Genesis 32:17-27

17 He instructed the servant in front, "When 'Esav my brother meets you and asks you, 'Whose servant are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these?'

18 then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Ya'akov, and they are a present he has sent to my lord 'Esav; and Ya'akov himself is just behind us.'"

19 He also instructed the second servant, and the third, and all that followed the droves, "When you encounter 'Esav, you are to speak to him in the same way,

20 and you are to add, 'And there, just behind us, is your servant Ya'akov.'" For he said, "I will appease him first with the present that goes ahead of me; then, after that, I will see him myself - and maybe he will be friendly toward me."

21 So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

22 He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok.

23 He took them and sent them across the stream, then sent his possessions across;

24 and Ya'akov was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak.

25 When he saw that he did not defeat Ya'akov, he struck Ya'akov's hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him.

26 The man said, "Let me go, because it's daybreak." But Ya'akov replied, "I won't let you go unless you bless me."

27 The man asked, "What is your name?" and he answered, "Ya'akov."

Genesis 32:17-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 32

This chapter informs us of Jacob's proceeding on in his journey, and of his being met and guarded by an host of angels, Ge 32:1,2; of his sending messengers to his brother Esau, acquainting him with his increase, and desiring his favour and good will, Ge 32:3-5, who return and report to him, that Esau was coming to him with four hundred men, which put him into a panic, and after devising ways and means for the security of himself; and those with him, at least a part, if not the whole, Ge 32:6-8; then follows a prayer of his to God, pressing his unworthiness of mercies, and his sense of them, imploring deliverance from his brother, and putting the Lord in mind of his promises, Ge 32:9-12; after which we have an account of the wise methods he took for the safety of himself and family, by sending a present to his brother, dividing those who had the charge of it into separate companies, and directing them to move at a proper distance from each other, he, his wives and children, following after, Ge 32:13-23; when they were over the brook Jabbok, he stopped, and being alone, the Son of God in an human form appeared to him, and wrestled with him, with whom Jacob prevailed, and got the blessing, and hence had the name of Israel, Ge 32:24-28; and though he could not get his name, he perceived it was a divine Person he had wrestled with, and therefore called the name of the place Penuel, Ge 32:29-31; the hollow of his thigh being touched by him with whom he wrestled, which put it out of joint, he halted as he went over Penuel, in commemoration of which the children of Israel eat not of that part of the thigh, Ge 32:31,32.