(Genesis 32:01 - 32:32)
Jacob then continued the journey he had begun. He encountered some extraterrestrials and, after seeing them, he declared, "This must be a landing field for Jehovah," and so he named the place Mahanaim [sounds like “two camps in Hebrew].
Jacob sent ahead messengers to his brother Esau in the land of Seir in Edom and instructed them to say, "You shall tell this to my master Esau: 'Your servant Jacob informs you, ‘I have been living with Laban and have remained there until now. I am now coming home with many servants, herds, and flocks. I am sending you this message in the hope that I may find favor in your eyes.'"
The messengers returned to Jacob and reported, "We went to see your brother Esau and he told us he is hastening to meet you ---with four hundred of his men!" Jacob was distressed and alarmed by this news. He, therefore, divided up his camp and separated his herds and flocks and servants into two groups, reasoning "If Esau attacks one of them, the remaining one might escape."
Jacob prayed: "O god of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac who bid me 'Return to your native land and I will make you prosper!' I am unworthy of the kindness you have shown your servant and of the faithful observance of your promises. ... I crossed the River Jordan with only a staff and now I return with two great companies of men and animals. ... Please rescue us from my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he will attack me and kill my wives and children, for you did promise me ‘I will make you prosper and make your descendants as numerous as the countless grains of sand on the beach.'"
Jacob camped there for the night and in the morning he set aside gifts for his brother Esau from what he had in his possession-- 200 hundred nanny goats, 20 billy goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 suckling she-camels and their calves, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 jennies and 10 jackasses. He sent them to be driven by his men ahead of him with some distance separating each flock. He ordered the lead drover, "When you meet my brother Esau and he asks you 'Who are you, where are you going, and whom does this flock belong to?', you will tell him, 'They belong to your servant Jacob and it is his present to you, master Esau. Jacob is following close behind us'." He told the drover of the second herd, the third, and all those that followed, "You will address Esau in a similar manner, if you come upon him. Also, you should say to him, 'Your servant Jacob follows behind us.' I've sent you with these gifts to mollify Esau so that when I meet him face to face he may receive me favorably."
The gifts were sent ahead, while Jacob spent the night in camp. But he got up in the middle of the night, roused his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven sons, and escorted them to the ford of the River Jabbok. He sent them across the river with all his possessions, but remained on the other side of the river alone.
An extraterrestrial then wrestled with him until dawn. When he found he could not get the better of Jacob, he grabbed his thigh and yanked his hip out of joint. Jacob continued wrestling, though, until the extraterrestrial pleaded, "Look, the sun is coming up, why don't you let me go?"
"I won't let you go, unless you bless me," Jacob answered.
"What is your name?" the extraterrestrial asked.
"It's Jacob," he replied.
And the extraterrestrial pronounced, "No longer shall you be called 'Jacob,' you should be called 'Israel', for you have struggled against a god -- how much more strongly will you struggle against men!"
Jacob asked him, "Tell me, please, what is your name?"
The extraterrestrial only answered Jacob by saying, "Don't you know who I am?" And he blessed him on the spot.
Jacob thereafter called the place Penuel, (for there he had seen a god face to face and had survived). When the sun rose and Jacob left Penuel, he did so hobbling about on one leg. (That is why the Israelites to this day refrain from eating the tendon that attaches to the hip bone, since it was there that a god had touched Jacob's thigh.)
Notes
1. On his journey back to Canaan, Jacob encounters some extraterrestrials. Sadly, no details are given. How did he know they were men of Jehovah's otherworldly race? He apparently did not speak with them, but only saw them. Did they come down to earth in some kind of a vehicle? Or did he come upon their camp and notice from their attire or their accoutrements that they were not ordinary men?
2. Curious that the chroniclers know the exact number of the animals Jacob offered as a gift to Esau, yet so many more interesting aspects of the story are sketchily depicted.
3. The Jabbok is a tributary of the River Jordan about 15 miles north of the Dead Sea. Seir was located far south of the Dead Sea in the southeastern portion of Edom, a very considerable distance from Jacob’s camp.
3. Jacob sends his family across a river, presumably for their safety, as he fears an attack from Esau. This an idea that apparently occurs to him in the middle of the night. Once alone, he suddenly finds himself wrestling with a strange man that turns out to be an extraterrestrial. The extraterrestrial grabs Jacob's thigh and pulls his hip out of joint. One gets the impression that he could have done so all along if he had wanted to, that he was stronger than Jacob, but was testing the human's endurance and determination. Jacob, though, who was nothing if not tenacious, won't let him go until he pleads "uncle." He gets a blessing for his efforts, but does not learn the name of his mysterious and cagey adversary -- only the hint that he should know who he is. It is interesting that the extraterrestrial (who would not be Jehovah, who knew Jacob personally and would recognize him) had to ask who Jacob was. Did he come upon him by accident and decide, on the spur of the moment, to test his pugilistic skills with him? Was there something, some words that precipitated the altercation. We are left in the dark. There has been much religious speculation on the significance of this story, but what really can it be? It does show at least one admirable trait in Jacob's character, his persistence, and it explains why Jacob would be called "Israel" and why he would henceforth walk with a limp.
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