the ancestors of the Israelites and the Syrians are here conceived as fixing the border between the territories occupied afterwards by their respective descendants, wliich was often, especially during the period of the Syrian wars, matter of bloody dispute between them.
The ' long game of well-matched wits ' is thus ended ; and Laban returns to l.laran (31"), while Jacob travels on towards Canaan. As he journeys, the ' angels of God ' meet him, as if to welcome and congratulate him on his ausjiicious return ; and from this circumstance the name Mn/tanaiin ia explained ('the double camp').* Mahanaini be- came afterwards an important place (2 H 2"' '^- * the capital of Isliboslieth's kingdom ; see also 17"' ", 1 K 4'*) ; but its situation is not known : from the sequel of the present narrative, it must, however, have been N. of the Jabbok (now the HerM), though not much N., and within sight of the Jordan (v.'") : in Jos 13^- se it is mentioned as a place on the border between Gad and Mana-sseh.t
A fresh danger now threatens Jacob, the prospect of meeting again his brother Esau, who might be supposed to have still not forgotten old grudges. Jacob sends (32*"°) a conciliatory mes-sage to him, but learns in reply that he is coming to meet him with 400 men. He is greatly alarmed ; but his powers of resource do not desert him. He divides Ids party into two ' camps,' in the hope that if one should be smitten by Esau, the other at least might escape ; and besides this worldly precaution, he invokes in prayer the aid of God, reminding Him that it was He who had bidden him (31') re- turn to his native land, and pleading before Him the blessings which He had already bestowed uijoii him (v.'"), and the promises which He had given liim (v."). J (In vv.'-*, it is to be observed, there is clearly a second explanation, parallel to the one in v.*, of the name Mahatiaim^). If w.'^'"'-' be the original sequel to w.^"'^, the passage \\ ill describe a further precaution taken bj' Jacob, viz. a present of cattle, consisting of 580 head, and divided into separate droves for the purpose of making a favourable impression upon Esau, who, as drove upon drove came up, would be at once gralilied and surprised to learn that each was intended for himself. Hut the passage from v.""" to v.''" appears to proceed from the other narrator E ; [| .so that the account of the present maj' be a parallel, and not a sequel, to the division into two ' camps ' in vv.'''.
There follows the account of Jacob's wrestling with the angel. His party had crossed the Jabbok (the WdJuZcrM) ; and he himself was left behind 'alone,' — it is dillicult to .say, on which side of the stream. U It was the eve of the greatest crisis of his life. His future welfare hung in the balance. Long ago he had taken cruel advantage of his brotlier : he had had to llee before his threatened vengeance ; now Esau was on his way to meet him with a large retinue of attendants ; and what woiUd the is-sue be ? In the solitude and darkness a ' strange and nameless dread ' came over him : Urn terrible thought that God was his antagonist tooK possession of him ; and so vividly did he realize it that he seemed to himself to bo engaged in an
• The word rendered ' hoet ' In SS*. and ' company " In Sj[7. 8. 10. 11 33S, properly means camp, and Is usually to rendered. It Is a pity that a different raoderinf has bMO adopteil here.
t Conip. O. A. Smith, HGIIL 6S«.
I With v.n compare 2S1* '» (the phratlnf, as tS" Wy
IVv.l « lK>long to K ; %-v.H>« to J. Notice that at v.n' tlie narrative It at exactly the same point
tliat it had na.lu-d at v.H».
«I V.w implies that Ja.-.ib had onx'-wl It, t.*> that he had not.
The two vemcs clearlv belong to different sour<:<». If, aa moat
critics agree, >-v.n "^ Iwlong to J, the icene of the wrestling
! will have been S. of the JabboV-
I
i30
JACOB
JACOB
iictual striiji^le with a livinj; man.* The stru^r^le continued till the approach of daybreak. t lint Jacob wrestled bravely : his mysterious an- tat;onist saw that he could not prevail against him Liy tlie means wliich a wrestler would naturally employ; so, in order to escape before daylight, ami at the same time to show that he was superior to Ja('ob, he sprained Jacob's thigh. But Jacob, though he can no longer wrestle with his an- ta^'onist, can still hold him : he perceives that he Im more than an ordinary mortal ; so he seizes the opportunity to win a blessing for himself, ' I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.' The bless- ing takes the form of a change of name. 'Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel ; for thou hast persevered with God and with men, and hast prevailed.' The name ' Israel,' meaning (on the analogy of other names similarly formed) ' God persists (or perseveres), 'J is interpreted as suggesting the meaning ' Perse verer with God.'§ Jacob's persevering struggle with God is j\ist endeil : of men, he has persevered against both Laban and Esau ; his struggle with Laban was concluded previously ; that with Esau is not yet concluded, but ' ticut prevailed ' is a word full of hope for the future. At the same time, as the name was to the Hebrews the symbol or expression of the nature, the change of name is signiiicant of a moml change in the patriarch himself: he is to be no longer the Supplanter, the Crafty one, the Overreacher, but the Perseverer with God, wlio is worthy also to prevail. || The incident serves to exjilain further the name Pcnvel, ' Face of God ' ; 'for,' said Jacob, 'I have seen God /we to face, and yet my life is preserved.' U The narrator deduces also from this incident the custom of not eatinj; in animals the muscle corresponding to the one \vliich had been strained in Jacob's thigh : it was treated as sacred through the touch of God. The site of Penuel is uncertain ; but it must have been near both the Jabbok and the Jordan. As Jacob journeys from Penuel to Succoth, so Gideon, pursuing the Midianites in the contrary direction, comes first to Succoth, and afterwards ' ^oes up ' to Penuel ( Jg 8°- ') ; it may therefore be conjectured that it was some elevated or projecting spot, near where the Jabbok descends from the uplands into the Jordan Valley : Merrill suggests Tuliil ed- Dahab, conical hills, witli ruins at their top, which rise from the Jabbok Valley, with the stream flowing between them, to a height of 250 ft.**