How does Jacob prepare to meet Esau, and what blessing does he receive before they meet?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Jacob divides his people and animals into two companies, asks God to protect them, and sends gifts ahead to Esau. While alone, he wrestles with a man, receives a blessing and the name Israel, and leaves limping.

Chapter breakdown

As Jacob continues his journey, the angels of God meet him. He calls the place Mahanaim, meaning Camps, after saying that these are the camps of God. He sends messengers ahead to his brother Esau in Seir, in the country of Edom. They are to address Esau as his lord and identify Jacob as his brother. Jacob has stayed with Laban until this day. He has oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants, and sends this message to seek Esau’s favour.

The messengers return with word that Esau is coming quickly to meet Jacob with four hundred men. Jacob is greatly afraid. He divides the people with him, the flocks, sheep, oxen and camels into two companies. He says that if Esau comes to one company and destroys it, the other will escape. This is Jacob’s plan in response to his fear; the report says that Esau is coming, without stating that he intends an attack.

Jacob prays to the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac. He recalls the Lord’s command to return to his own land and birthplace, with the promise to do well for him. Jacob says he is unworthy of even the least of God’s mercies and of the truth God has fulfilled for his servant. He crossed the Jordan with his staff, and now returns with two companies. He asks to be delivered from Esau because he fears that his brother may kill the mother with the children. He also recalls God’s promise to do well by him and multiply his descendants like the sand of the sea, too many to count.

After sleeping there that night, Jacob sets aside presents for Esau from what he owns: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams. He adds thirty milk-giving camels with their colts, forty cows and twenty bulls, and twenty female donkeys with ten of their foals. He puts each herd in the care of his servants separately. They must go ahead of him and leave a space between one herd and the next. The chapter lists these numbers without giving a total for the unnumbered camel colts.

Jacob tells the first servant what to say if Esau asks whose servant he is, where he is going, or whose animals are before him. The animals belong to Esau’s servant Jacob, who has sent them as a present to his lord Esau and is coming behind them. Jacob gives the same instructions to the second and third servants and to everyone following the herds. They must also say that his servant Jacob himself is following. Jacob explains his hope: the presents will appease Esau before they meet, and perhaps Esau will be gracious to him. The presents go ahead, while Jacob stays in the camp that night.

Rising early, Jacob takes his two wives, two handmaids and eleven sons across the ford of Jaboc, a place where the water can be crossed. Once everything belonging to him has been brought across, he remains alone. A man wrestles with him until morning.

Challoner’s note identifies the man as an angel in human shape, citing Osee 12:4. It explains that he is called God in verses 28 and 30 because he represents the person of the Son of God. The note says that God helped Jacob match the angel in the struggle. It understands this as a lesson in God’s help: neither Esau nor any other man should have power to hurt him. Challoner also calls the struggle spiritual, pointing to Jacob’s earnest prayer and his persistence in obtaining the angel’s blessing.

When the man sees that he cannot overcome Jacob, he touches the sinew of Jacob’s thigh, and it immediately shrinks. At daybreak he asks Jacob to let him go. Jacob answers, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” Asked his name, Jacob gives it. The man says that he will now be called Israel: if he has been strong against God, how much more will he prevail against men? Jacob then asks the man’s name. The man answers by asking why Jacob wants to know it, and blesses him there. The account describes the shrunken sinew; it does not name a dislocated joint.

Jacob names the place Phanuel, saying that he has seen God face to face and his soul has been saved.

Challoner’s note explains Phanuel as the face of God, or the sight or seeing of God.

Immediately after Jacob passes Phanuel, the sun rises upon him, and he limps on his foot. The chapter explains that the children of Israel do not eat the sinew that shrank in Jacob’s thigh, continuing this practice to the account’s own day. The reason given is that the man touched that sinew and it shrank.

The story inside

The exchange about names turns the wrestling episode toward its result. First Jacob is asked to release the man at daybreak. He makes blessing the condition of letting go. The man then asks Jacob’s name and gives him the new name Israel, linking it to strength against God and victory against men. When Jacob asks for the other man’s name in return, he receives a question rather than the name, but the blessing is given. Jacob names the place from his own experience of seeing God and being saved. The encounter thus ends with the blessing he sought, a changed name, and a limp that the final verse connects to Israel’s food practice. Challoner’s separate note reads his persistence as earnest prayer; the dialogue itself records the request and the blessing without adding an explanation of Jacob’s inner thoughts.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Jacob’s fear leads both to practical action and to prayer. He divides the two companies and sends gifts, while recalling God’s command and promises. These responses belong together in his preparation; the chapter does not turn his fear into proof that Esau intends to attack.
2
Jacob speaks of what God has already given before asking for protection. His contrast between crossing with a staff and returning with two companies explains his gratitude. His admission of unworthiness and his concern for mother and children make the prayer specific rather than a general request for success.
3
Jacob continues to ask for a blessing during the wrestling encounter, and the man gives it after renaming him Israel. He also leaves limping. Keeping both results in view preserves the chapter’s account of the blessing and the bodily change that explains the later food practice.

Test your recall

Why does Jacob divide the two companies and send the gifts ahead, what earlier command and promises does he recall in prayer, and how does the wrestling encounter explain both his new name and the food practice?

Show answer

Jacob fears that Esau’s four hundred men may attack, so he divides his company so that one group could escape. He sends gifts ahead in the hope of finding favor. In prayer, he recalls God’s command to return and the promise of descendants like the sand. During the wrestling, he seeks a blessing and receives the name Israel. His thigh is injured, and the chapter connects that injury with Israel’s practice of not eating that sinew. Challoner identifies the wrestler as an angel representing God.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 3655–3676
Genesis Chapter 32 Jacob’s vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his wrestling with an angel. 32:1. Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him. 32:2. And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps. 32:3. And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom: 32:4. And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day: 32:5. I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.
Lines 3677–3687
32:6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men. 32:7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies, 32:8. Saying: If Esau come to one company, and destroy it, the other company that is left, shall escape.
Lines 3688–3702
32:9. And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac: O Lord who saidst to me, Return to thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee. 32:10. I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies. 32:11. Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him; lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children. 32:12. Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Lines 3703–3715
32:13. And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau, 32:14. Two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 32:15. Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten of their foals. 32:16. And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove.
Lines 3716–3733
32:17. And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee? 32:18. Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob’s: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau; and he cometh after us. 32:19. In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him. 32:20. And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me. 32:21. So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.
Lines 3734–3741
32:22. And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc. 32:23. And when all things were brought over that belonged to him, 32:24. He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till morning.
Lines 3742–3750
A man, etc.... This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee 12.4. He is called God, ver. 28 and 30, because he represented the person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered (ver. 28,) that he might learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau, nor any other man, should have power to hurt him.—It was also spiritual, as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging and at last obtaining the angel’s blessing.
Lines 3751–3766
32:25. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank. 32:26. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 32:27. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob. 32:28. But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? 32:29. Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.
Lines 3767–3769
32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.
Lines 3770–3772
Phanuel.... This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing of God.
Lines 3773–3780
32:31. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot. 32:32. Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob’s thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.