1 As Jacob continued on his way, the angels of God met him.
2 And Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s host!” and he called the name of that place Mahanaim[a].
3 And Jacob sent messengers ahead to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
4 And he commanded them, saying, “Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now;
5 and I have oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, servants, and handmaids; and I have sent to tell you so I may find favor in your sight.’’”
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he will come to meet you, and four hundred men with him.”
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;
8 and he said, “If Esau comes to one company and destroys it, then the company which is left shall escape.”
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 country, and to thy kindred, and I will help you;’
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.
11 Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come to attack me, and the mother with the children.
12 And you said, I will surely help you, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for it’s multitude.”
13 And he lodged there that night, and took from what he had with him a present for Esau his brother:
14 two hundred female and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15 thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty donkeys and ten foals.
16 And he gave them to his servants to manage, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me and put space between each drove.”
17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, “Who are you, and where do you go? And whose are these before you?”
18 then you shall say, “They are your servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent to my lord Esau; and know that he has also come behind us.”
19 And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;”
20 and you shall say, “Moreover, know that your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face, such that maybe he will accept me.”
21 So they went ahead before him; and he himself lodged that night in the company.
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok.
23 And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there he wrestled with a man until the break of dawn.
25 And when he saw that he could not prevailed against him, he grabbed the inside of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he said, “Let me go, for the dawn breaks. And he said, I will not you go unless you bless me.”
27 And he said unto him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
28 And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but [c]Israel: for you have [d]wrestled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, “Tell me, I pray you, your name.” And he said, “Why do you ask for my name?” And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place [e]Peniel: for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
31 And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped because of his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, to this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
[2] That is, Two hosts, or, Companies.
[10,11] The unworthiness of Jacob was not that he split his camp into two groups in apparent forgetfulness of God’s promise. It is that he was truly unworthy of all the merits which God had given him (as a result of Abraham and Issac). Therefore he felt that a revoking may be due, and that God would deliver him into the hand of Esau for such a reckoning. Thus Jacob was right to turn to God and profess his unworthiness, and to pray for deliverance even though God had promised him his protection.
[28] That is, He who striveth with God, or, God striveth.
[28] Or, had power with
[30] See pending commentary (‘face to face’ i.e. as Moses had)
[32] ‘this is why’ and not for the secular reason of it having no taste or nutritional value; a revelation of one of the ‘unknown why’ commands, which can then be applied to any command we do not fully understand. It is not only kept when we understand it, but even when we don’t; but further, the reason why a commandment is kept is never because it makes sense to do so but always solely because God has issued such a commandment (one cannot know the mind of God).