Dialogue: Wrestlemania

Who does Jacob fight with in his dream? Different interpretations suggest an angel, himself, a preincarnate of Jesus.

By DAVID NEKRUTMAN
From 'Jacob wrestling with Angel' 311 (photo credit: From 'Jacob wrestling with Angel,' 1861 fresco by )
From 'Jacob wrestling with Angel' 311
(photo credit: From 'Jacob wrestling with Angel,' 1861 fresco by )
David Nekrutman is the executive director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Center for Jewish- Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Efrat. Comments should be directed to info@cjcuc.com
Living outside the land of Canaan for more than two decades, Jacob is ready to return home. Anticipating a battle with his brother Esau, Jacob sends emissaries to assess the situation.
The report back is not an optimal one, and Jacob begins to divide up his camp.
After finally getting everyone safely over the Jabbok ford, “Jacob was left alone, and a man (ish) wrestled with him until the rise of dawn” (Genesis 32:25).
Who was this unknown assailant Jacob was struggling with? Some Christian commentators see this unknown person as Jesus; a preincarnate form of the Son of God, the second entity of the Trinity. This is based upon a strict reading of Colossians 1:16.
Most Jewish and a number of Christian commentaries identify the person as an angel. While the Hebrew word for angel (mal’ach) does not appear in the Genesis account, the prophet Hosea interprets the passage as, “He strove with an angel and prevailed” (12:5). Many rabbinical commentators identify the angel as Samael, the guardian angel of Rome.
Jacob is not merely Jacob the man but a symbol of the struggle between the peoples of Esau-Edom and Jacob-Israel.
According to Jewish tradition, our “ancestors’ experiences are a foreshadowing of our own,” with each patriarch representing a period of exile: Abraham – Egypt, Isaac – Babylon, and Jacob – Rome. The exile of Jacob is the most bitter and the longest of them all.
Esau demands the return of two things Jacob took from him: the birthright and the blessing. To confront his brother, he sends his guardian angel. During the struggle, the angel concedes defeat and blesses Jacob by changing his name that is derived from akov halev, “deceitful heart” (Jeremiah 17:9), to “Israel,” deriving from serara, “authority.” Esau’s angel absolves Jacob of how he acquired the birthright and blessings, acknowledging that the way the events took place was divinely ordained. What begins as a confrontation ends as reconciliation between brothers! I wish to offer an alternative approach to the identity of Jacob’s mysterious antagonist. The person he was wresting with was himself.
In Genesis 30:43 Jacob is clearly referred to as ish, man. The “man of the tent” has come a long way. Preparing to meet his brother, Jacob looks at his financial success and begins to worry. He quickly separates all that he owns and all that he loves into different camps. Left completely alone, he must face his demons. Has the fulfillment of the stolen blessings actually turned him into Esau? The physical wound he receives is one of the consequences of balancing spiritual boundaries within physical experiences. Jacob limps away from the confrontation physically weaker but spiritually transformed and empowered.
Jacob’s inner struggle brings him “face to face” with God. His profound introspection puts him in touch with the Divine in him. He has now become Israel. The physical and spiritual are no longer at odds. Together, they accompany Jacob/Israel with every step he takes as he moves toward his destiny.
The thigh wound also has a deeper meaning. Toward the end of the Genesis 32, Jews are commanded not to eat the gid hanashe, as a remembrance of what happened to our patriarch. The meaning of the Hebrew term is not clear.
Some define it as sinew of the thigh vein; the thigh muscle; or sciatic nerve.
Hanashe, stemming from nashe, appears several times in the Bible where its contextual meaning seems to convey the notion of “forgetting.” When Joseph names his firstborn son Menashe (Manasseh), he thanks God who nashani [has made me forget] all my hardship and my parental home (Genesis 41:51).
Thus, he names his first child after the Divine gift of forgetfulness.
In becoming Israel, Jacob needs to forget his past. The emotional baggage associated with his former name would prevent him from accomplishing his mission. Too much remembering would keep Israel from properly balancing the spiritual with the physical.