The struggle for a blessing: reflections on Genesis 32:24-31

Ecumenical Review, The, Oct, 1996 by Athanasios Hatzopoulos

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the

man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip

socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he

said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let

you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he

said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but

Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."

Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it

that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place

Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is

preserved." Then sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of

his hip. (Gen. 32:24-31, NRSV)

The initial inspiration for these reflections comes from Gregory the Great.(1) He understands Jacob in this story as representing all those who pray, who lead a virtuous and contemplative life. Gregory is certainly aware of the deficiencies in Jacob's character -- his being a party to the cruel hoax played on his father and brother and his countering Laban's treachery with crafty schemes of his own. But he also sees the patriarch's unfathomable desire always to move forward, ever craving a blessing, as a decisive factor in his life, an example of the long and gradual spiritual ascent of the human soul, detaching itself from falsehood and becoming more and more familiar with true reality. This is a process of paideia, of education, of correction.

Gregory's Homilies are concerned with the awakening of the soul to its true life and its reorientation towards that life. Often in his life Jacob looked in the wrong direction, pursuing his own plans. In this story, however, Jacob takes the direction he ought to. He turns to God and seeks God's blessing as a way out of the false reality which had brought him to the point of direct confrontation with his brother.

How relevant this process of Christian education, of getting to know true reality and its importance, is to us today! In past centuries this process has contributed significantly to the formation of the personalities of women and men who have influenced the course of history, even those who -- like Jesus -- did not attract the attention of the secular historians of their time. The goal of such education is not to arouse emotions or ideas to be displayed in a morose spirituality; we are speaking rather of an awareness of the reality which is the life-giving power that creates Israel out of the earthly and frail Jacob.

The adversary

The identity of Jacob's adversary in this passage is portrayed with an opaqueness which suggests that the narrator does not want us to know too much. In fact the text itself identifies this adversary only as "a man", almost as if to caution the reader against trying to spell out details that the author glimpsed only through a haze. Bible study should never be an arbitrary effort to "improve" the text. Gregory, however, is obviously not content with the vagueness of a dark figure; yet he does not speak directly of God as the antagonist who cannot prevail over Jacob, preferring to speak only of an angel, out of a caution not to call God's omnipotence into question. However, he goes on to say, "the angel therefore denotes God",(2) in the sense that the defeat of the angel when the day breaks represents God's condescending to abide with the contemplative human soul. So this wrestling match does not refer to a single tour de force or to a one-time effort to "make God change his mind", but rather symbolizes human nature, which is offered the chance to participate in the divine reality, the only true reality, by following a strenuous spiritual itinerary.

Claus Westermann sees in Jacob's adversary a night or river demon of animistic inspiration, who embodies popular traditions about the perils of the ford of the Jabbok, a tributary that flows into the Jordan from the east through a deep ravine.(3) The interpretation that "the man" of the story announces the divine presence is based on v.30, where Jacob names the place Peniel or Penuel, exclaiming: "for I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved". Textual criticism sees this verse as a later interpolation, which leads Westermann to conclude that it is proper to take the adversary as a demonic figure.

We prefer to maintain the idea of divine presence, reading the story, as we have said, within the general biblical context as a contemplative experience which transforms the human being. The divine presence in the story leads us to subsume this narrative under the familiar biblical category of theophany (cf. Exod. 24:11; 33:20; Isa. 6:5). Demythologizing does not do justice to the spirit of the Bible when it leaves out the element of sacredness, which rests wholly on grace instituted by God penetrating into everyday life. Christian tradition recognized in the Old Testament a calling to enter a holy land which is the domain of God and never of a river demon.