translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET study note

text: The phrase angels of God occurs only here and in Gen 28:12 in the OT. Jacob saw a vision of angels just before he left the promised land. Now he encounters angels as he prepares to return to it. The text does not give the details of the encounter, but Jacob’s response suggests it was amicable. This location was a spot where heaven made contact with earth, and where God made his presence known to the patriarch. See C. Houtman, “Jacob at Mahanaim: Some Remarks on Genesis XXXII 2-3,” VT 28 (1978): 37-44.


text: The name Mahanaim apparently means “two camps.” Perhaps the two camps were those of God and of Jacob.


text: Your servant . The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.


text: Heb “me, [the] mother upon [the] sons.” The first person pronoun “me” probably means here “me and mine,” as the following clause suggests.


text: The Hebrew noun translated gift can in some contexts refer to the tribute paid by a subject to his lord. Such a nuance is possible here, because Jacob refers to Esau as his lord and to himself as Esau’s servant (v. 4 ).


text: Hebrew narrative style often includes a summary statement of the whole passage followed by a more detailed report of the event. Here v. 22 is the summary statement, while v. 23 begins the detailed account.


text: Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.


text: The verb translated “wrestled” ( וַיֵּאָבֵק , vayye ’ aveq ) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” ( יַעֲקֹב , ya ’ aqov ) and “Jabbok” ( יַבֹּק , yabboq ). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.


text: Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.


text: What is your name? The question is rhetorical, since the Lord obviously knew Jacob’s identity. But since the Lord is going to change Jacob’s name, this question is designed to bring focus Jacob’s attention on all that his name had come to signify.


text: The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element ( אֵל , ’el ) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.


text: You have fought . The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” ( שָׂרִיתָ , sarita ) sounds like the name “Israel” ( יִשְׂרָאֵל , yisra ’ el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man ( Genesis , 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).


text: Tell me your name . In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.


text: The name Peniel means “face of God.” Since Jacob saw God face to face here, the name is appropriate.


text: I have seen God face to face . See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse.


text: The name is spelled Penuel here, apparently a variant spelling of Peniel (see v. 30 ).


text: On the use of the expression to this day , see B. S. Childs, “A Study of the Formula ‘Until This Day’,” JBL 82 (1963): 279-92.