Law and Covenant. How Jacob Wrestled With God - Bible Interpretation

(Genesis 32:24 - 33:11)

The old deceit by which Jacob had obtained the blessing that belonged to his brother came back to haunt him, and he was afraid that God would allow Esau to take his life. In desperation, he called out to the Almighty all night long. I was shown how an angel stood before Jacob, revealing to him in the true light of his unrighteous act. When the angel was already turning to leave Jacob, he grabbed hold of him and did not let go. With tears in his eyes, Jacob pleaded and asked the Angel, saying that he deeply repented of his sin and unjust deeds towards his brother, which caused a twenty-year separation from his parental home. He even dares to recall the promises of God and the signs of His special favor to him, which the Almighty showed from time to time during his wanderings and separation from his father's house.

All night Jacob wrestled with the Angel, begging him to bless him. It seemed that the Angel resisted his prayer with all his strength, constantly reminding him of all his sins and at the same time trying to break free. Jacob was determined to keep the Angel, not by physical strength, but by the strength of living faith. In deep suffering, Jacob spoke of the repentance of his soul, the deep humility and humility that he felt because of his actions. The angel treated his prayer with seeming indifference, all the while trying to free himself from the grip of Jacob. He could have used His supernatural power and pulled himself out of Jacob's hands, but he didn't.

When the Angel saw that he was not overpowering Jacob, in order to convince him of His supernatural power, He touched his thigh and dislocated it. However, physical pain did not cause Jacob to relax his persevering efforts. His goal was to receive a blessing, and bodily pain was not enough to divert his thoughts from this goal. Jacob's determination to receive the blessing was even stronger in the last moments of the struggle than at the beginning. Until the very end of the fight with the Angel, until the dawn rose and the day came, Jacob's faith grew and grew stronger. He did not let go of the Angel until He blessed him. The angel said to Jacob, "Let me go; for the dawn has come. Jacob said, I will not let you go until you bless me. And he said, What is your name? He said, Jacob. And he said, From now on your name will not be Jacob, but Israel; for you fought with God, and you will overcome men."

Overcoming Faith

The strong faith of Jacob won. He held the Angel tightly until he received the desired blessing and the assurance that his sins were forgiven. And then instead of the name Jacob, which means a deceiver, he was given a new name: Israel, which means the prince of God. “Jacob also asked, saying, Tell me your name. And he said, Why do you ask about my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place: Penuel; for, he said, I saw God face to face, and my soul is preserved." None other than Jesus Christ Himself was with Jacob all that night, and it was with Him that Jacob wrestled and held fast until He blessed him.

Not approving any wrong deed committed by Jacob, the Lord heard his persistent prayer and changed the intention of Esau. Jacob's life was filled with doubt, embarrassment, and remorse because of his past sin, until he fought desperately with the Angel when he received proof that God had forgiven all his sins.

"He wrestled with the Angel - and prevailed, wept and begged Him; at Bethel He found us, and there spoke with us. And the Lord is the God of Hosts; Jehovah (Jehovah) is His name" (Hos. 12:4, 5).

Esau, along with an armed detachment, quickly went towards Jacob with the intention of killing him. However, that night when Jacob wrestled with the angel, another angel was sent to touch Esau's heart. In a dream, Esau saw his brother, who had been in a foreign land for twenty years, far from his father's house because of fear for his life. Esau saw how his heart grieved when he learned of the death of his mother, he noticed the humility and humility of Jacob, as well as the angels of God around him. In the dream, Esau also saw that when they met, he would not have the slightest intention of harming his brother. Waking up, Esau told his dream to the four hundred soldiers who accompanied him, and warned them that none of them should harm Jacob, for the God of their father was with him; and when they meet, none of them shall harm him.

"Jacob looked and saw, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men ... And he himself went before them, and bowed to the ground seven times, approaching his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and wept." Jacob asked Esau to accept his gift, which Esau refused to accept, but Jacob continued to persuade him: "Receive my blessing, which I brought you; for God has given me, and I have everything. And I begged him; and he took it."

object lesson

Jacob and Esau represent two types of people: Jacob is the righteous, and Esau is the wicked. Jacob's despair when he learned that his brother Esau, with four hundred armed men, was heading against him, can be compared with the anxiety of the righteous at the moment when the decree is issued to put them to death just before the Second Coming of the Lord. When the wicked gather together against the righteous and surround them on all sides, the righteous will experience the greatest anguish of the soul, for, like Jacob, they will not see deliverance from death. The angel stood before Jacob, who took hold of Him and held Him tightly, wrestling with Him all night. So the righteous in a troubled and tormenting time will wrestle in prayer with God, like Jacob. Jacob cried out in desperation to God all night, begging Him to deliver Him out of Esau's hand. In their spiritual agony, the righteous will pray day and night to God to deliver them from the hands of the wicked, who will surround them on all sides.

Jacob confessed his sinfulness: "I am not worthy of all the mercies and all the good deeds that You have done to Your servant" (Gen. 32:10). When sorrow befalls the righteous, they will deeply feel their insignificance and confess it with tears in their eyes, like Jacob, they will pray to God in the name of Christ for the help promised to the weak, dependent on Him, hopelessly repentant sinners.

In desperation, Jacob held the Angel tightly and did not let go. When, with tears in his eyes, he begged Him, the Angel reminded him of all past sins and tried to escape to test him. So the righteous will be tested during the tribulation to show the strength of their faith, perseverance and unshakable confidence in the power of God, which can save them.

God would not reject Jacob. Jacob knew that God was merciful, and he cried out for His mercy. He spoke of the sorrows experienced because of his transgressions, and of repentance for them, and earnestly prayed to God to deliver him from the hand of Esau. This went on all night. At the recollection of past sins, he was seized with despair. He knew that he must either get help from God or perish. Therefore, Jacob held the Angel tightly and insisted on his request, with desperation in his heart, begging the Angel to bless him, until finally he prevailed over Him.

So it will be with the righteous. When the events of a past life come to life again before their eyes, their hopes will almost fade away. But when they realize that the issue of their life or death is being decided, they will turn to God in fervent prayer, asking Him to forgive all their sins, which they now repent of in humility of heart. The righteous will remember God's promise in Is. 27:5: "Will he take refuge in My defense, and make peace with Me? then let him make peace with Me." And their persistent prayers will rise up to God day and night. God would not have heard Jacob's prayer and graciously saved his life if Jacob had not repented that he had deceived his father's blessing.

So the righteous, like Jacob, will show unbending faith and firm determination and will not deny God. They will feel small, but they will not have unconfessed sins. If they had left unconfessed and unrepentant sins that would surface in their minds at a time when they would be tormented by fear and spiritual sorrow, they would be overcome by despair from their complete sinfulness and imperfection. Disappointment would break their sincere faith, and they would no longer have sufficient confidence in the need to so persistently pray to God for salvation. Precious moments would be spent realizing their hidden sins and lamenting their hopeless situation.

The time of trial is the time given to all people to prepare for the day of God's judgment. There will be no justification for anyone who neglects this time and heeds the warnings given by God. The hot and stubborn struggle of Jacob with the Angel is an example for all Christians: Jacob won it because he was full of determination and perseverance.

All who, like Jacob, yearn for God's blessing, and who, like him, hold fast and firmly to the promises of the Most High, will succeed. Due to the fact that many who profess to be believers show little diligence in matters of their spiritual life, their faith is hardly manifested, and their knowledge of the truth is very small. They are unwilling to deny their self, humble themselves before God in contrition of heart, and pray long, persistently for a blessing, so they do not receive the blessings of God. To keep faith alive during the tribulation, it must be exercised every day. Those who do not now make serious efforts and persevere in the faith will be utterly unprepared to endure in the day of trouble.

Gen. 32:3. And Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom,

Having received encouragement from heavenly messengers-angels (maleachim), Jacob sends earthly messengers (also maleachim, why the rabbis expressed an absurd idea about the embassy of Angels to Jacob) to Esau, to Seir. The last name, which was the nickname of Esau (based on his appearance,), his other nickname is Edom (), probably in view of the case with lentils (), is used here proleptically (as in) about the mountainous and abundant caves of the territory of troglodytes of the troglodes, on east of the Jordan, later occupied by the tribes of Esau (). Esau and his family moved there later (), but, perhaps, they were already wandering around their future possessions, which provided convenience for his kind occupation - hunting.

Gen. 32:4. And he commanded them, saying: So tell my lord Esau: This is what your servant Jacob says: I have lived with Laban and have lived until now;

The names: “master” for Esau and “servant” for himself on the part of Jacob, who received the highest blessing and dominion over Esau, is an act of oriental courtesy (cf. ;), and together with an indication of the possibility of gifts to Esau - and an obvious captatio benevalentiae.

Gen.32:6. And the messengers returned to Jacob and said, We went to your brother Esau; he comes to meet you, and with him four hundred men.

No response was received to this greeting, on the contrary, alarming news came out that Esau was going to meet 400 husbands, probably from the tribe of Ishmael, with whom Esau had already intermarried ().

Gen. 32:7–8. Jacob was very frightened and embarrassed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds, and the camels, into two camps.

And [Jacob] said, If Esau attacks one camp and beats it, then the rest of the camp can be saved.

The fear of Jacob, despite the divine promises of protection (), - which Jewish interpreters have already paid attention to, not without reason - reveals, of course, the imperfection of Jacob's faith in the Providence of God (his faith was extremely inferior in strength and firmness to his faith Abraham). Accordingly, he uses, first of all, a purely human means of protecting the expected hostile actions from Esau. One might think, however, that, in addition to the natural attachment to life and fear for himself and his family, Jacob's inner anxiety was caused by the reproaches of his conscience for deceiving him in relation to Esau. This higher motive naturally turns Jacob's thought to God.

Gen. 32:9–11. And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord [God], who said to me, Return to your land, to your kindred, and I will do you good!

I am unworthy of all the graces and all the good deeds that You did to Your servant, for I crossed this Jordan with my staff, and now I have two camps.

Deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, lest he come and kill me [and] the mother and children.

In the consciousness of the insufficiency of human forces and means, as instruments of protection from the impending danger, Jacob turns with a prayer to the God of the fathers. This, the first in the Bible, prayer, with the exception of Abraham's intercession for the Sodomites (), has all the signs of true prayer, distinguished by sincerity, childish simplicity, gratitude to God, humility before Him and hope in Him alone.

At the beginning of the prayer - the confession of God as the God of salvation and an indication of the direct command () of God to Jacob to return to his homeland, with the promise to be with him (v. 9). In comparison with those great blessings that the Lord had already promised and granted to Jacob, he feels his insignificance, unworthiness, especially since he has a tangible proof of God's providence for him, in the form of enriching him in Mesopotamia, while he was heading there with one staff (Jewish interpreters, paying attention to the design bemaqeli, with a rod, or, more precisely, by means of a rod, believed that Jacob divided the Jordan with a rod). Praying intensely for salvation, Jacob expresses fear for the integrity of the family - “lest Esau kill him and his mother and children (v. 11). The last expression is a walking phrase (;), meaning completeness and at the same time cruelty, bloodthirstiness of extermination.

Gen. 32:12. You said: I will do good to you and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered from the multitude.

The basis of Jacob's hope is the promises of God to him and his fathers ().

To propitiate his brother, Jacob sends gifts to meet his brother and crosses with his family across the stream Jabbok

Gen. 32:13. And spent the night there Jacob that night. And he took from what he had [and sent] as a gift to Esau his brother:

Jacob stays overnight at the place of prayer, according to Abarbanel, waiting for an answer to it. Impressed by prayer, Jacob cancels his original intention - to save at least half of the camp by flight from Esau (v. 7) - and decides to go straight towards Esau, having first sent gifts to him.

Gen. 32:16–20. And he gave each flock separately into the hands of his servants, and said to his servants: go before me and leave a distance from flock to flock.

And he commanded the first, saying, When will my brother Esau meet you and ask you, saying, Whose are you? and where are you going? and whose is it herd [walks] in front of you?

then say: thy servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau; behold, he himself is following us.

He commanded the same [as the first] to the second, and to the third, and to all who followed the flocks, saying: So tell Esau when you meet him;

and say: behold, your servant Jacob [comes] after us. For he said in itself: I will propitiate him with gifts that go before me, and then I will see his face; maybe he will accept me.

In the choice of the best of the cattle and in the order of its dispatch - in separate herds, and finally, in the commission of the slaves to prepare Esau for the gracious meeting of Jacob, one can see Jacob's great knowledge of the human heart and the means to act reconciling the most angry heart.

Gen. 32:22–23. And he arose that night, and taking his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, he crossed over the ford of Jabbok;

and taking them, led them across the stream, and led all that he had It was.

Having transferred the cattle and family through Jabbok to the south side of it, Jacob himself remains on the north side. The stream Jabbok, now Zerka, rises from the mountains of Bashan and flows into the Jordan on the left side, almost half the distance between Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Jacob is left alone, probably to pray.

Jacob wrestles with the Angel at Penuel and receives the name of Israel from the Angel

Gen. 32:24–29. And Jacob was left alone. And someone wrestled with him until dawn;

and seeing that he did not prevail against him, he touched the limb of his thigh and injured the limb of Jacob's thigh as he wrestled with Him.

And he said to [him], Let me go, for the dawn has come. Jacob said, I will not let you go until you bless me.

And he said: what is your name? He said: Jacob.

And he said to [him], from now on your name will not be Jacob, but Israel, for you fought with God, and you will overcome men.

Jacob also asked, saying, Tell me your name. And He said: why do you ask about my name? [it is wonderful.] And blessed him there.

The mysterious wrestler who fought with Jacob at night, injured his thigh and renamed him Israel, according to the prophet Hosea (), was God. Jacob himself (v. 30) admits that he saw God, the face of God. Therefore, the Jewish and Christian interpretation of this place equally recognize the wrestler as a phenomenon from the heavenly world - an Angel. At the same time, church teachers and many later Christian interpreters saw in this Angel an uncreated Angel - an Angel Jehovah, who previously appeared to Jacob at Bethel (ch. 28) and in Mesopotamia (ch. 36) and, according to Jacob, who guarded him all his life (), the Son of God. “From the whole story we learn,” says blessed Theodoret, “here the only begotten Son of God and God appeared to Jacob” (answer to question 93).

The opinion of some rabbis that Esau's guardian angel fought with Jacob, or even the demon took revenge on Jacob for Esau, is, of course, strange, but it contains some element of truth, since it puts Jacob's mysterious struggle with his hostile attitude towards his brother. Jacob has hitherto struggled with his brother, and by means not always impeccable. Now the Angel of the Lord "puts boldness into Jacob, who was afraid of his brother" (Blessed Theodoret, ibid.). But Jacob achieves this grace-filled encouragement by wrestling with the Angel-God, a struggle that was not only an exertion of Jacob’s physical strength (), (beono, “in strength, his strength”), but also an even greater exertion of spiritual forces, a prayer of faith: according to the prophet Hosea, Jacob, in his struggle with the Angel-God, “and prevailed”, but “wept and begged Him” (). An indication of the spiritual moment of the struggle is also in the story of Moses - in the request of Jacob to bless him (v. 26).

According to this inner side, the struggle of Jacob with the Angel of Jehovah is a type of spiritual struggle of faith, which is not amenable to any trials and difficulties of life; at the same time, it is also a prefiguration of the entire future of the offspring of Jacob, henceforth receiving (v. 28) the name of Israel—the entire Old Testament theocratic history. In general, in its nature and significance, Jacob’s theomachism resembles the night vision of Abraham (), which also (but more specifically) depicted the future history of the chosen people, which also consisted of the opposition of the people to the divine calling, their possession of enduring spiritual blessings and temporary trials and material losses.

That Jacob's struggle was not a dream or even a visionary phenomenon is already evident from the verb abaq used in the Hebrew text (v. 24-25; Heb. 25-26) - to fight like an athlete (covered with dust), and even more from damage to the composition of his thigh (nervus ischiadicus) and his lameness as a result (vv. 25, 31). So, “even after the awakening of Jacob, his leg remained damaged, and he continued to limp, so as not to honor his visions as a dream, but to find out exactly the truth of the dream” (blessed Theodoret). At the same time, this was to teach Jacob that victory was granted to him only through the condescension of the mysterious Fighter. And Jacob, as if understanding the meaning of the struggle, does not want to part with the struggle and the Fighter without blessing from His side (v. 26). But the Angel of Jehovah - in relation to the views of the ancients, that theophany visits a person only at night, tells Jacob about the need to remove Him with the dawn of the dawn (according to the rabbinic explanation, the Angel hurries to bring morning praise to God with the angelic hosts, Beresch. r. Par. 78, s. 378).

The blessing requested by Jacob is given to him in the change of his name, according to the circumstances of the case and Jacob's inner mood. From there, his struggle with cunning stops - “stammering” in relation to people and circumstances (in receiving a blessing, in relation to Laban, etc.), and the sacred struggle of his spirit for the highest God-given calling begins; therefore, instead of the former natural name "Jacob", he and his offspring are granted the sacred, theocratic name "Israel" - according to the explanation of the text itself, "the theomachist" (St. it is hardly possible), - by the constancy of the feat of prayer (cf.) accepting spiritual blessings from God, which at the same time will be the key to the victory of Jacob-Israel over enemies. Having received a new name from the Angel of Jehovah, Jacob also asks Him about the name, but He does not name Himself, making it clear that Jacob could have learned this from the deed itself.

Compared with the Masoretic text, in LXX, in glories. and Russian is in Art. 29 addition to the Hebrew text: “it is wonderful,” similar to (), confirming that he wrestled with the Angel of God, and apparently took place in the original list.

Gen. 32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place: Penuel; for, he said I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved.

The geographic location of Penuel is not exactly known; later mentioned in the history of Gideon () and Jeroboam ().

Gen. 32:32. Therefore, until now, the children of Israel do not eat the sinew that is in the thigh, because Wrestled touched the vein in Jacob's thigh.

The custom of not using the "camel vein" of an animal, hitherto observed by the Jews, dates back to the time of Moses, who, without introducing it into his legislation, nevertheless notes its existence and makes it possible to see its importance, rooted in the importance of the historical event that served as its support.

The main difficulty of the question posed at the end of the previous chapter is related to the fact that the word "elohim", translated in the Russian text as "God", also has the meaning of "angel" or "spiritual being". Therefore, regarding the personality of the one who fought with Jacob, there has long been a fairly wide range of opinions. According to Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), among the ancient Jewish interpreters, it was widely believed that the guardian angel Esau or even an evil spirit, the ghost of Esau, fought with Jacob (27, p. 65). In contrast to this, the early Christian theologians saw in the wrestler either an Angel (Origen, Augustine) or the Son of God. The latter opinion, expressed by the majority of Orthodox exegetes (John Chrysostom, Theodoret, Justin, Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius, Ilarius, and others), can be considered universally recognized in the Orthodox Church. Other points of view were also expressed, in particular, Origen has a reference to the ancient writer, who saw the Angel Uriel in Jacob’s rival, “who bickered with the Angel Israel, who entered Jacob, in order to unite himself with the person of this patriarch” (27, p. 66), and the well-known folklorist D. Fraser argued that the Bible describes Jacob's meeting with the water, or the spirit of the river (28, p.297-305). However, such private opinions have not received wide circulation, so that we can, without great damage, limit our research to only two of the above views, reflecting fundamentally opposite positions: either God fought with Jacob (directly or through an Angel), or a hostile spirit (Esau's angel) .

Dominance in the Jewish theological tradition of the second view has, of course, very deep reasons, rooted in the characteristics of Jewish monotheism. In contrast to the metaphysical impersonal monotheism of the Neoplatonists or Vedanta, the Bible affirms a personal and concrete God, but due to His omnipotence and transcendence (transcendence) “neither true reciprocity, nor a face-to-face meeting of this terrible Divine monad and humble creature is impossible ... He manifests Himself only by His power, and His very name is unpronounceable. He surrounds Himself with unapproachable light, and a person cannot see Him and remain alive” (14, p. 202). Rather, there are meetings with God, and there are many such cases (; ; ), but each time they are recorded as an exception. Each time the same phrase is repeated, first uttered by Jacob: “I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved”(). Something foreign breaks into the Old Testament relationship between man and God, and the doctrine of Jewish monotheism is shaken by such a meeting, risking cracking. Each such meeting tears the veil that separates the Holy of Holies, that veil that was finally torn apart when the matter of reuniting man with God was “completed” (; ).

But if even a humble contemplation of God in His majesty, in His "holy of holies" is unbearable for the Old Testament faith, then what can be said about the competition with God? Here comes the limit, here is “a temptation for the Jews”, as well as, to be honest, for Christians too. Again and again, one can marvel at this people, great in their faith, rewriting from century to century words, against which both the mind and the heart rebelled! They resisted, reinterpreted in their own way, but did not touch the letter.

We find a detailed defense of the version about a spirit hostile to Jacob in D. Shchedrovitsky, who is well acquainted with the Jewish exegetical tradition (30, pp. 242–259). Against the identification of the one who fought with God, the following arguments are given:

Jacob's words "I saw God face to face" are interpreted as follows: I (Jacob) constantly stood before the face of God in my former life, i.e. walked before Him blamelessly, and therefore helped me to do the supernatural - to overcome the angel. Esau's angel himself recognizes this victory: "You fought with the spirits, and you will overcome man," but Jacob demands, in addition, to recognize his rights to the birthright, to the blessing of his father, and to the Holy Land. This is how the words of James are understood: “I will not let you go until you bless me.”

It is curious that not a word is said about the injury to Jacob's thigh in the above argument. Thus the commentator relieves himself of the unpleasant necessity of discussing the contradictory nature of the struggle. Jacob's victory is considered complete and undeniable. At the same time, single combat itself is understood in a purely spiritual sense, and the meaning of the name Israel is interpreted as "a warrior of God."

The strength of this version is its good inscription in the context, as well as a clear and convincing position on the question of the meaning of the struggle. The struggle takes place on the border separating the Chaldean and Canaan lands. Jacob is preparing to cross the river and take possession of the land of his birth as a birthright. Esau, who had already promised to kill his brother (), goes to meet him with an army of four hundred people. In this growing atmosphere of enmity, it is natural to view Jacob's nighttime struggle as a kind of prototype or prelude, or, finally, Jacob's experience of the upcoming fight with his brother. An additional confirmation of the version can be the episode at the beginning of the chapter, which tells about the appearance of Angels on the way of Jacob, at the sight of which Jacob pronounces the word "Mahanaim", which means a pure militia, or two regiments. Rabbi Yarkhi suggested that one host was the guardian angels of the land of the Chaldees, who accompanied Jacob to the borders of Canaan, and the other host were the guardian angels of the land of Canaan, who received Jacob from the former for "safekeeping" (17).

A picture is emerging that is quite plausible both from a concrete historical (pshat) and from a psychological (remez) point of view. At the same time, the third semantic layer (drush) is easily felt, symbolic or prophetic, related to the insight into the spiritual realities behind the narrative. Here is how Shchedrovitsky puts it:

“And Jacob was left alone”... A man is left alone with himself: so with whom can he fight in this state, if not with himself? We remember that Esau is an outward man, a carnal man, while Jacob is a spiritual man. And in each of us there is "Esau" - a dangerous, vengeful, selfish and aggressive person; and there is "Jacob", a man of peace, "dwelling in tents," heeding the word of God. And how can "Jacob" be overcome in this struggle? First of all, he needs to overcome the "patron angel Esau", i.e. that inner justification of the way of life of "Esau" from which "Esau" draws strength. "Esau" must be overcome spiritually - and then peace will already be established in a person between "Jacob" and "Esau" ...

After Jacob's victory over the angel, the brothers meet and part peacefully: they no longer interfere with each other - each does his own. For there is enough room on earth for both Jacob and Esau. And what Esau was about to do—to confront Jacob, to kill him, to destroy or captivate his children and wives—had a spiritual reason. The dispute was not over the land, but over the birthright, over the election, and over the blessing. One of the first religious wars was planned - the war between Jacob and Esau, for both claimed the birthright. As we remember, the first murder on earth was also committed for religious reasons. But, having conquered "Esau" in himself, having conquered his angel, Jacob won after that an external victory; for he who has overcome the angels will also overcome the people. The one who wins the spiritual victory wins on the external level as well. So, everything that is described here takes place inside a person and is a great instruction for us.

And when Jacob meets Esau, this meeting looks completely different than he expected: suddenly, miraculously, his fears and fears disappear. And not two enemies meet, but two brothers...

Jacob brought his children and wives out to meet Esau:

“And he himself went before them and bowed to the ground seven times, approaching his brother.

And Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and wept.”()

All the power of Esau's malice disappeared, because before that the angel who supported him was defeated. The angel was forced to bless Jacob, and as a result of this and after this, Esau himself blesses Jacob. That external, physical, carnal person who tries to fight the spiritual principle in us does not pose any danger if his “angel” in us has already been defeated. Then the carnal person no longer opposes the spiritual, but simply fulfills his role, does his job, for the flesh and its animal forces are necessary for earthly life. But woe to us if this Esau claims the birthright—the birthright must belong to Jacob, i.e. the human spirit” (30, p. 250).

What can representatives of the patristic traditional interpretation oppose to this version? In essence, the entire above construction is shattered by a single argument: Jacob himself twice unambiguously declares that he recognizes God in the wrestler: once - asking for a blessing, the other - claiming that he "saw God." For Filaret, for example, the strength of this argument is so obvious that he does not even take seriously the possibility of identifying the fighter with an evil spirit, dropping, as if in passing, just one phrase about this version: “absurdity, which is easily exposed from the names of the opponent and asking for blessings from him” (27, p. 65). Indeed, the very appeal “bless”, which is so often found in the Bible, quite unequivocally testifies both in this and in other places to the recognition of some spiritual superiority or the ability to communicate certain gifts to the blesser, so that Jacob’s asking for blessings from the enemy he defeated, symbolizing besides, the lower forces of the soul, you can’t call it anything other than absurdity, even if you replace the word “bless” with the expression “recognize my right.”

Equally unsuccessful is Shchedrovitsky's attempt to reinterpret the phrase "I saw God face to face, and my soul was preserved" in the sense of "I once saw God, but now my soul has been preserved." The thought in verse 32:20 occurs, as already noted, in the Old Testament repeatedly, and always after a real meeting with God. This is a kind of stable phrase, and an attempt to break its two parts sins with obvious tendentiousness, if not with the intention to distort the text.

So, on Mount Sinai, seventy elders, led by Moses, saw God. “And they saw the God of Israel... And He did not stretch out His hand against the chosen sons of Israel. They saw God and ate and drank"(). A similar reaction from meeting with God in Gideon: “And Gideon saw that it was the Angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, Alas for me, Lord God! because I saw the Angel of the Lord face to face. The Lord said to him: peace be with you, do not be afraid, you will not die.(). The description of the appearance of the Angel to Samson's parents contains a number of places that literally coincide with the image of the patriarch's theomachism: “And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord: Let me hold you...”, “And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord: What is your name?... The Angel of the Lord said to him: Why are you asking about my name?”, “Then Manoah knew that Angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, Surely we shall die; for we have seen God(). And five centuries later, the prophet Isaiah exclaims after seeing the Lord in the temple: "Woe is me! I died! for I am a man of unclean lips... and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” ().

So, we see everywhere in the Bible that the usual reaction of a person to a meeting with God or His Angel - which in this case is the same thing - is the expectation of death, which is why the occurrence of a similar reaction in Jacob confirms the fact of communion with God.

Another serious omission in the "Jewish" version of Shchedrovitsky is the proposition that the struggle was carried out exclusively in the spirit, "in vision," as Shchedrovitsky writes. Here the author hits a dead end. He cannot recognize the physical aspect of the struggle, because "the angel is unusually powerful" and Jacob could not defeat him if the struggle was fought seriously. But then it is necessary to remove from the narrative the mention of touching Jacob's thigh, i.e. drastically cut text. That touching the thigh was a physical action is beyond doubt. Quite a lot of attention is paid to this detail in the text, and it is emphasized that Jacob's lameness remained after the end of the vision: "And the sun rose ... and he limped on his thigh." Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus even believes that this touch was provided providentially, precisely so that someone (for example, Shchedrovitsky) would not think that the struggle was going on inside Jacob himself. “As for the fact that after the awakening of the Patriarch, his body remained in a stupor and he limped, this was allowed with the aim that he would not take the vision for a dream, and be more firmly convinced of the truth of the dream” (25, p. 114). It is remarkable that Theodoret, considering the vision a dream, insists that this dream was not a reflection of the inner life of Jacob (“dream”), but a real visitation of Jacob by God: “From all this it is clear that now the Only Begotten Son of God and God appeared to Jacob (ibid.).

Finally, the possibility of a fight between Jacob and the angel Esau is ruled out by the fact that on the approaches to Jabok, Jacob was surrounded by a host of the Angels of the Lord. He had to prevent the attack on Jacob by hostile spiritual forces, or at least participate in the struggle on the side of the patriarch. But the Bible clearly states that Jacob "was left alone."

It is not difficult to remove those arguments that, according to Shchedrovitsky, do not allow one to see God in the wrestler:

1. Wrestling is not contrary to the omnipotence of God, if we take into account that He could give in to Jacob. Then it becomes clear how the overcome opponent was able to injure Jacob with one touch. “And so that the Patriarch would not become proud of the victory over God, the Lord, by touching his stegna, showed that the victory was ceded to him voluntarily,” writes Theodoret.

The whole episode of the struggle acquires an additional realistic relief if we assume that the touch on Jacob's thigh, in addition to the always purposeful action of Providence, also contained the unintentional movement of the Living God. So an adult who pretends to be fighting a child, and noticing that the child is starting to overcome him, uses a little more energy, but due to the incommensurability of forces, he does not calculate accurately - and the child is hurt.

With regard to God's powerlessness to free himself from Jacob and the request to let him go, some light can be shed on this by the already mentioned saying of Hosea: “He wrestled with the Angel - and prevailed, wept and begged Him”(). Here we again touch upon a certain mystery connected with the Divine-human relations. Just as Jacob, having overcome God, begins to cry and beg Him, so God, having overcome Jacob with one touch, begs to let him go. Or maybe it is Jacob who overcomes God with his weeping and prayers? Again, I would like to compare. Two lovers quarrel. She does not want to let him out of the house, but he is easily released from her. Then she says that she will die without him. And he stays. Who won, who was stronger? So in the question of the omnipotence of God, one must be careful. Physically stronger, probably, "he", and God, no doubt, is omnipotent. But the woman prevails, and Jacob prevails. Here two completely different levels of relations are intertwined and two diverse forces collide. There is a double struggle going on - one openly, the other implicitly - and therefore it is so difficult to understand who is winning. Or maybe this difficulty is further aggravated by the fact that in the underlying struggle, the one who is weaker wins? Who knows, it only seems that it is in this presence of two different levels of relations that the key to the mystery of Jacob's fight against God lies.

2. God asking Jacob for a name does not mean that God does not know it. This could be done so that Jacob, through the pronunciation of his name aloud, would more deeply understand the meaning invested in his change. In this case, we also have many parallel passages in the Bible, which you can not see only with a strong desire. God often takes on the appearance of an ignorant one and asks questions to a person in order to arouse in a person attention to what he is asking about by the very question (etc.).

3. The repeated naming of a name does not in any way negate the truth of the fact of the first naming, just as a blessing to Abraham or Jacob repeated many times in the same expressions does not destroy the previous one each time.

Confirmation of the fact that the Almighty Himself fought with Jacob is the testimony of Moses about the importance attached to this event by the descendants of the patriarch (). The custom of not eating veins at the thigh in memory of that struggle speaks of sacred reverence for the Toucher - an honor hardly possible in relation to Esau's guardian angel.

That said, I think, is enough to make a choice. If we want to follow the text of the Bible, holding on to it as a guiding thread, and not starting from its fragments as a springboard for theological creativity, it remains to recognize that Jacob's contest with God took place on the banks of Jabok, in honor of which Jacob receives the name Israel, meaning "god fighter". As for the meaning of the name, there are also several versions. Shchedrovitsky, true to his concept, translates the name Israel as "God's warrior", pointing out that the name also contains other semantic shades: "who has seen God", "praising God", "prince of God" and "God's righteous man" (30, p. 251). The ambiguity of biblical names is a well-known phenomenon, and the presented gallery of meanings is certainly interesting, the only disappointing thing is that the commentator's considerations again do not correlate with the textual features of the Bible. Reporting the names of the main characters in the book of Genesis, the writer often explains their origin either from himself (), or through the mouth of the one who gives the name (). In this way, the meaning of the names came down to us: Eve, Cain, Seth, Ishmael, Esau, Jacob, etc., and where such a decoding is given by the text itself, it would seem that there is no need to invent something else. “Your name is ... Israel, for you fought with God,” - this is how the Namer Himself explains the meaning of the name. Israel means "God-fighter". This is how the Holy Fathers perceived the meaning of the name. There is, however, another interpretation, according to which Israel means "who has seen God." It was followed, in particular, by John Chrysostom (9, p. 629). This second meaning also has a justification in the text of the Bible, although not so direct: “I saw God face to face,” says the one who is called. This meaning is deeply symbolic in that it connects the name Israel with another name - Ishmael, which differs from it by one letter and is completely similar in education. I-sm-El and I-sr-El are formed respectively from the verbs “to hear” and “to see” – God. In this roll call of names, perhaps, there is a revelation about two kinds of worshipers of the One God - those who only heard Him, and those who were honored to see Him. And this is one of the keys to solving our main question: Why did God wrestle with Jacob?

In hermeneutics, the struggle of Jacob with the Angel is recognized by all exegetes as one of the most difficult passages of Scripture, and the interpretation of these verses is quite diverse. How is it to fight God? How could God not overcome this?
This episode from the life of Jacob must be considered in the context of the first dream. Beginning - end. The first dream is the promise of God given to Jacob at the beginning of his path of correction. The beginning of his renewal begins with a dream where he sees the Stairway to Heaven and receives a promise from God Himself. The Lord speaking to Jacob - "I will give you"; "and they will be blessed in you"; “I will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:13-15), as if setting a “bar”, overcoming which God's promises become a blessing.
The second dream can be called the final one, at the end of the most difficult and important part of his life's journey. In his correction from a lazy person (it was not for nothing that Isaac loved Esau the hunter) and a swindler into a completely new person.
At the end of this formation, the Lord in a vision shows Jacob the passage of this path, which in Scripture is called a struggle and which takes place “honestly”, one on one, no one can help and replace you in this struggle: “And Jacob was left alone. And Someone wrestled with him until the dawn appeared” [Gen.32:24]. Correction is labor, a kind of struggle: "The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force" [Matthew 11:12]. Night, this is the time of labor, while there was a struggle with one's passions, it was “night”, until victory came - the dawn appeared.
Twenty years have passed since the beginning of the first dream. Twenty years of humiliation and deceit, which he humbly endured from his uncle Laban. It was a struggle, first of all, with oneself. The "bar" set by the Lord, Jacob with honor overcame. He defeated himself, was reborn into a new person, and in confirmation of this, the Lord gives him a new name Israel - Seeing God (John Chrysostom).
The Lord, as in a movie, clearly showed Jacob his life that has passed in the struggle, which begins with deceit, ends with a triumph, of course, not over God, but over himself, that lofty task, the victory of which elevated him to the rank of patriarch.
In sports, you can see a similar struggle. A coach for his ward is both a god and a king. To achieve something, to become a champion, you need to fight. With whom? With himself and the coach, who for a given period of time becomes the number one “enemy” for his beloved pupil, with whom you cannot agree. The coach, constantly increasing the load on his henchman, literally fights with him, achieving the intended result from him. A capable athlete who has set a goal for himself, obeying the will of his mentor, fights (figuratively) with the coach. In the future, if a real wrestler becomes an Olympic champion, then we can say that the coach did not “beat” him, the goal was achieved. The “loss” of the coach can also be called his victory: “Don’t you know that all those who run on the lists run, but one gets the reward? So run to get it."
God is a literate Coach, in His struggle with a person, or rather, the upbringing of a person, will never go too far; “He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not quench a smoking flax, until he brings victory to the judgment” [Matthew 12:20].
The struggle, which was in the spirit, ends with a lameness, as a result. Damage to the joint is a sign that Jacob's vision was from God, and not just a dream inspired by the experience of the upcoming meeting with Esau. Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) writes: “The struggle of God, apparently, was supposed to take place in the spirit, but the struggle of Jacob, accompanied by limping, seems to be a bodily action. In order to mutually agree on these concepts, we must recognize the beginning of action in the spirit, and in the body - a consequence.
The new name is a symbol of the new birth of man: “And (the Lord) said: from now on, your name will not be Jacob, but Israel, for you fought with God, and you will overcome men” [Gen.32:28]. This is what we see now. In the rank of monastic tonsure, the death of the former person is announced, as evidenced by the accompanying change of name. The Apostle Paul calls on Christians to "put off the old man and put on the new man" (Col. 3:9-10). We will not find the word monk either in the Old or New Testaments, the rank of monasticism is not biblical in nature and was introduced into Christianity after the writing of the Bible. But the prototype of monasticism is prophetically traced in detail; as a change of name, Nazirite, hermitage.
Then why, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [Matthew 22:32], does not change Isaac's name? Isaac, according to rabbinic tradition, was 37 years old at the time of his sacrifice by Abraham, contrary to popular beliefs about him as a child. The rabbis also suggested that the cause of Sarah's death was the news of the planned sacrifice of Isaac (Wikipedia). Even if Isaac had been a boy, he could have shown worthy resistance to his father, if his desire did not coincide with Abraham's desire - unconditional submission to God. But he did nothing to show his disobedience. He did not need to change his name, just as he himself did not need to put on a new person. He was a worthy type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Exactly 150 years ago, the French writer, historian and philologist Ernest Renan wrote and published a book "Life of Jesus", in which, through vivid words and images, he was able to very accurately convey the religious worldview of his era: “No transient phenomenon exhausts the Deity. God was revealed to people before Jesus, and will be revealed to them after him. The manifestations of God, hidden at the bottom of human consciousness, are all of the same order, although they are essentially different from each other, and at the same time they are all the more divine in nature, the more they are great and unexpected. Therefore, Jesus Christ cannot belong exclusively to those who call themselves his disciples. He is the pride of everyone who carries a human heart in his chest. His glory lies not in the fact that he transcends all history; true worship of him lies in the recognition that all history without him is incomprehensible».

These words written by Renan a century and a half ago have not lost their relevance today! Without Jesus Christ, without his criticism of the Jews, to understand world history really impossible! Without Christ the whole story is in fact incomprehensible.

It is noteworthy that the Jews still do not recognize Jesus of Nazareth as either a prophet or a son of God. For them, he remains an impostor who came to their ancestors as a troublemaker, as a false messiah who tried to lead the Jewish people astray from the path of the righteous, who owns the "God-given" teaching of Judaism - the Torah.

At the same time, Christ's words about the Jews, spoken two thousand years ago, are an accurate medical diagnosis made by a great psychotherapist to a whole group of people. Jesus came to the Jews and said to them: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32). To the Jews, with a capital letter, he said different words: "Your father is the devil, and you want to do like your father..." (John 8:44).

These Jews, like hypnotists, manage from year to year, from century to century, to convince the whole world (including Jews) that they are the followers of Moses, and the "Mosaic Law" is not just a Law, it is the Constitution of the Jewish people! To which Jesus said to them: (Matthew 5:17).

What is the essence of that old religious conflict?

To understand the essence of the differences between Christ and the Jews, it is enough to look at what Law Moses originally brought to the Jewish people?
These were the famous 10 commandments:
1. I am the Lord your God; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in the sky above, what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth. Don't worship them and don't serve them; for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing the children for the guilt of the fathers to the third and fourth [kind], who hate Me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces his name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Work six days, and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: you shall not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6. Dont kill.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

Reading these ten commandments, we see that the "Law of Moses" was originally the law of peace. He oriented the Jews towards prudence, prosperity and justice. If the Jews and the entire Jewish people followed him, would it be necessary for God's messenger-peacemaker to come to them with the words "Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17)? Of course not! And since the coming of Jesus Christ to the Jews was, then there were good reasons for that. So the Jews were doing something at that time that brought evil to mankind and went against the Ten Commandments of Moses.

It turns out that in 621 BC. the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people - the Levites - wrote another "Law of Moses", diametrically opposed that original Law that Moses actually brought. And that was the problem.

The Levites called the new law "Deuteronomy" and imposed it on the Jews for strict execution. By that time, they had established a dictatorship over the Jews that history had not yet known. For the slightest disobedience to "Deuteronomy" one punishment was supposed - death! “He who denies the law of Moses, with two or three witnesses, without mercy [is punished] by death” (Hebrews 10:28), the Bible testifies. It also testifies to what was the semantic and moral content of this new "Mosaic Law" for the Jews.

Judge for yourself. It was because of this "Deuteronomy" written by the Levites (Jews) on behalf of Moses and the Lord (!), that a conflict occurred two millennia ago between Jesus Christ and these falsifiers, preoccupied with the idea of ​​world domination and monopoly on land.

We all know that the matter ended then with the fact that the Messiah Jesus was declared a false messiah, self-proclaimed king of the Jews and he was executed.

And a few years later, the same Jews announced to the Jews that Jesus Christ himself (!) sacrificed himself to the Immaculate God, so that with his scarlet blood "cleanse our conscience from dead deeds" (Hebrews 9:14).

This is the essence of the history of the conflict and the meaning of the unparalleled feat of Jesus Christ.

Even today, the Jews continue to lie to the whole world in the same way, that they do not bring any evil to the peoples of the earth, that they live in "Mosaic law", silent about the fact that in fact they live according to a misanthropic "Deuteronomy", to the writing of which the prophet Moses had nothing to do. In fact, such a terrible evil comes from the Jews to this day, such as no other people in the world does! Not a single revolution on the planet, whether in Ancient Rome, in France, in England or in Russia, did not do without their participation. And today the Jews are only concerned with how to bring even more evil to the world. Evidence of this is an article published recently on the Internet:

"Israel produces 10-15 atomic bombs a year"

According to the magazine Jane's Defense Weekly Israel, which develops highly sophisticated chemical weapons in addition to biological and nuclear weapons, refuses to sign any international agreements that would allow UN monitors to inspect its nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal.

Israeli nuclear facility in the Negev desert near Dimona

In addition, the report indicates that Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East, which has at its disposal from 100 to 300 nuclear warheads and their delivery systems (ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and fighter-bombers).

The Stockholm Peace Research Institute estimates that Israel has so far produced 690-950 kilograms of plutonium and continues to produce enough to make 10 to 15 bombs of the same type dropped on Nagasaki each year.

Israel has not signed either the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Biological Weapons Convention.

The sign of the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona serves cover research and production chemical and biological weapons.

In addition, Israel produces tritium, a radioactive gas that is used to make neutron warheads, which result in less radioactive contamination but higher mortality.

According to the conclusions of several reports made by various international organizations, which are also cited by the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, biological and chemical weapons are being developed at the Institute for Biological Research, located in the city of Nes Ziona, near Tel Aviv.

Officially, part of the institute's staff (160 researchers and 170 laboratory assistants) is engaged in research in the field of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmacology, physics and other scientific disciplines.

This institute, along with the nuclear center in Dimona, is "one of the most secret organizations in Israel" and is under the direct control of the prime minister.

The greatest secrecy surrounds research in the field of biological weapons, bacteria and viruses that can be spread in the camp of the enemy and cause an epidemic. Among them are the microorganisms that cause the bubonic plague (the "black death" of the Middle Ages) and the hemorrhagic fever virus called Ebola - contagious, deadly and practically untreatable.

With the development of biotechnology, it has become possible to create new types of pathogens that can infect a population that does not have a special vaccine. There is strong evidence that Israel is developing biological weapons capable of destroying the human immune system. Officially, the Israel Institute is conducting research on vaccines against bacteria and viruses such as anthrax, but in reality, these Pentagon-funded studies may be aimed at developing new pathogens for military purposes.

Exactly the same ploys were used by the United States and other countries to circumvent agreements banning the development of biological and chemical weapons. Israeli secrets have surfaced in part thanks to an investigation led by scientists by Danish journalist Karel Knip.

In addition, it became known that the toxic substances developed by this institute were used by the Mossad to kill Palestinian leaders.

There is medical evidence that in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, Israeli troops used a new type of weapon: these weapons leave the victim's body intact on the outside, but, when penetrated, render muscle tissue lifeless, char the liver and bones, and coagulate the blood. This is possible with the help of nanotechnology, a science capable of manipulating microscopic structures.

Italy also participates in the development of these weapons under a military cooperation agreement, and is Israel's number one European partner in this research and development.

In its latest State Budget Law, Italy provided an annual financial security of three million euros for Italian-Israeli joint research. As was said in a recent speech at the Farnesina Palace (where the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located), this is done with the aim of finding "new approaches to the fight against pathogens that cannot be cured."

Here it is - the true face of those whom Christ called the children of the devil.

With its policy, Israel proves again and again that it is a true fighter with God and humanity! Consequently, the diagnosis of Jesus Christ, made two thousand years ago, was correct, the Jews are human-like creatures sick in the head, from which there is only one way to be saved - by arranging for them a World Harvest. The prophecy of Christ about the Harvest is preserved in the Gospels, here it is.

“... The field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, just as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age: the Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather from His Kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who do iniquity, and cast them into a fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:37-43).