Preparing to meet his brother, Jacob assembled a gift for Esau from what he possessed. The gift went ahead, and Jacob spent that night in the camp. Suddenly, the Torah tells us, he rose in the middle of the night, took his entire family and property, and brought them across the ford of the Jabbok:
So the present passed over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. (Genesis 32:22–24)
וַתַּעֲבֹר הַמִּנְחָה עַל פָּנָיו וְהוּא לָן בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא בַּמַּחֲנֶה. וַיָּקָם בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא וַיִּקַּח אֶת שְׁתֵּי נָשָׁיו וְאֶת שְׁתֵּי שִׁפְחֹתָיו וְאֶת אַחַד עָשָׂר יְלָדָיו וַיַּעֲבֹר אֵת מַעֲבַר יַבֹּק. וַיִּקָּחֵם וַיַּעֲבִרֵם אֶת הַנָּחַל וַיַּעֲבֵר אֶת אֲשֶׁר לוֹ. (בראשית ל״ב, כב–כד)
Why did Jacob hurry to rise in the middle of the night and take his family across the Jabbok? Where was he going so urgently, and why not wait until morning?
Jacob’s Meeting with Laban
Before meeting Esau, Jacob met Laban in Gilead, following his escape from Haran after twenty years in Laban’s household. Similarities between the two encounters can illuminate his motives on the night before meeting Esau, and consequently the purpose of the man who wrestled him.
First, both involve a family member: Laban, his mother’s brother, and Esau, his own brother. In both, that relative sought to harm him. Laban tells Jacob of his intentions on the eve of their meeting, which God thwarted:
It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spoke unto me yesternight, saying: Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. (Genesis 31:29)
יֶשׁ לְאֵל יָדִי לַעֲשׂוֹת עִמָּכֶם רָע וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבִיכֶם אֶמֶשׁ אָמַר אֵלַי לֵאמֹר הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ מִדַּבֵּר עִם יַעֲקֹב מִטּוֹב עַד רָע. (בראשית ל"א כט)
Before meeting Esau, Jacob prepares to protect his family and expresses his fear:
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. And he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps. … And he said: ‘If Esau come to the one camp, and smite it, then the camp which is left shall escape.’ … Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. (Genesis 32:8–12, with omissions)
וַיִּירָא יַעֲקֹב מְאֹד וַיֵּצֶר לוֹ וַיַּחַץ אֶת הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ וְאֶת הַצֹּאן וְאֶת הַבָּקָר וְהַגְּמַלִּים לִשְׁנֵי מַחֲנוֹת. וַיֹּאמֶר אִם יָבוֹא עֵשָׂו אֶל הַמַּחֲנֶה הָאַחַת וְהִכָּהוּ וְהָיָה הַמַּחֲנֶה הַנִּשְׁאָר לִפְלֵיטָה. וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב... הַצִּילֵנִי נָא מִיַּד אָחִי מִיַּד עֵשָׂו כִּי יָרֵא אָנֹכִי אֹתוֹ פֶּן יָבוֹא וְהִכַּנִי אֵם עַל בָּנִים. (בראשית ל״ב, ח–יב (בדילוג))
Another similarity lies in their endings. Both meetings conclude in separation. Neither is merely a personal event: ultimately each establishes political borders between the peoples represented by the protagonists. For Jacob and Laban, Gilead becomes the boundary between Aram and Israel:
And Laban answered and said unto Jacob: ‘The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine; and what can I do this day for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne? … And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.’ … And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. … And Laban said: ‘This heap is witness between me and thee this day.’ Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; … and Mizpah, for he said: ‘The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. … And Laban said to Jacob: ‘Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set up betwixt me and thee. … This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. (Genesis 31:43–52)
וַיַּעַן לָבָן וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל יַעֲקֹב... וְעַתָּה לְכָה נִכְרְתָה בְרִית אֲנִי וָאָתָּה וְהָיָה לְעֵד בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ. וַיִּקַּח יַעֲקֹב אָבֶן וַיְרִימֶהָ מַצֵּבָה... וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן הַגַּל הַזֶּה עֵד בֵּינִי וּבֵינְךָ הַיּוֹם עַל כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמוֹ גַּלְעֵד. וְהַמִּצְפָּה אֲשֶׁר אָמַר יִצֶף ה' בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ כִּי נִסָּתֵר אִישׁ מֵרֵעֵהוּ... וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן לְיַעֲקֹב הִנֵּה הַגַּל הַזֶּה וְהִנֵּה הַמַּצֵּבָה אֲשֶׁר יָרִיתִי בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ. עֵד הַגַּל הַזֶּה וְעֵדָה הַמַּצֵּבָה אִם אָנִי לֹא אֶעֱבֹר אֵלֶיךָ אֶת הַגַּל הַזֶּה וְאִם אַתָּה לֹא תַעֲבֹר אֵלַי אֶת הַגַּל הַזֶּה וְאֶת הַמַּצֵּבָה הַזֹּאת לְרָעָה. (בראשית ל"א מג-נב)
Similarly, Jacob and Esau’s meeting establishes the Israel–Edom boundary as each goes to his own land: Esau returns to Seir, while Jacob continues to Canaan.
Can these parallels explain Jacob’s puzzling action of suddenly rising at night and crossing the Jabbok?
In “Why Did Rachel Steal the Teraphim?” I argued that Jacob fled to avoid confrontation with Laban. The parallel completes the picture, leading to the reasonable conclusion that this night’s flight sought to avoid the expected meeting with Esau. Terrified of his brother and four hundred men, Jacob attempted escape. Rashbam explains:
He intended to flee by another route, and therefore crossed the stream at night. We find similarly that David, fleeing Absalom, traveled these routes by the Jordan and Mahanaim that Jacob took, likewise at night… His intention was to escape by another route so that Esau would not meet him. (Rashbam, Genesis 32:23–25 in the cited numbering)
נתכוון לברוח דרך אחרת, לפיכך עבר הנחל בלילה. כמו שמצינו בדוד בברחו מפני אבשלום בדרכים הללו של ירדן ומחנים שעבר יעקב ובלילה כמו כן... כדי לברוח דרך אחרת שלא יפגשנו עֵשו נתכווין. (רשב"ם, בראשית ל"ב כג-כה)
Recognizing flight from the planned meeting explains both the urgency and the late hour.
There is also a difference. With Laban, Jacob fled first, and Rachel’s theft subsequently forced him to face and ultimately confront Laban. Here he initially engages, taking the initiative to contact Esau through messengers and report his return. But Esau’s advance with four hundred warriors gives him cold feet on the eve of the encounter, prompting flight.
Does the narrative provide further support that Jacob turned back and was actually escaping?
“For with My Staff I Passed over This Jordan”
At the portion’s beginning, hearing that Esau approaches with four hundred men, Jacob appeals to God for rescue, saying among other things:
I am not worthy of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two camps. (Genesis 32:11)
...כִּי בְמַקְלִי עָבַרְתִּי אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן הַזֶּה וְעַתָּה הָיִיתִי לִשְׁנֵי מַחֲנוֹת. (בראשית ל״ב, יא)
The expression “this Jordan” indicates that he stood on its bank preparing to cross into Canaan. It is the same Jordan he crossed twenty years earlier while fleeing Esau’s anger toward Haran. Later, however, we find him taking his family across the Jabbok in the middle of the night. The Jabbok is a major stream east of the Jordan, flowing west into it. It served as a natural boundary between the Amorites and Ammonites (Numbers 21:24), and later between Reuben and Gad’s territory and Ammon (Deuteronomy 3:16). Its ford lies several kilometers east of the Jordan, opposite the direction of entry into Canaan. If Jacob was previously beside the Jordan but now crosses the Jabbok, he has gone backward: he is fleeing.
The Man
After taking his family across, Jacob finds himself alone on the Jabbok’s bank. A man wrestles with him until dawn:
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. (Genesis 32:25–26)
וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ וַיֵּאָבֵק אִישׁ עִמּוֹ עַד עֲלוֹת הַשָּׁחַר. וַיַּרְא כִּי לֹא יָכֹל לוֹ וַיִּגַּע בְּכַף יְרֵכוֹ וַתֵּקַע כַּף יֶרֶךְ יַעֲקֹב בְּהֵאָבְקוֹ עִמּוֹ. (בראשית ל״ב, כה–כו)
Who is this man?
The continuation indicates an angel. When the opponent asks to leave because dawn has broken, Jacob refuses unless he blesses him (Genesis 32:27). Had Jacob thought he faced a highway robber rather than an angel, he would not seek a blessing. The man’s blessing also shows that he is no ordinary human: he says Jacob has prevailed over God, meaning a divine figure or angel (32:29). Moreover, when Jacob asks his name, he evades the question (32:30). Such refusal is unusual and has only one biblical parallel: the angel announcing Samson’s birth to Manoah’s wife.
And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD: ‘What is thy name, that when thy words come to pass we may do thee honour?’ And the angel of the LORD said unto him: ‘Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is hidden?’ (Judges 13:17–18)
וַיֹּאמֶר מָנוֹחַ אֶל מַלְאַךְ ה' מִי שְׁמֶךָ כִּי יָבֹא דְבָרְךָ וְכִבַּדְנוּךָ. וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ מַלְאַךְ ה' לָמָּה זֶּה תִּשְׁאַל לִשְׁמִי וְהוּא פֶלִאי. (שופטים י"ג יז-יח)
Angels avoid naming themselves because a name expresses its bearer’s essence, whereas their essence is only the assigned mission. An absent name expresses the angel’s self-effacement before that mission. A similar phenomenon appears in Abraham’s servant, sent to find Isaac a wife. The Sages identify him as Eliezer, very plausibly, but surprisingly the text never explicitly does so. Throughout it calls him “the servant” or “the man,” never his name. In “Abraham’s Servant at the Spring” I explained this through his agency for Abraham, acting in his name and power and subordinating personal wishes to Abraham’s will.
The final evidence identifying Jacob’s opponent as an angel comes from Jacob’s concluding words, explicitly stating whom he saw:
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ (Genesis 32:31)
וַיִּקְרָא יַעֲקֹב שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם פְּנִיאֵל כִּי רָאִיתִי אֱלֹהִים פָּנִים אֶל פָּנִים וַתִּנָּצֵל נַפְשִׁי. (בראשית ל״ב, לא)
The man was therefore clearly an angel. But what was his purpose, and did he achieve it?
Let us examine the outcome. On one hand, he injured Jacob and made him limp. On the other, at dawn he had to request permission to depart. He blessed Jacob and acknowledged his victory by declaring that he had striven with God and humans and prevailed. Jacob thus won the struggle. Did the angel succeed in his mission or fail?
To answer, let us turn again to the parallel with Jacob’s meeting with Laban.
A Preliminary Divine Encounter
We noted several similarities between the Laban and Esau meetings. Another is a recurring motif on the preceding night: a preliminary encounter between one party and a divine being. In each, its purpose is to ensure that the following day’s meeting permits a peaceful clarification of relations after one party plans conduct that would prevent this. In Gilead, Laban intends harm, preventing conversation, confrontation, and resolution. In the second case, Jacob begins fleeing to avoid meeting the feared Esau altogether.
Before meeting Laban, God Himself appears to him in a dream, warning him not to speak to Jacob good or bad (Genesis 31:24). The warning prevents the harm Laban originally intended (31:29). The night before Jacob meets Esau also contains a preliminary encounter, now a man’s struggle with Jacob. Unable to subdue him after wrestling all night, the man touches his hip, making him limp. Divine intervention again prepares the following meeting. With Laban it softens the aggressor and prevents harm, allowing relations to be clarified; with Jacob it ensures that the meeting happens at all. The angel is sent to stop his flight. When unable to restrain him, the angel injures his hip to remove his ability to escape (Genesis 32:26). Rashbam explains similarly:
“And there wrestled”: An angel wrestled with him so that he could not flee and would see the fulfillment of the Holy One’s promise that Esau would not harm him. (Rashbam, Genesis 32:25 in the cited numbering)
"ויאבק": מלאך עמו שלא יוכל לברוח ויראה קיום [הבטחתו] של הקב"ה שלא יזיקהו עֵשו. (רשב"ם, בראשית ל"ב כה)
Rashbam likewise understands the aim as preventing escape, although for him the point is to show fulfillment of God’s promise, rather than to ensure the meeting itself as I suggest. I stress that Jacob originally intended to meet Esau. The escape attempt arose from last-minute fear. The angel was sent to thwart it, and succeeded.
Why appear as a man rather than an angel? Why not confront Jacob from the outset as an angel with a drawn sword, as the angel sent to stop Balaam from cursing Israel did (Numbers 22:22–35)? Why call him a man initially, revealing his angelic identity to Jacob and us only near the end?
“For Thou Hast Striven”
The answer lies in the blessing Jacob receives, which he could not have received without wrestling and winning. Had he recognized an angel at once, he would not have dared resist; he would have had to turn back in shame and meet Esau. Not knowing his opponent, he fought face to face, stood his ground, and earned a blessing. When the angel finished his task and sought to return, Jacob prevented him. Now recognizing an angel whom he had overcome, he wished to reap his success and asked for a blessing. The angel changes his name and essence, from a man of deceit and evasion to one who struggles directly, faces others, and succeeds:
And he said: ‘Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.’ (Genesis 32:29)
וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד שִׁמְךָ כִּי אִם יִשְׂרָאֵל כִי שָׂרִיתָ עִם אֱלֹהִים וְעִם אֲנָשִׁים וַתּוּכָל. (בראשית ל״ב, כט)
By morning, Jacob has no choice. Flight is no longer practical: the angel has delayed him all night and left him limping with restricted mobility. He must resume the original plan toward Canaan and his brother. Yet the struggle also strengthens him for the encounter. The angel’s blessing instills confidence that, as he survived this dangerous meeting with the angel, he can safely meet Esau and continue home.
“for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” (Genesis 32:29)
"כִי שָׂרִיתָ עִם אֱלֹהִים וְעִם אֲנָשִׁים וַתּוּכָל".
