Jacob knows he wrestles with one whose blessing matters. His injury and its imposition are revelatory. He can no longer balance on them quite so easily. Jacob the Heel whose name in Hebrew, (Yaaqov), is a reminder that he came into this world with his chubby baby fist wrapped around his brother’s heel, (aqev), now finds his own heels under assault. Because the same verb means “touch,” “strike,” or “plague,” it is not clear if it was a great violent blow or a gentle touch with more-than-human strength and/or abilities behind it. And then, the person did something to Jacob’s hip and put it out of joint. There is a pun in verse 24: the verb “wrestle” has the same letters as a word for dust, (abaq, in Exodus 9:9 Deuteronomy 28:24 Is 5:24, etc.). A person or personage he does not know (or does not recognize) grapples him to the ground. Jacob has evaded his greatest fear up to that point. (NB: there is a discrepancy between the Hebrew and English verse numbers I am using the English versification in the NRSV.) And yet he sends his wives and children into the path of Esau and his riders - without him in verse 23. He does not know if his servants are even still alive. He has not heard back from his messengers he does not know if Esau has accepted his gifts. It is with a very real fear that Esau will kill him for taking his birthright that we encounter Jacob in Genesis 32:22-31. Jacob is terrified, he prays for divine assistance and then takes matters into his own hands by setting aside a significant portion of his holdings and sending them ahead as a gift to appease Esau (Genesis 32:7-21).Īll of this happens before our lesson begins. The response is swift Esau approaches with four hundred men. (See Genesis 27:41-45.) First Jacob sends word to his brother that he is coming, that he is quite wealthy, and that he wishes to find favor in his brother’s sight in Genesis 32:3-5. Jacob is terrified and for good reason, the last words of Esau reported to him by their mother Rebekah was that Esau intended to kill for taking his birthright. (For estimates of the total number of children fathered by Jacob see Genesis 46:15 and 46:26.) Laban is also responsible for Jacob’s wealth, indirectly, he agreed to give Jacob all of his spotted and speckled livestock not knowing that Jacob would use magical means to multiply them while suppressing the fertility of the solidly colored stock (Genesis 30:32ff).Īs Jacob leaves his father-in-law he crosses paths with his brother Esau. Laban had deceived him into marrying sisters, Leah and Rachel whose conflict and competition with each other resulted in dozens of children with them and with their slaves whom he dutifully impregnated upon command.
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