Jacob Wrestles... Who? | Genesis | Week 12

Jacob Wrestles... Who?
Genesis • July 30, 2023
Teacher: Daniel Bunn

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Genesis 32:22-32 NIV

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sonsand crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 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. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Interpretation 1: Jacob wrestles God
Interpretation 2: Jacob wrestles an angel
Interpretation 3: Jacob wrestles himself

First problem: “When he saw that he could not overcome” (v. 25)
Second problem: Opponent desires to flee before daybreak (v. 26)

Jacob wrestles God: based solely on Jacob’s conclusion
Jacob wrestles an angel: not based on Genesis, but based on Hosea
Jacob wrestles himself: not based on the text at all

Narrator: “A man wrestled with him” (v. 24)

Whoever the opponent is, he (a) cannot overcome Jacob and (b) desires to flee before daybreak.

My argument: Jacob wrestles a human
If a human, then who?

Option 1: an unnamed opponent
Option 2: his father-in-law, Laban
Option 3: his brother, Esau

First Support: Connections between Genesis 32 and Genesis 33
Wrestle: אבק (32:24), Embrace: חבק (33:4)

Genesis 32:24 NIV

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

Genesis 33:4 NIV

But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 

The one who now embraces him is the same one who wrestled him

“Face of God” (32:20, 33:10)

Second Support: Connection to the Wider Story

Third Support: Jacob and Esau Reconciled?

Genesis 33:17 NIV

Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth... 

Summary: I think that the narrative of Genesis 32 points toward a human opponent. And if the opponent is human, then I suggest that Esau is the most likely candidate.

My e-mail: [email protected]