biblical narrative.
The similarities of the motifs seen in this passage and in popular, pre-existing folk
tales lead us to assume that the latter have provided the literary model for this biblical
narrative. But this narrative is free from elements found in folk tales. It has been
carefully constructed to reflect the values and beliefs of monotheistic Israel, and to
illuminate the larger story of Israelʼs creation into a nation as the fulfillment of Godʼs
promise to Godʼs chosen ones.
The geographical locale of the episode is crucial, for it takes place at the crossing
of the river Jabbok. This river is mentioned in the Bible as the frontier of Israel.3 It
delineates Israelʼs first victory against the kingdoms east of Jordan after it emerged from
its wanderings in the desert. Even though the motive for the attack is unknown, the fact
that it happens at the river Jabbok suggests that the mysterious being challenges and
momentarily frustrates Jacobʼs return to his homeland. To this Jacob responds with an
all-night struggle and a plea for the blessing he receives by dawn.
The main human characters in the story are two, Jacob and the Man. The two
secondary characters are the river Jabbok as a place of crossing, and the place of the
numinous encounter, which Jacob names Paniel, meaning “the Face of God”. Jacobʼs
3 Num. 21:24; Deut. 2:37; 3:16; Josh. 12:2; Judg. 11:13-22.
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family, his wives, children, servants and the animals leave the scene early in the
episode. Jacob is left alone next to Jabbok.
The name of the river Jabbok, pronounced in Hebrew Yab-boq, is phonetically
close to “Jacob”, which in Hebrew is pronounced Yaʼakov. Yab-boq is also phonetically
close to the Hebrew verb ye-abeq, which means “he wrestled”.4 There seems to be a
close relationship between the river, Jacob, and the act of wrestling that takes place
throughout the night. These words, so close in sound, evoke the imagery of the
numinous encounter. Yab-boq the river, flowing through a deep ravine on a meandering
course, was a dangerous passage forYaʼakov and his family to make in the middle of
the night. He must have been in great hurry to advance his course and meet Esau,
sooner than later. We know from the previous passage that he has sent gifts and
messengers and that he has prayed to be saved from his brotherʼs anger. It appears as
though he does not want to give Esau the impression that he is delaying their meeting
face-to-face.
Two of the four characters, (i.e., Jacob and the place of the encounter), acquire a
new identity during this episode: Jacob becomes Israel. The name is given to him by the
strange assailant and it is the name that Godʼs chosen nation will carry through the
generations to come. Jacob as Israel becomes the father of a nation.
Jacob then names the place of the encounter Peniel, “Face of God”. The locale
then becomes a sacred site, where Jacob the man “saw the face of God” and his life
was saved.
4 Hamilton, Victor: The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50, 329
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Main themes revealed in the passage
a. The Manʼs Identity
Many interpreters have attributed to the strange man the identity of an angel. But
is he an angel? In Hebrew, malʼakh is an angel of the Lord, the bearer of the divine
word. The word derves from a stem l-ʼ-k, “to send”. Mal-ʼakh, like the Greek angelos,
from which the English angel is derived, means “messenger” and is used for ordinary
humans (Genesis 32:4, Judges 9:31, and 1 Kings 19:2), as well as of spiritual beings.
In this narrative, the stranger is not an angel. In pre-exilic literature there is little
importance given to angels. They are nameless, enjoy neither individuality or free will,
and there is no hierarchy among them. Their function is to be emissaries of God.5
The mysterious man who attacks Jacob as he is about to cross the future border of
Israel who refuses to say his name, is referred to by Jacob as ʻelohim. The narrative
does not want us to know too much about the mysterious figure. It is part of the power of
the wrestling scene that we do not know the name and cannot see the face of Jacobʼs
antagonist. Being too certain about the identity of the stranger would diminish the awe in
the telling of the story and weaken its numinous character.
We know that Jacob is going to meet his brother Esau and that he will have to
contend with Esauʼs anger. But first, he must contend with God. In the dark of the night,
Yahweh , identified only as “a man”, attacks Jacob and the two forms merge in a
struggle that lasts till dawn. Only Jacob can see his adversaryʼs face, in the dark.
Showing extraordinary strength, Jacob nonetheless is no weaker than his adversary in
this combat. By dawn, he lets the man know that he wants his blessing, otherwise he 5 The JPS Torah Commentary, 383
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wonʼt let him go. The stranger has struck him in the hollow of his hip, and caused it to
dislocate. Jacob is hurt, but does not surrender. In a threatening tone that betrays his
desperate craving for Godʼs blessing, Jacob warns the stranger that he wonʼt let him go
unless he grants his request. It seems that only then will Jacob be delivered from his
fear of Esauʼs anger and ready to meet with him.
b. Encounter with God
Jobʼs encounter with the mysterious man stands between Godʼs two
appearances at Bethel (28:10-22; 35; 9-13). God encountered Jacob when he fled the
promised land because of his brotherʼs anger. This time, God is encountering him at
the point of re-entering the land, with his brotherʼs anger as the focusing point of Jacobʼs
energies. In both cases, Jacob appears alone, vulnerable, and needing Godʼs care.
In this encounter, God approaches Jacob in a very ambiguous way, while Jacob
is alone and anxious about his upcoming encounter with Esau. Godʼs meeting with
Jacob comes as an attack that lasts throughout the night. This is not an inner, mystical
revelation of God. It is external, physical, it comes in the form of an unknown man, and it
involves the use of a forceful attack and struggle of power, in which neither Jacob or
God are willing to let go of each other through the entire night. But, intertwined with the
forcefulness of the struggling activity there is also great intimacy in the physical
proximity shared by the two men for all those hours. God wrestles Jacob. Jacob
wrestles God. Neither one seems to win and neither one will let go of the other.
At the break of dawn, the unknown man wants to leave. From the verses that
follow (32:29-30) it becomes obvious that he wants to preserve his hiddenness. But the
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struggle has not winner yet. Jacob has proven to be an extraordinary fighter and God
cannot lose a struggle with a human being. So, he “touches”6 or “strikes”7 Jacob in the
hollow of his thigh and dislocates it from the hip socket. He does not destroy Jacob. He
just leaves him with a permanent limp, a memory of their extraordinary encounter and
the subsequent transformation of Jacob into Israel.
In verses 32:26-29 we are offered a remarkable dialogue between Jacob and
God, unfolding in three exchanges. In the first exchange (v. 26), the man asks Jacob to
let him go but Jacob refuses to release his grip, unless the man blesses him. In the
second exchange (v. 28-29), the man replies by asking Jacobʼs name. Jacob responds
and the man gives him the name Israel, for he has “striven with God and with men and
ha[s] prevailed.” (v. 29) This is the only point in which the man may be alluding to his
divine identity. In the third exchange, Jacob boldly asks of the stranger to say his name.
Instead of giving away his name, the man gives Jacob his blessing, granting Jacob his
initial request. This is his gift and this is when he departs. Or, perhaps, this is when
Jacob loosens his grip and lets him go. The text is ambiguous here. 8
The sun has risen. The combat is complete. The stranger has departed, his
identity having remained intact and hidden. God has remained God. But Jacob is no
Jacob any longer. He has become Israel. He is blessed and given a new name by God,
the moment he asked God to say His name.
c. Jacob becomes Israel 6 The New Interpreterʼs Bible 7 The New Revised Standard Version 8 Bruegemann, Interpretation, Genesis, 268
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Israel is a name without an exact analogue among biblical names, so its precise
understanding presents some difficulty. Its use in this narrative requires a stem s-r-h,
the same stem found in Hosea 12:4, and it is associated with the meaning “to strive”9.
But, here, it is a name formed by a verb combined with ʻel, which means God and acts
as the subject of the action indicated by the verb. Therefore, Yisraʼel should properly
mean “God strives”.
Hosea 12:5, in reference to this narrative, says of Jacob va-yasar, which derives
from s-w-r, which further derives from s-r-r, which means “to have dominion”. This
suggests that Hosea interpreted the name “Israel” to mean “He had dominion over a
divine being.”
Another explanation regards yisraʼel as a contraction of ish-raʼah-el, translated as
“the man who saw a divine being.”10 This interpretation has been influenced by Genesis
32:31.
A synonym for Israel is the poetic use of yeshurun (Jeshurun) in Deuternomy
32:15; 33:15, 26, and Isaiah 44:2. In Isaiah 40:4, yeshurun parallel “Jacob”. Since the
stem y-sh-r means “to be upright, straight”, it forms the antonym of yaʼakov, which is
connected with “craftiness, deceit” (Genesis 27:36; Jeremiah 9:3; Hosea 12:4.) If yisraʼel
is associated with yeshurun, the change of the name would express the transformation
of a character from deviousness to moral rectitude. This particular interpretation, found
in the Yalkut Reubeni (Genesis 323:29), the name would mean “He who is upright with
God.”
9 The JPS Torah Commentary, 404 10 The JPS Torah Commentary, 405
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As Israel, Jacob has been called forth as a new being. Israel is someone who
has faced God, been touched by God, prevailed, gained a blessing and been renamed.
In the giving of the blessing, some of the power of God has been entrusted with Jacob.
He is now ready to face his brother, changed and with new power.
d. Blessing and place name-giving
In this encounter, Jacob has undergone permanent change. God met him face-
to-face, and he transformed him into Israel, giving him also a permanent wound. Jacobʼs
new name cannot be separated from his limping. The permanent damage to his hip is a
reminder of Godʼs sovereignty and ultimate power over Jacob, which God bestowed on
him as a blessing and a new name.
The paradoxical nature of this encounter reveals a “Crippling Victory”11, in which
Jacob has shown extraordinary boldness, yet has realized that facing God comes with a
cost. Jacob, now Israel, reflects upon his encounter with God and extends the blessing
he received by naming the place of the encounter Peniʼel, “Face of God”. The Hebrew
expression panim-al-panim, used by Jacob in verse 31 to describe his experience with
God is used only of divine-human encounters, that may be of an adversary
confrontation or an experience of extraordinary intimacy. The expression, ambiguous
about the true nature of Jacobʼs struggle, simultaneously alludes to its providential and
perilous characteristics.
In the Bible, the act of looking at Godʼs face meant subsequent death. At the
burning bush, Moses hides his face “for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus, 3-6). 11 Bruegemann, Interpretation, Genesis, p. 270.
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God explicitly tells Moses “Man may not see Me and live!” (Exodus, 33-20). This
expresses the intensity of the individual experience with the Divine, the utterly
overwhelming nature of the mysterious contact with the awesome majesty of the
transcendent and immanent God.
But Jacobʼs life is spared and he acknowledges this by naming the place where
he saw Godʼs face, after his experience. The place now has taken on a permanent new
meaning, both holy and ominous. It is permanently associated with Jacobʼs struggle with
God, and his transformation into Israel. Geographically, Peniel is identified with Tulul
Adh-Dhaab, a rock that stands on the Jabbok a few miles from where it flows into the
Jordan. 12
e. Memory of the event in the following generations
As well as Passover is remembered through certain rituals and customs involving
food, Jacobʼs crossing of Jabbok after becoming Israel is also remembered by the
Israelites through a custom that involves food. The last verse of this passage is written
from a different chronological perspective, reflecting a present moment, eons away from
Jacobʼs meeting with God. The narrator says that “the children of Israel to this day do
not eat the thigh muscle that is of the socket of the hip, since Jacobʼs hip socket was
wrenched at the thigh muscle.” 13
Through this dietary restriction, the memory of a holy “crossing” is preserved in
the generations of the Israelites that followed Jacob. By not eating the thigh muscle,
12 The JPS Torah Commentary, 226 13 The New Interpreterʼs Bible, 564
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they acknowledge as holy the place where God touched Jacob before he gave him the
name Israel. The moment signified Jacobʼs transformation into the father of the nation
Israel, a nation chosen and loved by God unlike any other.
Conclusion
This narrative urges us to reflect on Israelʼs theology through the interaction of
Jacob with God. We see how Jacob/Israel penetrates the mystery of God, through a
wrestling match in which his strength parallels that of Godʼs. Jacob soars in strength,
but God gives him a wound that cripples them permanently. With this act God affirms
that only God is God. But along with the wound, God gives Jacob a blessing.
Jacob/Israel is a limping man with a blessing. He carries both a wound and special
power bestowed on him by God. The same theology of weakness in power and power in
weakness is found in the New Testament and in the gospel of the Cross.
In verse 30, Jacob/Israel asks boldly of God to tell him his name. Israel, as the
father of an entire nation, is having an intimate access to God and, through him, the
generations that will follow will be blessed by this moment. Israel sees the face of God
and survives this sight. He receives a permanent wound, but this is a wound that
conceals new power and Godʼs blessing. Jacob has restored his moral rectitude with
God, through a wound and a blessing. His wound is his permanent limp. His blessing is
that he will father an entire nation. Thanks to him, Godʼs promise for the creation of
Israel will be fulfilled.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES USED
Bibleworks 7.0: Bible Software with Greek and Hebrew Brueggemann, Walter. Genesis. Atlanta : John Knox Press, c1982. Childs, Brevard S. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. Hamilton, Victor P. The book of Genesis : Chapters 18-50, Grand Rapids, Mich. : W.B. Eerdmans, c1994. The Harper Collins study Bible : New Revised Standard Version, with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books. San Francisco, Calif. : HarperSanFrancisco, c2006. The Holy Bible: The Old Testament. Revised standard version. New York, T. Nelson,1952 The JPS Torah Commentary : The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, V. I. Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society, 1989, The New Interpreterʼs Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, V. I, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1994. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1990.