The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 452

Yerit~ble contest between two l)uman beings, it i~ appnrent that underlying the pLys1cal struggle., and_ r:lated to 1t as_ the sub~tanco to the shadow, ns the soul to the body, "·n~. another spmtual _contendmg c~rned on by means of prayers and tears (Hosea xu._ 4). (3) Its_ contmuance. Degi~ning proba?ly at midnight, it was pro- tracted unt.il dawn, a c1rcumstar.ee sugg·eshve of Jacobs earnestness and determin- nt.ion, and yet attesting the severe character of ell true spiritual conflicts and the extraordinary difficulty o~ achi~vin~ vi~tories wi~h God (Matt. xii. 12).' (4) Its course. Four stages are discernible m tins mystenous strnggle. (a) The wrestlers appear to be equally balanced in their strength and skill, so that the stranger finds him- ~elf unabl_e _to preY~il against Jacob, and laying his_finger on h!s adversary's hip, puts 1t ont of JOmt-a lnnt to Jacob that though seemmgly the victory inclined towards liim, it was due not so much, or even at all, to his wisdom and prowess but rather to the stranger's g-raco and good-will (b) Jacob having thus been' disabled hiA myst~ri?us antagonist, as i~ owning that the mastery rem~ined with him, req~ests pern11ss10n to depart, allegmg as a reason that the ascending dawn proclaimed the day's retnrn, and called to other duties-a valuable reminder that religion has other necessary works £or God's saints besides devotion and contemplation; but Jacob who by this time recognised his antagonist as Divine, objected to his departure with~ out confirming the blessing he hnd formerly received at Bethel-and this, the personal rec~ption and enjoyment of the blessing of the covenant, should be the end and aim of all the saint's contendings with God and communings with Heaven. (c) Inquir- ing Jacob's name, the Divine adversary now discovers his true personality by authoritatiYely changing that r.ame to Israel, prince of El, in token of his victory--'- an outward symbol of the completed spiritual renovation which had taken place in Jacob since God first met with him at Bethel. (d) Probably excited, or i;piritually elevated, by what had just transpired, Jacob ventures, either with holy boldness or with unthinking curiosity, to inquire after his heavenly antagonist's name, but is answered that in the mean time he must rest satisfied with the blessing which was then and there pronounced. It was either a rebuke to Jacob's presumption, or, and with greater probability, a reminder that even holy boldness has its limits, beyond which it rnay not intrude. (5) Its close. Suddenly and mysteriously as the stran~er came did he also disappear, leaving Jacob in possession of the blessing indeed, hut also of a dislocated limb. So God :frequently accompanies spiritual enrichment with material and temporal deprivation, in order both to evince his own sovereignty and to keep hie saints humble (cf. 2 Cor. xii. 7). (6) Its commemoration. Dy Jacob, who called the place Peniel; by Jacob'e descendants, who to this day eat not of the sciatic nerve in animals they kill £or food. II. THE REALITY OF THE STRUGGLE. The question arises whether the cont~st just described had an objective reality (Hiivernick, Kurtz, Murphy, Alford, &c.), or par- took of a purely subjective character, being in fact an allegorical description of a spiritual conflict in the soul of ~acob (Kalisch), o: a wrestli!1g which took pla~e only in a dream (Hengstenberg), or man ecstasy (Delitzsch, Keil, ~ange), for the 1de~ of its being a myth (Bohlen, De Wette, Oort, Kuenen) may be discarded. 1. Agamst the notion of a dream-vision it is sufficient to remark that if Jacob's wrestling was n dream, so also were his ,·ictory and his blessing dreams. Besides, limbs do not usually become dislocated in dreams. 2. To read the passage as an allegory is both forced and unnatural, and "little better than trifling with the sacred narrative " (Alford). 3. There is no insuperable objection to the idea of an ecstasy, provided it is not intended to exc:lude the objective manifestntion; yet, 4. There docs not seem sufficient reason for departing from the obvious and literal sense of the pussoge, according to which there was a bond fide corporeal c?ntes~ betwee_n ~ac~b and tli_e angel of Jehovah in human fo:m; £or (1) the n~rrat1ve ~•ves no 111d1~at:0!1 tlrnt 1t was designed in this part to be mterpreted otherwise th~n literally ond lllslonce~ly, as in the surrounding context; (2) unl_ess on the hyp_othes1s that the supernatural_ 1s ~he unreal, there is no imperatfre necessity why exccpti_on sh~uld be taken ~o th~ ohJec~1va character of this remarkable struggle; (3) the d1slocation of Jacobs tlugh pomts to en actual physical contest; and (4) the other events in the narrative appear to require that the historic credibility of Jacoh's wrestling be maintained. Ill. TrIE SIGNIFICANCE or THE STRU<.GLE. '!'hat a momentous crisis lmd nrisen in en. XXXII. 24-32.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 3'J7