Genesis 32
32
A Divine Encounter
1As Jacob continued toward Canaan, the angels of God came to meet him! 2When he saw them, he exclaimed, “This is God’s military camp!” # 32:2 Or “This is God’s camp,” “This is God’s army,” or “Mahanaim.” So he named that place Two Camps of Angels.
3Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau who was living in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He instructed them, “Give this message from me to my master Esau, ‘I am your servant. I have lived with our uncle Laban all these years 5and have acquired sheep, cattle, donkeys, and both male and female servants. I send this message to you, my master, in the hope of finding favor in your eyes.’ ”
6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they informed him, “We gave your brother Esau your message, and he himself is coming here to meet you. In fact, he’s on his way now with four hundred men!”
7Gripped with fear # 32:7 Or “Bound,” “Tied-up,” “Restricted,” implying that Jacob was immobilized by his anxiety. to the point of panic, Jacob split all the people who were with him into two camps, and also the flocks, herds, and camels. 8He said to himself, “If Esau attacks the first camp and destroys them, at least the other camp will escape.”
9Then Jacob prayed, “Yahweh, God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, you said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will make you prosper.’ 10I am so unworthy of all the loving-kindness and faithfulness that you have showered upon me, your servant. When I crossed this river Jordan years ago, all I had to my name was a staff in my hand, and now I have increased to become two camps! 11Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I’m afraid he will come and kill all of us, including the women and children. 12You said to me, ‘I will certainly prosper you and make your offspring as innumerable as the sand of the sea.’ ” 13So he spent the night there.
From what he had with him, Jacob sent a gift # 32:13 Or “Jacob sent from what he had in his hand.” to his brother Esau: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty female camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. # 32:15 This was at least 550 animals, a substantial gift indeed. Perhaps Jacob was attempting to return a portion of the stolen birthright. 16He placed them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself. He told them, “Go on ahead of me, and put some space between each herd.”
17He gave these instructions to the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you, and asks, ‘Who is your master? # 32:17 Or “To whom are you?” Where are you going? Who owns these herds you are driving?’ # 32:17 Or “Whose are these ahead of you?” 18then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He’s sent them as a gift to you, my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”
19He likewise instructed the leaders of the second and the third herds and all those following them, “You must say the same thing when you meet Esau. 20And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us,’ ” because he reasoned, “If I can appease Esau with these gifts before I have to meet him face-to-face, he may accept me.” 21So he sent the gifts on ahead of him, while he spent that night in the camp.
A Midnight Wrestling Match
22During the night, Jacob arose, woke up his two wives, his two maidservants, and eleven sons, and had them cross the ford of the Jabbok River. # 32:22 The name of this river was a prophecy of what God was doing in his servant. Jabbok means “emptying.” The Jabbok is known today in Arabic as the Wadi Zerga, which empties into the Jordan twenty-five miles north of the Dead Sea. 23He sent them across along with everything he had, 24and Jacob was left all alone. # 32:24 To be left alone with God is the only true way of coming to self-discovery. This was the turning point for Jacob. His schemes had all failed, and now he faced God alone. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared and wrestled # 32:24 The Hebrew word for “wrestle” is related to a word for “dust” or “get dusty,” as two people do when wrestling on the ground. There is an amazing play on words in the Hebrew between the words “he wrestled” (ye’abeq), “Jabbok” (yabboq), and “Jacob” (yàaqob). The eyes of Jacob could not discern who was coming out of the shadows, just as Jacob’s father, Isaac, could not discern who it was that received his blessing. It was not Jacob wrestling a man, but a Man wrestling with Jacob. The One whom Jacob saw at the top of the stairway at Bethel had come down to wrestle with him—and roll in the mud of Jacob’s mistakes. with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he was not winning the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint, leaving it wrenched as he continued to wrestle with him. # 32:25 Jacob grabbed a heel; God grabbed his hip! Through these private encounters with the Lord, we become those whose names have been changed (see Gen. 17:5; Isa. 62:2, 4; Rev. 2:17; 3:12); we are changed into humbled, transformed ones who are subdued by the power of God (see Phil. 3:21). Jacob had at least two night encounters with the Lord: one while he rested (see Gen. 28) and the other while he wrestled. When he rested, the region got a new name—Luz became Bethel. When he wrestled, he got a new name—Jacob became Israel.
26Eventually, the man said to him, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.”
But Jacob refused. “No! Not until you bless me!” # 32:26 Jacob might have initially thought it was Esau who had come at midnight to wrestle him. But as the night wore on, he realized the Man was a divine being (see Hos. 12:4). Perceiving this was a supernatural Man who had the power to bless or to curse, Jacob refused to release him until he pronounced a blessing over him.
27“What is your name?” # 32:27 This was a strange question because God knew his name. God touched not only his hip but also his slumbering conscience. When asked this question, Jacob’s imagination took him back over twenty years to the dark tent where his blind, aged father had faced him with the same question and he had answered, “It’s I—Esau”—and got away with it (see Gen. 27:19)! Now the Lord had come to Jacob insisting he acknowledge that he was the one who took advantage of his father and his brother. Jacob means “heel grabber” or “supplanter.” The Lord was insisting that his blessings would only begin when Jacob realized the true need of his heart. By speaking out his name, Jacob confessed his true nature: “I am a deceiver, a cheat. My name is heel grabber.” This confession liberated Jacob and opened the way for inner transformation (see Ps. 119:116; 2 Cor. 4:16). asked the man.
“Jacob,” he replied.
28“Not anymore,” the man said to him. “Your new name is Israel, # 32:28 Israel means “one who struggled with God and prevailed,” “may God [El] preserve,” or “prince with God.” for you have struggled both with God and with people and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please, tell me your name.”
“Why ask my name?” # 32:29 If this is a rhetorical question, it may mean “You should not ask my name.” the man replied, then he spoke a blessing # 32:29 This blessing empowered Jacob to succeed and prosper. over Jacob.
30So Jacob named the place Penuel, # 32:30 Or “Peniel [face of God].” Eight times in the Old Testament this word is spelled “Penuel,” and only once “Peniel.” Since both spellings are in vv. 30 and 31, the translator has chosen to make them identical. saying, “I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life has been spared!” # 32:30 Once you have seen the face of God, the faces of those who oppose you will no longer intimidate you. Jacob could now look Esau in the eyes. 31The sun rose upon him as he crossed the Jabbok River from Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32To this day, the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle attached to the hip socket, because the man struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle.
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Genesis 32: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationGenesis 32
32
1Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him.
2And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps.
3And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir to the country of Edom:
4And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day.
5I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and men-servants, and women-servants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight.
6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau thy brother, and, behold, he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.
7Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,
8Saying: If Esau come to one company and destroy it, the other company that is left shall escape.
9And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who saidst to me: Return to thy land and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee,
10I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.
11Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him: lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children.
12Thou didst say that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude.
13And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau.
14Two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten of their foals.
16And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove.
17And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? Or, Whither goest thou? Or, Whose are these before thee?
18Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau: and he cometh after us.
19In like manner he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him.
20And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us. For he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him. Perhaps he will be gracious to me.
21So the presents went before him; but himself lodged that night in the camp.
22And rising early he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.
23And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,
24He remained alone: and, behold, a man wrestled with him till morning.
25And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.
26And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered. I will not let thee go except thou bless me.
27And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.
28But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?
29Jacob asked him, Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.
30And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.
31And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.
32Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.