Genesis 32
32
1#Jacob’s negotiations with Esau. Laban kisses his daughters and grandchildren good-bye but not Jacob. On leaving Mesopotamia, Jacob has an encounter with angels of God (vv. 2–3), which provokes him to exclaim, “This is God’s encampment,” just as he exclaimed upon leaving Canaan, “This is the house of God, the gateway to heaven” (28:11–17). Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he set out on his journey back home. 2Meanwhile Jacob continued on his own way, and God’s angels encountered him. 3When Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s encampment.” So he named that place Mahanaim.#Mahanaim: a town in Gilead (Jos 13:26, 30; 21:38; 2 Sm 2:8; etc.). The Hebrew name means “two camps.” There are other allusions to the name in vv. 8, 11.
Envoys to Esau. 4Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,#Gn 36:6. 5ordering them: “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob: I have been residing with Laban and have been delayed until now. 6I own oxen, donkeys and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I have sent my lord this message in the hope of gaining your favor.’” 7When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We found your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
8Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps. 9“If Esau should come and attack one camp,” he reasoned, “the remaining camp may still escape.” 10Then Jacob prayed: “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You, Lord, who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and your relatives, and I will be good to you.’#Gn 31:3. 11I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness and faithfulness that you have performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two camps. 12Save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau! Otherwise I fear that he will come and strike me down and the mothers with the children. 13You yourself said, ‘I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’”#Gn 28:14; 48:16; Ex 32:13; Heb 11:12.
14After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: 15two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; 16thirty female camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 17He put these animals in the care of his servants, in separate herds, and he told the servants, “Go on ahead of me, but keep some space between the herds.” 18He ordered the servant in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?’ 19tell him, ‘To your servant Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. Jacob himself is right behind us.’” 20He also ordered the second servant and the third and all the others who followed behind the herds: “Thus and so you shall say to Esau, when you reach him; 21and also tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For Jacob reasoned, “If I first appease him with a gift that precedes me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me.” 22So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob’s New Name.#As Jacob crosses over to the land promised him, worried about the impending meeting with Esau, he encounters a mysterious adversary in the night with whom he wrestles until morning. The cunning Jacob manages to wrest a blessing from the night stranger before he departs. There are folkloric elements in the tale—e.g., the trial of the hero before he can return home, the nocturnal demon’s loss of strength at sunrise, the demon protecting its river, the power gained by knowledge of an opponent’s name—but these have been worked into a coherent though elliptical narrative. The point of the tale seems to be that the ever-striving, ever-grasping Jacob must eventually strive with God to attain full possession of the blessing. 23That night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 24After he got them and brought them across the wadi and brought over what belonged to him, 25Jacob was left there alone. Then a man#A man: as with Abraham’s three visitors in chap. 18, who appear sometimes as three, two, and one (the latter being God), this figure is fluid; he loses the match but changes Jacob’s name (v. 29), an act elsewhere done only by God (17:5, 15). A few deft narrative touches manage to express intimate contact with Jacob while preserving the transcendence proper to divinity. wrestled with him until the break of dawn. 26When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that Jacob’s socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him.#Hos 12:5. 27The man then said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” 28“What is your name?” the man asked. He answered, “Jacob.”#Gn 35:10; 1 Kgs 18:31; 2 Kgs 17:34. 29Then the man said, “You shall no longer be named Jacob, but Israel,#Israel: the first part of the Hebrew name Yisrael is given a popular explanation in the word saritha, “you contended”; the second part is the first syllable of ’elohim, “divine beings.” The present incident, with a similar allusion to the name Israel, is referred to in Hos 12:5, where the mysterious wrestler is explicitly called an angel. because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed.” 30Jacob then asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He answered, “Why do you ask for my name?” With that, he blessed him. 31Jacob named the place Peniel,#Peniel: a variant of the word Penuel (v. 32), the name of a town on the north bank of the Jabbok in Gilead (Jgs 8:8–9, 17; 1 Kgs 12:25). The name is explained as meaning “the face of God,” peni-’el. Yet my life has been spared: see note on 16:13. “because I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.”#Jgs 13:22.
32At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip. 33That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, because he had struck Jacob’s hip socket at the sciatic muscle.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Genesis 32
32
1 Likewise, Jacob continued on the journey that he had begun. And the Angels of God met him.
2 When he had seen them, he said, "These are the Encampments of God." And he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, 'Encampments.'
3 Then he also sent messengers before him to his brother Esau, in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom.
4 And he instructed them, saying: "You shall speak in this way to my lord Esau: 'Your brother Jacob says these things: "I have sojourned with Laban, and I have been with him until the present day.
5 I have oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and men servants, and women servants. And now I send an ambassador to my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight." ' "
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We went to your brother Esau, and behold, he rushes to meet you with four hundred men."
7 Jacob was very afraid. And in his terror, he divided the people who were with him, likewise the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,
8 saying: "If Esau goes to one company, and strikes it, the other company, which is left behind, will be saved."
9 And Jacob said: "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me: 'Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will do well for you.'
10 I am less than any of your compassions and your truth, which you have fulfilled to your servant. With my staff I crossed over this Jordan. And now I go back with two companies.
11 Rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am very afraid of him, lest perhaps he may come and strike down the mother with the sons.
12 You did say that you would do well by me, and that you would expand my offspring like the sand of the sea, which, because of its multitude, cannot be numbered."
13 And when he had slept there that night, he separated, from the things that he had, gifts for his brother Esau:
14 two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15 thirty milking camels with their young, forty cows, and twenty bulls, twenty she-donkeys, and ten of their young.
16 And he sent them by the hands of his servants, each flock separately, and he said to his servants: "Pass before me, and let there be a space between flock and flock."
17 And he instructed the first, saying: "If you happen to meet my brother Esau, and he questions you: "Whose are you?" or, "Where are you going?" or, "Whose are these which follow you?"
18 you shall respond: "Your servant Jacob's. He has sent them as a gift to my lord Esau. And he is also coming after us."
19 Similarly, he gave orders to the second, and the third, and to all who followed the flocks, saying: "Speak these same words to Esau, when you find him.
20 And you will add: 'Your servant Jacob himself also follows after us, for he said: "I will appease him with the gifts that go ahead, and after this, I will see him; perhaps he will be gracious to me." ' "
21 And so the gifts went before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.
22 And when he had arisen early, he took his two wives, and the same number of handmaids, with his eleven sons, and he crossed over the ford of Jabbok.
23 And having delivered over all the things that belonged to him,
24 he remained alone. And behold, a man wrestled with him until morning.
25 And when he saw that he would not be able to overcome him, he touched the nerve of his thigh, and immediately it withered.
26 And he said to him, "Release me, for now the dawn ascends." He responded, "I will not release you, unless you bless me."
27 Therefore he said, "What is your name?" He answered, "Jacob."
28 But he said, "Your name will not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if you have been strong against God, how much more will you prevail against men?"
29 Jacob questioned him, "Tell me, by what name are you called?" He responded, "Why do you ask my name?" And he blessed him in the same place.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved."
31 And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he had crossed beyond Peniel. Yet in truth, he limped on his foot.
32 For this reason, the sons of Israel, even to the present day, do not eat the nerve that withered in Jacob's thigh, because he touched the nerve of his thigh and it was obstructed.
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