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Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
Verse 1. Angels. Guardians of Chanaan and Mesopotamia. Jarchi.—The latter escorted him as far as the torrent Jaboc. That angels guard different provinces, is well attested, Daniel 12:1. Acts 16:9. Calmet.—Michael protected Chanaan and the people of God. Diodorus of Tarsus. Menochius.
When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Verse 2. Mahanaim, “two camps.” A town was afterwards built here.
“Mahanaim” means “two camps”.
Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
Verse 3. Edom; comprising the countries east, west, and south of the Dead sea. Calmet.—Providentially, Esau had now left his father’s house open to his brother; who, on this occasion, addresses him with the utmost civility, and speaks of the riches which he had obtained; in order that Esau might neither be ashamed of him, nor suspect that he would impoverish his father. Menochius.
He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.
I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’”
The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
Verse 6. Men. Jonathan has Polemarchoi; officers or warriors, either to punish Jacob, (Wisd. 10:12) as the latter feared, verse 11; or to do him honour, as Esau protested. Calmet. 33:15. Calmet.
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies.
He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.”
Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’
Verse 9. God of … Isaac. It is not true, therefore, that God never has the title of God of any man, while living, as some assert. Calmet. 31:42. Jacob addresses him by those very titles which he had assumed at Bethel. Calmet. 28:13. Bible.
I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.
Verse 10. Not worthy. Chal. “my merits are beneath all thy kindnesses.” Saint Augustine reads, with S. Cyril, idoneus es, and so forth “thou art sufficient for me.”
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children.
Verse 11. The children; sparing neither sex nor age, but destroying all. Calmet.—Jacob insists on the promises of God; yet fears lest he should, by some offence, have deserved to forfeit his protection; particularly, as he had been living 20 years among idolaters. He acts with all prudence. Worthington.
You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother:
two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.
Verse 15. Camels. The milk of these animals is most exquisite, being mixed with three parts water. Pliny xi. 41, who says, “They give milk till they be with young again.” The Arabs feed chiefly on their milk and flesh. Saint Jerome c. Jor. ii. The value of all these presents, may give us some idea of the prodigious wealth which God had heaped upon Jacob in the space of six years! Bible.
He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.”
He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’
Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’”
He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.
You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”
Verse 20. He said, and so forth These words were not to be related to Esau; they are the words of the sacred historian. There were probably five droves of goats, sheep, camels, kine and asses; by the successive presenting of which, Esau might be appeased.
So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.
Verse 22. Sons, with Dina his daughter, and all his household.
He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.
Verse 23. All things. Grotius thinks this has been lost in the Hebrew copies; as it occurs in the Sam. Septuagint and Syriac.
Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.
Verse 24. A man, and so forth This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee 12:4. He is called God, verse 28 and 30, because he represented the person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered, (verse 28) that he might learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau, nor any other man, should have power to hurt him. It was also spiritual, as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging, and at last obtaining the angel’s blessing. Challoner.—The father will not refuse a good gift to those who ask him with fervour and humility. Jacob had before set us an excellent pattern how to pray, placing his confidence in God, and distrusting himself, verse 9. and so forth Bible.—It is not certain, whether Jacob remained alone on the northern or on the southern banks of Jaboc. Calmet.
When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled.
Verse 25. Sinew, near the coxendix, or huckel-bone. D. This was to convince Jacob, how easily he could have gained the victory over him; and to make him remember, that it was not simply a vision, but a real wrestling. Tirinus.
The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”
He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”.
He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Verse 28. Israel. This name was more honourable, and that by which his posterity were afterwards known; being called Israelites, and not Jacobites. God ratifies the title. Calmet. 35:10. It means a prince of God. Saint Jerome q. Hebrew ( Calmet.) or one standing upright, and contending victoriously with God, rectus Dei, yisrael. Bible.—Many have expounded it, a man seeing God; aiss-rae-al. Philo, and so forth
Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” So he blessed him there.
Verse 29. Why, and so forth He represses Jacob’s curiosity, ( Bible.) perhaps because God did not as yet choose to reveal his name. Exodus 6:3. Some Greek and Latin copies add, which is wonderful, taken from Judith 13:6. 18. Calmet.
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
Verse 30. Phanuel. This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing of God. Challoner.—Hebrew reads here Peni-el, though it has Phanuel in the next verse. Jacob thus returns thanks to God for the preservation of his life, after having seen God or his angel in a corporeal form, and not in a dream only. Calmet.
Peniel means “face of God”.
The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.
Verse 31. Halted, or was lame. Alulensis thinks the angel healed him very soon. Menochius.
Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
Verse 32. The sinew in beasts of any kind, corresponding with that part of Jacob’s thigh. Bible.—Some refrain from the whole quarter, others extract the sinew. This they do, without any command, in memory of this transaction. Calmet.