Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jacob saw two companies of angels sent by God for his protection. Second, at verse 3, fearing his brother, he sends gifts to him. Third, at verse 24, prevailing in wrestling with an angel, he is called Israel.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 32:1-32
1. Jacob also went on the journey he had begun, and the angels of God met him. 2. When he saw them, he said: "These are the camps of God," and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, "Camps." 3. And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom, 4. and he commanded them, saying: "Speak thus to my lord Esau: Thus says your brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have stayed until the present day. 5. I have oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and male servants, and female servants, and I now send a delegation to my lord, that I may find favor in your sight." 6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: "We came to Esau your brother, and behold, he hastens to meet you with four hundred men." 7. Jacob was greatly afraid, and in his terror he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and sheep and oxen and camels into two companies, 8. saying: "If Esau comes to one company and strikes it, the other company that remains will be saved." 9. And Jacob said: "O 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 birth, and I will do you good,' 10. I am unworthy of all Your mercies and Your faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I return with two companies. 11. Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I greatly fear him, lest he come and strike the mother with the children. 12. You spoke that You would do me good and would multiply my offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for its multitude." 13. And when he had slept there that night, he set apart from what he had gifts for Esau his brother: 14. two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15. thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows, twenty bulls, twenty she-donkeys, and ten of their foals. 16. And he sent them by the hands of his servants, each drove separately, and said to his servants: "Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove." 17. And he commanded the first, saying: "If you meet my brother Esau, and he asks you: 'Whose are you?' or 'Where are you going?' or 'Whose are these that you drive?' 18. you shall answer: 'They belong to your servant Jacob; he has sent them as a gift to my lord Esau; and behold, he also comes after us.'" 19. Likewise he gave orders to the second, and the third, and to all who followed the droves, saying: "Speak the same words to Esau when you find him. 20. And you shall add: 'Your servant Jacob also follows our route'; for he said: 'I will appease him with the gifts that go before, and afterward I will see him; perhaps he will be favorable to me.'" 21. So the gifts went on before him, but he himself stayed that night in the camp. 22. And when he had risen early, he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Jacob. 23. And when he had sent over all that belonged to him, 24. he remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him until morning. 25. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and immediately it shrank. 26. And he said to him: "Let me go, for the dawn is rising." He answered: "I will not let You go unless You bless me." 27. He said then: "What is your name?" He answered: "Jacob." 28. But he said: "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for if you have been strong against God, how much more will you prevail against men?" 29. Jacob asked him: "Tell me, by what name are you called?" He answered: "Why do you ask My name?" And He blessed him in that same place. 30. And Jacob called the name of that place Phanuel, saying: "I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved." 31. And immediately the sun rose upon him after he had crossed Phanuel; but he was limping on his foot. 32. For this reason the children of Israel do not eat the sinew that shrank in Jacob's thigh, even to the present day, because he touched the sinew of his thigh, and it became numb.
Verse 1: Angels of God
Jacob saw here two companies of angels; for this place was called in Hebrew Machanaim, which is a dual noun, and signifies two camps or two battle lines. Hence also the city afterwards built there was called Machanaim. Namely, one company belonged to the angel who was the guardian and prefect of Mesopotamia: he, with the angels subject and subordinate to him, as if in a marshaled battle line, had accompanied and safely escorted Jacob from Mesopotamia to this point, namely to the borders of Canaan. There the angel who was prefect of Canaan met him and received him with his own company of angels subject to him, in order to lead him safely through Canaan to his father, and to guard and protect him from Esau and others hostile to him. For just as princes escort a foreign prince through their territories, providing military guards, and deliver him to the neighboring prince and his guards for further escort, so likewise do the angels act here with Jacob. See the providence and care of God and His angels toward their own. See also how great, how familiar, and how dear to God and the angels Jacob was. See thirdly how, after the temptation and terror struck into Jacob by Laban, the consolation of the angels follows; thus it is said of Christ in Matthew 4: "Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and ministered to Him." See fourthly how a greater temptation succeeds the lesser one of Laban, namely the fear of the hostile Esau, and how the angels here fortify Jacob against him.
From what has been said, it is clear that this was an extraordinary guardianship of angels: for not only Jacob's guardian angel alone, but two companies of angels, with two leaders, appeared to Jacob.
Diodorus of Tarsus thinks that the angel who was prefect of the second company, and president of Canaan, was St. Michael: for he was appointed by God as prince of the posterity of Jacob, namely of the people of God, that is, of all the Israelites, as is clear from Daniel 10, last verse, and Daniel 12, verse 1.
Just as therefore Elisha, in 4 Kings 6, verse 17, surrounded by enemies, saw the companies of angels coming to his aid and defense: so also Jacob here is encircled by the protection of angels against Esau and other enemies, that he may learn to fear neither Esau nor any man. So says Abulensis. Here was fulfilled that saying of Psalm 33:8: "The angel of the Lord shall encamp around those who fear Him."
Thus in the Lives of the Fathers we read of Abbot Moses, that when he was greatly assailed by the spirit of fornication, he went to Abbot Isidore, who led him to the upper part of the house, where to the west he saw a huge throng of demons contending among themselves, and to the east he saw a splendid army of angels. Then Isidore said: "Those whom you saw in the west — they are the ones who also attack the just; but those in the east — these are the ones whom the Lord of hosts sends to help His servants. Know therefore that there are more with us—"
Tropologically, St. Augustine notes that by Jacob's example we ought to trust God in such a way that we nevertheless do not neglect human defenses and counsel; for to do this would be to tempt God. Hence St. Ignatius, our Father, taught us to place all our hope of accomplishing things in God, so that, utterly distrusting ourselves and our own strength, we cast ourselves entirely upon God and God's providence with great confidence; and yet in the actual execution, to diligently employ all natural means and human resources, as if we relied on those alone and as if the whole matter had to be accomplished by them alone: for both are taught and required by Christian prudence and piety.
Verse 3: To Esau in the Land of Seir
To Esau his brother in the land of Seir, which is also called Edom, or Idumea. Note: while Jacob stayed in Haran, God put the thought and inclination into his brother Esau's mind — who was indignant because their parents' will was more favorable toward Jacob and cooler toward himself and his wives — to leave Canaan and choose the mountains of Edom as his dwelling place, so that in this way Canaan would yield to Jacob and his posterity. Jacob, having received a message in Haran from his mother, as it seems (for she had promised this in chapter 27, verse 45), had understood that Esau had migrated to Edom; hence he returned securely from Haran to his parents in Canaan.
Note secondly the prolepsis; for this land was not called Seir and Edom or Idumea before, but after the settlement of Esau — it was named by Esau himself, as I said at chapter 25, verses 25 and 30.
Verse 5: I Have Oxen
I have oxen — as if to say: I will not be a burden to you on account of poverty, nor will I diminish our parents' wealth, for God has bestowed on me an abundance of riches.
Verse 6: With Four Hundred Men
With four hundred men. So that he might display his power to his brother, and honor him all the more with this procession, and provide him a safe escort for the journey. It seems therefore that Esau, through the messengers sent by Jacob, who greeted him so humbly and courteously, had been appeased and had turned his former hatred into love, God changing his heart and inclining it in favor of Jacob.
Verse 7: Two Companies
Two companies. The first company was of the flocks with their shepherds, aptly distributed in their order; the second was of the wives with their children, which had three groups: the first of Zilpah and Bilhah with their offspring, the second of Leah with hers, the third of Rachel and Joseph, as is clear from the next chapter, verse 2. Rachel and Joseph therefore did not form a third company but brought up the rear of the second, as they were dearest to Jacob.
Verse 8: Shall Be Saved
Shall be saved — that is, it will be able to save itself by fleeing.
Verse 10: I Am Less
I am less — that is, I am too slight, too lowly, too unworthy to have deserved any of Your grace or mercy, even the smallest, bestowed upon me, or to deserve it even now. For the foundation of true virtue is humility; nor is there any glory so great that pride cannot darken it.
Note: Jacob here gives thanks to God for past benefits bestowed upon him, in such a way as to make himself worthy of future ones, and by his humility and gratitude to move God to grant them. He teaches us here the manner of praying effectively: for he begins with reverence and praise of God, and cites the merits of the fathers, saying: "God of my father Abraham," etc. Second, he reminds God of His promises: "Lord, who said to me: 'Return.'" Third, he humbles himself and confesses his weakness: "I am unworthy of all Your mercies." Fourth, he recalls the benefits received and gives thanks: "With my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I return with two companies." Fifth, he prays: "Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau." Sixth, he intercedes not only for himself but also for others: "Lest he strike the mother with the children" — he feared above all that, if the blessed seed were destroyed, Christ would not come.
Faithfulness — that is, fidelity, as if to say: I, though unworthy, have until now always experienced You as faithful in the promises made to me; therefore I trust and pray that I may experience the same in the future, and that You may now protect me from Esau.
With my staff — that is, with my staff, as if to say: Alone, leaning on my staff or shepherd's crook, destitute, like a shepherd without a flock, indeed seeking a flock to tend, I went from my homeland to Haran; now by the gift of God I return with two companies of children, servants, and cattle. So says Josephus.
Verse 15: Nursing Camels
Nursing camels — that is, those that had recently given birth and were suckling their young.
Verse 16: Let There Be Space Between Drove and Drove
Let there be space between drove and drove. So that Esau might feast on and be softened by the number, variety, and display of the gifts sent from him for a longer time; for in this way they would seem to him to be more numerous and more splendid.
Verse 20: Perhaps
Perhaps — that is, certainly; for the word "perhaps" here is not that of one doubting, but of one affirming and continuing, as is tacha in Homer. So also Christ says, John 8:19: "If you knew Me, you would perhaps (certainly) know My Father also."
Verse 21: He Stayed That Night in the Camp
But he himself stayed that night in the camp — both to check whether anything had been left behind through forgetfulness; and to take counsel and consider by what means he might appease his brother; but especially, so that alone that night he might quietly and fervently supplicate God to direct all this business with his brother and his journey; hence after the prayer the wrestling angel met him. And finally, so that after cares and labors, he might give something to sleep and necessary rest. Hence the Septuagint translates: "but he himself slept in the camp." The Hebrew is לין lan, that is, "he passed the night," meaning he spent the night either sleeping or keeping vigil and working.
Morally, St. Ambrose, Book 2, On Jacob, chapter 6, says: "Perfect virtue possesses the tranquility and stability of rest. Therefore the Lord reserved this gift of His for the more perfect, saying: 'My peace I leave to you, My peace I give to you.' For it is proper to the perfect not to be easily moved by worldly things, not to be disturbed by fear, not to be agitated by suspicion, not to be shaken by terror, not to be tormented by pain; but as if on the widest shore, against the rising waves of worldly storms, to calm the immovable mind in a faithful station. On the contrary, the wicked man is afflicted more by his own suspicions than most men are by the blows of others, and the welts of wounds in his soul are greater than those in the bodies of those who are beaten by others."
Verse 22: When He Had Risen Early
And when he had risen early — before dawn, while it was still night, as the Hebrew and Greek texts have it; for at night, after he had sent his possessions and his family across the ford of Jacob, Jacob wrestled with the angel until morning.
Verse 24: A Man Wrestled with Him
A man wrestled with him. You ask: who was this man? Theodoret, Justin, Tertullian, Hilary, Ambrose, Cyril, and others cited by Pererius seem to say that he was the Son of God, namely the Word who was to become flesh, and this is proved because Jacob himself, at verse 30, calls him God.
But I say first: This man was an angel. This is clear from Hosea 12:3, where this man is expressly called an angel. Second, because St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy chapter 4; St. Jerome, Josephus, Eusebius, Rupert, and St. Augustine, Book 16 of The City of God, chapter 39, teach that he was an angel, and add that God in the Old Testament never appeared by Himself, but always through angels; for that most famous apparition of God giving the law on Sinai was done through angels, as is clear from Galatians 3:19.
You object: This man, at verse 30, is called God. I answer: He was personally an angel, but is called God representatively and authoritatively, just as a viceroy is called king; because he represented God, namely the Son of God who was to become incarnate, and he acted in His stead and by His authority. And this is all that Theodoret, Justin, and the other Fathers cited mean, who call this man the Son of God.
You object secondly: The Council of Sirmium, canon 14, defines that this man was the Son of God; for it reads thus: "If anyone says that the one who wrestled against Jacob was not the Son rather than a man wrestled, but says it was the unbegotten God or His Father, let him be anathema." I answer: This council only means to say that this angel represents God — not the Father, but the Son. Moreover, this was a council of the Arians, and therefore of little, indeed of suspect, authority and credibility.
I say secondly: This angel was not evil, appearing in the likeness of Esau and wanting to defeat Jacob, as the Jews pretend according to Lyra, but was good. This is clear because Jacob asked a blessing from him. Again, from him the place was called Phanuel, that is, "apparition or face of God," and Jacob himself was called Israel, that is, "prevailing with God." Therefore this was a good angel, a type of Christ to be born from Jacob. So say the Fathers and interpreters. Therefore, what St. Jerome says in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12 — that this angel was a demon with whom, as the Apostle says, we have continual wrestling — he puts forward in his usual manner not from his own opinion but from that of Origen. For Origen, in Book 3 of the Periarchon, held that this angel was the devil.
I say thirdly: This angel was not the guardian of Esau, who in Esau's name wanted to prevent Jacob from entering the holy land, in order to compel him to restore to Esau his birthright, as Francis George devised, volume 1, section 3, problem 234. Rather, this angel was the guardian of Jacob himself. This is clear because he acted for Jacob's cause, not Esau's, and he blessed Jacob himself to Esau's disadvantage. Again, who would believe that a good angel would want to take up and pursue Esau's unjust cause against God's will? Finally, this is clear from what Jacob says at verse 29: "I have seen the Lord face to face, and my life has been preserved." Therefore this angel was not Esau's but Jacob's guardian and savior.
He wrestled. Here it is asked secondly: why did the angel wrestle with Jacob? I answer: so that by this wrestling, allowing himself to be overcome by Jacob, he might give him hope that in like manner, indeed much more so, he would soften, conquer, and overcome his brother Esau whom he feared. For this is what the angel says at verse 28: "For if you have been strong against God, how much more will you prevail against men?" So say the Greek and Latin Fathers. Hence, although St. Thomas and Rupert call this wrestling imaginary, it is more truly held that it was real and bodily in a body assumed by the angel, as the Fathers commonly teach. For when the angel, appearing to Jacob and comforting him, wanted to depart from him, Jacob, fearing to remain alone with Esau approaching, with a certain holy boldness asked and detained the angel, and the angel allowed himself to be held by him through the long delay and wrestling of the entire night, so that in this way he might give him courage and drive away his fear of Esau.
Symbolically, this wrestling prefigured the state of the Israelites up to the coming of Christ, which was such that, because of their sins, God often wished to withdraw from them, and would have long since withdrawn, had not Jacob and others like him — such as Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and others — detained Him. Second, this wrestling foreshadowed the Christian life, which is nothing other than a struggle, and, as St. Job says, a warfare upon earth, in which we are sometimes overcome, but armed and wrestling nobly like Jacob, we finally conquer. For the spirit of the philosopher (and of the Christian soldier) is made more noble by what it has suffered, and as glowing iron is hardened by the sprinkling of cold water, so he himself is hardened by dangers, as St. Gregory Nazianzen says, oration 23, in praise of Heron.
Note: For "he wrestled," the Hebrew is יאבק yeabec, which the Septuagint translates as epaiaie, that is, "he wrestled like a wrestler in the wrestling-school."
Second, Aquila and Symmachus translate it as ekonise, that is, "he was turning and throwing himself about with him," as wrestlers are accustomed to throw and twist each other, when one holds the other and the other strives to free himself and escape; hence it is clear that this wrestling was real and literal. In the same way, the Greek word pale, that is "wrestling," is thought to be derived from pelou, that is "from mud," with which wrestlers sprinkle themselves by twisting about; although Plutarch derives it from palin, that is "again"; others from paleuein, that is "to throw down by cunning and ambush"; others from plesiazein, that is "to approach"; others from palaistos, that is "from the four fingers joined together."
Third, properly the Hebrew yeabec signifies "he was being covered in dust," that is, he descended into the dust and sand, as Vatablus translates it. For the root אבק abac means "dust," because wrestlers by frequent stamping of feet and by swift and violent movement stir up dust, as in Virgil that bull "who scatters the sand with his hooves."
Martin Roa adds, Book 6, Singularia, last chapter, that in the word "being covered in dust" there is an allusion to the custom of the wrestling-school of the Greeks and Romans, in which wrestlers sprinkled each other with dust, so that they could hold each other more easily and firmly when grasped.
Fourth, others translate yeabec as "he wrestled by twisting himself and striving to throw down and overturn his adversary by force," taking it as a metaphor from the wind; for just as a strong wind twists and overturns dust, indeed even men, so wrestlers strive to do the same; for the root אבק abac signifies "dust," which when stirred up by the wind is violently twisted, tossed about, and scattered. But this metaphor is more remote and far-fetched; for abac signifies any dust absolutely and simply. To this the Wise Man alludes, chapter 10, verse 10, where speaking of Jacob he says: "He gave him a hard struggle, that he might conquer"; in Greek it is ethlatesen, as if to say: God set before Jacob a hard contest and at the same time the prizes and rewards of the contest, when He exposed him to the greed of Laban, the anger of Esau, and other enemies; and especially when He set against him an angel, and wrestling and prevailing against him, he was called Israel, that is, "ruling over God."
Note the phrase "until morning." For here by his own example Jacob teaches that one should not give the whole night to sleep, but a part to prayer; for Clement of Alexandria, Book 2, Paedagogus, chapter 9, rightly complains that sleep, like a tax collector, divides half of life with us. Wherefore Jeremiah, Lamentations 2:19, says: "Arise in the night, and pour out your heart like water before the Lord." For at night, says St. Chrysostom: "The purer and lighter soul sees sublime things, the dances of the stars, the deep silence," etc. Moreover, silence and "solitude," says Nazianzen, oration 2, "is the mother of divine ascent," that is, of prayer, making a god out of a man; which shortly after he calls his citadel, to which, when troubled by persecutions or temptations, he was accustomed to retreat.
Mystically, St. Ambrose, Book 2, On Jacob, chapter 6, says: "What is it to wrestle with God, but to undertake the contest of virtue and to contend with a superior, and to become a better imitator of God than all others? And because his faith and devotion were unconquerable, the Lord revealed to him secret mysteries."
Verse 25: He Touched the Sinew of His Thigh
Who (the man, namely the angel) when he saw that he could not overcome him (Jacob). Hence it seems that, when Jacob persisted in the wrestling, God withdrew His concurrence, and consequently the strength to resist, from the angel, so that he might be held and overcome by Jacob.
He touched. In Hebrew נגע yigga, that is, he struck, he injured, he dislocated.
The sinew of the thigh. In Hebrew it is כף caph, which signifies the vertebra, or socket, that is, the cavity of the bone in which the upper part of the thigh is hidden, which in Greek is called ischios. Again, caph signifies that rounded and curved head of the thigh bone which is inserted into the hip socket; and so it is taken here. For the thigh bone itself, which is inserted into the socket or hip, was here moved from its place, but not the socket or hip itself — as if to say: the very thigh, the very hip joint of Jacob, was dislocated, because the angel dissolved and dislocated the sinew, that is the tendon, which connects the thigh or hip joint to its socket or vertebra, namely the upper bone, as our translator renders it very well as to the meaning.
Note: This tendon, as the first thing at hand, the angel injured and dislocated inwardly by a violent blow and collision, in the manner in which wrestlers are accustomed, in order to escape, to touch, strike, and inflict a blow upon their adversary wherever and however they can. And this was so that Jacob might know that this wrestling of his with the angel had been real, and that he had overcome the angel not by his own strength but by God's; for the angel who was able to dislocate Jacob's thigh could certainly have dislocated all his other limbs and crushed Jacob entirely, had God not prevented it. So says Theodoret.
It shrank. In Hebrew תקע teka, that is, it was loosened, dislocated, and stretched beyond what was proper, so that Jacob limped. The Septuagint and our translator render it "shrank," because the sinew, moved and dislocated from its place, became as it were flaccid, numb, and useless; hence in the last verse it is said to have become numb.
Verse 26: Let Me Go, for the Dawn Is Rising
Let Me go, for the dawn is now rising. The angel asked to be released because, as day was breaking, he did not wish to show himself clearly to Jacob in the assumed body, says Oleaster, and much less to Jacob's servants who were about to come to him, says St. Thomas. For divine and spiritual things, such as an angel, are hidden and beyond the comprehension of men, and therefore flee the eyes of men.
I will not let You go unless You bless me. Jacob said this with intense affection and desire; hence Hosea, chapter 12, verse 3, says that Jacob with tears sought this blessing, and therefore he obtained it, together with the new name Israel, which the angel bestowed upon him.
I will not let You go unless You bless me. Josephus says that Jacob prayed to the angel that he might be allowed to learn his destiny from him, and that he obtained what he wished and prayed for. But understand this not as though Jacob simply wished to know what would happen to him in the future, but rather that the angel might pray for his prosperity and dispel the present evils that he feared from the approaching Esau.
Verse 28: Your Name Shall Be Israel
Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel — as if to say: You shall be called not only Jacob, but also Israel; for afterwards he was still called Jacob as well. See Canon 17.
Israel. You ask what Israel signifies? First, St. Jerome explains Israel as if to say ישר אל yeshar el, that is, "upright of God"; but the objection is that yeshar is written with a hard shin, while Israel is written with a soft sin.
Second, St. Augustine, Book 16 of the City of God, chapter 39, Philo, Nazianzen, Hilary, Eusebius, and Prosper think that Israel is said as if איש ראה אל roe el, that is, "a man seeing God"; but in the same way this is written with shin, while Israel is written with sin.
Third, therefore, and genuinely, Israel is said from שרה sara el, that is, "he has ruled over God": for from this sar is called "lord" and "prince," and sara means the same as "lady." Israel therefore means the same as "ruling" or "he who shall rule over God." For ישרה yisra in Israel can be taken as a future tense, although in proper names yod is usually added not as a future marker but as a heemantic prefix. That this is the etymology of Israel is clear from the words of the angel; for he says: "You shall be called Israel," because שרית sarita, that is, "you have prevailed and ruled over God." So the Septuagint, Theodotion, Symmachus, St. Jerome, and Aquila, who translates: "you have reigned with God," that is, against God, because you have ruled over God Himself. He calls the angel God because he represents God and is God's legate. "Israel means the same as 'prince with God,' as if to say: Just as I am a prince, so also you, who were able to wrestle with me, shall be called a prince. But if you were able to fight with me, who am God, how much more with men, that is, with Esau? whom therefore you need not fear," says St. Jerome in the Hebrew Traditions.
This therefore is the blessing which the angel gives to Jacob when he asks: namely, that henceforth he is to be called, and will in reality be, Israel, so that he may know that he who has so nobly overcome God — that is, the angel, God's vicar and messenger — in wrestling, will much more overcome Esau and all his enemies. As if to say: Do not fear your brother Esau, O Jacob; for by your forceful prayers before God — though He was, as it were, resisting and struggling — you have obtained that against Esau and all your enemies you may be of unbroken spirit, unconquerable, and victorious. For this is the blessing here given to Jacob, says St. Thomas and Cajetan.
Note: Some think that the name Israel is here only promised to Jacob, and that it was actually bestowed on him at chapter 35, verse 10. But it is more truly held that it was actually bestowed on him here, on account of so memorable a wrestling and victory, and that it was renewed and confirmed at chapter 35, verse 10.
Note secondly: This wrestling and this name Israel befell Jacob in the 97th year of his age; for in his 91st year Joseph was born, and afterward Jacob remained in Haran, serving for the flocks, for six years, as I showed at chapter 30, verse 25. But in the seventh year, namely the 97th year of his age, fleeing and coming into Canaan, he carried out this wrestling and in it received the name Israel.
Allegorically, Alcazar in Apocalypse 11, note 1, thinks that here is signified the struggle of Esau with Jacob, that is, of the Synagogue with the Church, namely the persecution of the Jews against the first Christians; for they, with their father Jacob, stood strong in this trial, and therefore carried off the victory, and were blessed by God. Where Alcazar rightly notes that God shows Himself favorable and familiar to those who are tried and afflicted: first, by tempering the forces with which He exercises and assails Jacob and the faithful through the Jews and other enemies; second, by granting to the same Jacob and the faithful the fortitude by which they may persevere steadfast in this struggle.
Tropologically, this wrestling is prayer, in which with Jacob we see God face to face, and our soul is saved. Again, through prayer, as Israel, we rule over God, and consequently over all fears, passions, disturbances, and enemies. Thence the thigh — that is, self-love, confidence in one's own strength, and concupiscence, which thrives in the thigh — being touched by God's power, diminishes, is dislocated, and grows weak. And then we limp on one foot while the other remains sound: because it is necessary that when love of the world is weakened, man should grow strong in the love of God, says St. Gregory, homily 14 on Ezekiel, and at the beginning of Psalm 6 of Penance.
Learn therefore, O soldier of Christ, from this passage and from Jacob, in whatever temptation, tribulation, and persecution, to flee to God through prayer; for if by prayer you persuade and prevail over God, you will prevail also over your enemies, and God will make them either friendly or subject to you. For so He did for Israel, namely Jacob. This secret of conquering and the counsel for obtaining anything have been known and practiced — and are still practiced — by holy men united to God, who do mighty works in God. "All things," says Paul, "I can do in Him who strengthens me." For God holds the hearts of all men and kings, even the most fierce, in His hand, and at His nod He bends and changes them wherever He pleases.
Verse 29: Tell Me by What Name You Are Called
Tell me by what name you are called. Jacob asks the name of the angel so that through it he might proclaim him as his blesser and benefactor, celebrate him, and invoke him in any adversity.
Why do you ask My name? Some add: "which is wonderful." Hence Alcazar in Apocalypse 11:1 thinks that this angel's name was "Wonderful," both because by this name he suggested that in this wrestling the wonderful counsel of God regarding the persecutions and victories of the Church was prefigured, and because he was a type of Christ, who is called "Wonderful" in Isaiah 9:6. Certain Rabbis teach the same. Listen to Fernel the physician, Book 1, On the Hidden Causes of Things, chapter 11: "We have received from written records that the guardian angel of our first parent was called Raziel, Abraham's was Zachiel, Isaac's was Raphael, Jacob's was Peliel (that is, 'wonderful of God'), Moses' was Metratton; through these intermediaries they received very many things from God." But these are either conjectures or inventions of the Kabbalists; for the words "which is wonderful" should be deleted from this place, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Roman editions delete them; they are found, however, at Judges 13:18, from which they seem to have been transferred to this passage by some pretender to knowledge.
The angel was unwilling to reveal his name to Jacob, lest his posterity should worship it or superstitiously venerate it — for the Jews were very prone to idolatry and superstition; and because angels are pure spirits and minds who have no spoken names; and because this angel represented the Word to be incarnate, whose name before the Incarnation was silent and hidden.
Verse 30: He Blessed Him — Phanuel
And He blessed him. Implicitly and in reality, by calling him Israel, the angel blessed Jacob at verse 28, as I said; but here he explicitly blessed him by forming over him the sign of the cross or something similar, and saying: May God bless you, and give you the blessing promised to Abraham and to his seed.
And he called the name of that place Phanuel. "Phanuel," or as it is in Hebrew, Phaniel, means the same as "face of God"; for pane means "face," and el signifies God. Here a city was later built, likewise called Phaniel, which Strabo the pagan, Book 16, calls "the face of God." St. Chrysostom, homily 58, reading from the Septuagint, has: "Jacob called the name of this place 'the appearance of God.'" For at that time God assumed the appearance of a man, and afterward the very truth and nature of man: "Prefiguring to us," he says, "that He would take on human nature. But at that time, since it was the beginning and first stages, He appeared to each of them in a figure, as He says through Hosea, chapter 12: 'I multiplied visions, and in the hands of the prophets I was likened.' But when the Lord deigned to take on human form, He put on not merely apparent flesh, but true flesh."
SAYING: I SAW THE LORD FACE TO FACE — that is to say, I saw God in a bodily appearance, represented to me by the angel; for it is certain that Jacob, in this nocturnal and obscure vision, did not see the divine essence, nor indeed God properly, but an angel representing God in an assumed body.
Second and better: "I saw the Lord face to face," that is, I wrestled and fought hand-to-hand with the angel representing God, matching hand to hand, foot to foot, side to side, I joined and engaged in combat. For thus King Amaziah said to Joash: "Let us see one another," that is, let us fight in close combat, 4 Kings 14:8. Thus Josiah saw Pharaoh, when he was killed by Pharaoh in battle, 4 Kings 22:30.
AND MY SOUL HAS BEEN SAVED. For, as St. Cyril and Cajetan say, there was an ancient belief that one who had seen an angel would die. Hence Manoah, having seen the angel, said: "We shall die, because we have seen the Lord," Judges 13:22. Therefore Jacob congratulates himself that he saw God, and yet is safe.
Second and more plainly, St. Chrysostom and Lipomanus: that is to say, by this familiar vision of God, by the benevolence and friendship through His angel, whom I saw and with whom I wrestled, I have been freed from fear of my brother, and from every other scruple and anxiety. Lade at Hosea chapter 12 translates it as "I was strengthened"; for from then on Jacob did not fear his brother, but boldly and confidently went to meet him.
Hence Cassian and other experts in spiritual matters teach that it is a sign of a good angel if the one who appears first strikes the person with fear, but soon consoles him, wipes away sadness and all clouds of the mind, strengthens him, and leaves him serene and cheerful: the devil does the exact opposite. Thus the angel appeared to Joshua in a terrible form, namely holding an unsheathed sword, but soon consoled and encouraged him, saying: "I am the commander of the army of the Lord, and now I have come," Joshua 5:13. Thus Gideon, having seen the angel, was struck with fear and thought that he must die, but soon heard: "Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die," Judges 6:22. Thus Daniel, having seen an angel of majestic form, struck down, collapsed and fainted; but soon was raised up and strengthened by the same angel, Daniel 10:8 and following. Thus the women coming to Christ's tomb, seeing the angel with an appearance like lightning, were astounded; but soon they heard from him: "Do not be afraid, you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified; He is risen, He is not here," Mark last chapter, verse 5.
Verse 31: He Limped
HE LIMPED — from the blow to the sinew, the pain and the dislocation. Gennadius in the Catena thinks that Jacob remained lame thereafter, and the Hebrews report that he was finally cured of his limping when he arrived at Shechem, or Sychar, which was thence called Salem, that is, "perfect," Genesis 33:18, because there Jacob began to walk perfectly.
But Abulensis more correctly judges that Jacob was healed at once by the angel who touched and struck him, before he reached Esau the next day: for why would he remain lame and powerless, especially before his brother, over whom he was going to prevail, according to the angel's promise?
Verse 32: The Children of Israel Do Not Eat the Sinew
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DO NOT EAT THE SINEW. By "sinew" understand the muscle by which the thigh is moved and contracted; for the sinew is customarily not eaten by many peoples, even Gentiles. So says Vatablus.
Allegorically, the sinew and flesh of Jacob signify the carnal sense of the old law, which through the wrestling of the angel, that is Christ, with Jacob, that is the Jews, was to be loosened and dislocated. Hence Judaism began to limp; because one part of it, namely the true Israel, went upward to Christ, by the staff (mentioned in verse 10), that is the cross, says St. Augustine: and this part was blessed by Christ; the other part, which refused to believe in Christ, went downward, deprived of grace and glory; hence the true children of Israel do not eat the sinew of the letter and of the carnal understanding of the law, which kills. So St. Thomas, and St. Augustine, Sermon 80 On the Seasons.