Jacob in the Bible
Who did Jacob wrestle with and how did Jacob become Israel?
How did Jacob become Israel? The life of Jacob in the Bible is full of interesting episodes. Genesis 32 records that Jacob wrestled a stranger—possibly an angel or God. The stranger blesses Jacob and gives him a new name. This image by Gustave Doré is titled “Jacob Wrestles with the Angel.”
Who did Jacob wrestle with in the Bible?
Genesis 32 describes an interesting encounter from the life of Jacob. On his way to meet his twin brother Esau (for the first time after a falling out 20 years earlier), Jacob and his party approach the Jabbok River. Sending his family and servants across the river before him, Jacob stays on the other side by himself, where he meets a mysterious man: “Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak” (Genesis 32:24).
In the September/October 2014 issue of BAR, Phyllis Trible addresses this story in her Biblical Views column “Wrestling with Faith.” She connects this episode from the life of Jacob in the Bible to her own struggle with feminism and the Bible.
Who is this man? Who did Jacob wrestle with?
Hosea 12:4 says that the man was an angel or messenger. Rabbis content that the man was Esau, and folklorists say the man was a night demon or river demon. Modern therapists suggest that the man was none other than Jacob himself.
Theologians usually say that the man Jacob wrestled was God, and Jacob also came to this conclusion. After the wrestling match, Jacob named the place Penuel, which means “face of God”—as Jacob says, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).
FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.
In her column, Trible remarks that the man with whom Jacob wrestles is “not all powerful, for the coming of dawn restrains his physical aggression. He is not prevailing. So he resorts to an obscene tactic, striking Jacob at his manhood.”
Yet despite this blow, still Jacob holds onto his attacker, saying, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26).
How did Jacob become Israel? While perhaps this moment might seem like an odd time to us as modern readers for a name change or a blessing, that is exactly what happens.
After asking Jacob his name, the man says, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). Trible explains, “The stranger gives Jacob (whose name in folk etymology suggests a grasper, schemer or conniver) the new name Israel (“God rules”).”
While the man refuses to give Jacob his own name—which would definitively answer our query—he still blesses him.
Four outstanding scholars—including Phyllis Trible—look closely at a number of prominent women in the Bible and the men to whom they relate in Feminist Approaches to the Bible, published by the Biblical Archaeology Society. Learn more >>
Who did Jacob wrestle with in the Bible? An angel, man, demon or God? Support for each of these contenders can be found in different camps.
Whoever the stranger was, he departs after giving Jacob a blessing. This episode from Jacob’s life ends as the morning dawns: “The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip” (Genesis 32:31). Despite his new name and blessing, the wrestling match was not cost-free for Jacob. Wounded, he limps from the scene.
Trible uses this chapter from the life of Jacob in the Bible to illustrate the dialogue between feminism and the Bible. Blessings do not always come on our terms, but that is no reason to quit wrestling.
To find out more about more about this story from Jacob’s life and how feminism and the Bible relate, read the full column “Wrestling with Faith” by Phyllis Trible, Professor Emerita of Sacred Literature at Union Theological Seminary in New York, in the September/October 2014 issue of BAR.
BAS Library Members: Read the full column “Wrestling with Faith” by Phyllis Trible in the September/October 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Not a BAS Library member yet? Join the BAS Library today.
FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.
Read more in Bible History Daily:
Jacob the Convert and an Ancient Curse
Learn more about feminism and the Bible in the BAS Library:
Are Feminists Biased About the Bible?
My View: On Becoming a Male Feminist Bible Scholar
Feminist Interpretations of the Bible: Then and Now
If The Bible’s So Patriarchal, How Come I Love It?
Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on September 1, 2014.
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I also agree with Phyllis Trible’s interpretation of Jacob’s wrestling with the angel as having to do with our own personal struggle with so-called divinely inspired scripture. After Jacob stole the blessing from his brother Esau he set off for Paddan Aram (Genesis 28:7) and the scripture then mentions that upon realizing his mother didn’t approve of his choice of wives, Esau sought to remedy this by marrying yet another wife , making him the proverbial spoiled child as Jacob sought refuge from his wrathful brother and set out for a place of refuge, penniless and alone
. Paddan Aram is the region that was formerly part of the Hurrian Empire and during the early part of the 15th centuery B.C.E. there was a king by the name of Idrimi who ruled over the kingdom of Alalah on the Orontes river in western Syria. An autobiographal inscription found on a statue of this king mentions that he, like Jacob who had spent 14 years in exile working for his two wives (Genesis 29:15-20; Hosea 12:13), also had “spent seven years among the Hapiru before setting sail for the land of Mukish, where he established himself. From there, after a further seven years, Idrimi sent an ambassador with tribute to Parratattarna, the Hurrian king, and having sworn a binding oath as a loyal vassal he became king of Alalah and ruled for 30 years” (“Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East” by Michael Roaf, pp.132-133).
I should have said that Paddan Aram was formerly part of the Mitanni Empire and in my pocket Hebrew dictionary the word “mitni” means “one dwelling at the unknown place.” It is interesting how in the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel that it was Jacob’s private parts that were the target but the angel missed and so the word which is similar to “Mitanni” is missing. “Loins” in Hebrew is “motnayim” (and also refers to the waist area); “as the loincloth cings to a man’s loins” (Jeremiah 13:11).
Talk about wresting the scriptures. I’ve never heard such a bunch of twaddle!
If we are to believe Ms Trible, “feminism” is at war with the Bible, and with those who believe it. Choose the Bible or feminism was the ultimatum, she says. Yet she declares herself a feminist, and also a believer who wrestles with her faith. So, what are readers to do with this conundrum? It would have been instructive for Ms Trible to have defined what she means by “feminism.” Is there more than one kind? We are left to think that Ms Trible is not really a “feminist” after all. That makes the essay little more than a space filler in an otherwise wonderful magazine. Readers have come to expect better than this dribble.
The problem with most people today is is that they try to fit the bible into their worthless, worldly opinions, and it does not work. In Second Timothy 2:15 we are admonised to study to show ourselves approved. Again, the problem is is that most people do not. They just take someone esle‘s word for it, and many times the interpretation is wrong.
Also, many times the opinions of these so-called theologians is worthless. Instead of clearifying scripture, they throw out some wild unbiblical idea(s) which just adds more cofusion into the mix.
In this case, when the bible says Jacob wrestled with God that is what it means. The bible clearly states that. The scripture does not mean anything else. It is cut and dry.
This is the reason I avoid many biblical interpretations today, because they are worthless.
A “river demon?” Jacob wrestled a “river demon” from whom he demanded a blessing? Oh, wait, he wrestled with himself and put his *own* hip out of joint? The problem I see is one of taking the story at face value (Jacob existed and he did actually wrestle with someone), but stopping short of Jacob’s own declaration that it was God — and as some might suggest, that it none other than the pre-incarnate Jesus Himself in a theophany. The article skates on pretty thin theological ice only to score flimsy political points while missing the momentous significance of Jacob’s name-change. I simply could not grasp what the Jacob story has to do with feminism at all.
This is ridiculous! The Bible is the Word of God. The infallible Word. If Jacob said it was God than that’s who he wrestled with. Who would better know than him! I am so tired of so called theologians and experts in the Bible trying to explain things to fit their ideas. The Word is the Word and I’m sure God is laughing at all the fools that try to change it.
“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven (saritha) with God (elohim) and with men (enoshim) and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:29). The translation from the J.P.S. version reads “elohim” in this verse as “divine beings” which pairs perfectly with “enoshim” which is the plural form of “enosh” or man. The entity that Jacob wrestled was therefore not God but a single angel or messenger. I’m so glad that Ms.Trible went right to the point with her viewpoint as a feminist to contest scripture that was passed down to us from male-dominated societies (who didn’t benefit from discoveries in archaeology). I’ve known in my heart for years what the author of this article is offering to those who have an ear, so that my personal spin on this story is that Jacob grabbed hold of this divine emissary’s private parts (Genesis 32:27). Remeber Jesus’ warning about false messiahs and false prophets who will try to deceive even the elect (Matthew 24:24).
I propose that the angel of the Lord that Jacob wrestled with was a pre-incarnate Jesus. It makes sense on a lot of sides including the authority to change Jacob’s name and the expressed will of .the angel to change Jacob emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
With your respect I do believed Jacob wrestled with angel not the Lord as well. The same angel send by God to Lot and other biblical characters, If you read Exodus 33:18 -23 Moses demanding to show his glory at verse 18, and in verse 20. But, ” he said “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me alive.”, This passages stated clearly that even the mighty men’s of God don’t have any close encounter to the living God or else they will die, our flesh(corruptible) cannot hold or stay any longer to the presence and glory of our living God, read verses 21-23. for me it is angel the messenger of God.