Wrestling of Jacob

WRESTLING of Jacob, with the Angel Genesis xxxii. 24.that appeared to him at Peniel. It is said in Genesis, that when Jacob had made his People to pass over the Brook Jabbok, he 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. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh: And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. The Angel blessed him in the same Place, and changed his Name into Israel; and Jacob gave the Name of Peniel to this Place; which is as much as to say, the Appearance of God. Moses gives the Name of Man to him that wrestled with Jacob, but there is no doubt but it was an Angel: And the Prophet Hosea expressly affirms it; He had power over the angel, Hos. xii. 4.and prevailed. Several of the ancient Fathers have thought¹ that it was the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, who appeared in this Place. Origen² cites from an Apocryphal Work, that the Angel Israel, the chief of Angels, came into the Body of Jacob, and Uriel, the eighth of the Angels, assuming the Likeness of Jacob, contended with Israel. Some of the Ancients, as is related by Procopius,³ thought that this Man was the Devil under the Shape of Esau, that contended with Jacob. Some of the Rabbins have pretended that it was the Angel of Esau, or rather the Angel of the Country of Esau, who wrestled with Jacob, to compel him to resign up the Right of Primogeniture, which he had obtained from Esau. The Commentators may be consulted upon this Matter.

As to the Sinew of Jacob’s Thigh, which was touched by the Angel, ‘tis thought that the Angel touched his Thigh in that place, where the great Bone enters the Acetabulum of the Os sacrum. He touched him in the thickest and most fleshy Part of the Thigh, and made the Sinews contract, which caused Jacob to be lame. Some say that he only halted for a few Moments; others, that he halted till his Arrival at Shechem; and lastly, others say, that he was lame as long as he lived.

As for what relates to the Jews abstaining from the Sinew of the Thigh: Quam ob causam non comedunt nervum filii Israel, qui emarcuit in femore Jacob, usque in præsentem diem, see the Article SINEW.

‘Tis enquired, whether this Wrestling of Jacob was a real Event, or only a mere Vision? Theodoret,⁴ and the Rabbin Maimonides,⁵ were of opinion, that all this passed only in his Mind, and had no other Reality but in Jacob’s Imagination. This Patriarch being strongly possessed with the Danger he was going to encounter, at meeting his Brother Esau, had this Vision to encourage him. God caused him to perceive in a Dream a Man wrestling with him; and, not being able to overcome him, says to him, You shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel, that is to say, he that overpowers God: For, adds he, If you have the better in struggling with God, or with an Angel, much more will you get the Advantage when you strive only against a Man, against your Brother Esau. And as a Proof that this Vision was more than an ordinary Dream, it seemed to him that the Angel touched his Thigh; and in effect, as soon as he awoke, he found himself lame, probably by the Force of his Imagination.

This is what may be advanced to support that Opinion, which would have all this to pass in a Vision. But the general Sentiment is, and which is best founded,

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