Year of the Bible
Genesis 32
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Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Chapter 32:
As Jacob journeys to his parents’, three events reveal how God is with him. The first is mentioned briefly as Jacob witnesses God’s angel armies at hand to protect him. In the second, Jacob prepares to meet his estranged brother Esau, who had said he wanted to kill Jacob (27:41). Jacob sends a humble message to his brother, makes practical preparations in case Esau attacks, and prays humbly to God for protection. The third event is the most well-known: God comes to Jacob as a man who arrives during the night and wrestles with him. Jacob won’t stop the struggle until he receives a blessing. As dawn breaks on a new day, Jacob’s blessing comes two ways. First, he receives a new name, Israel, meaning The One Who Strives with God, and second, he receives a limp to remind him of his encounter.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 32:
1 Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him; 2 and when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s army!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Jacob Sends Gifts to Appease Esau
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; 5 and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company which is left will escape.”
9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and all the faithfulness which you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, I beg you, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and slay us all, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”
13 So he lodged there that night, and took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten he-donkeys. 16 These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the foremost, “When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these before you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the present passed on before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles at Peniel
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and
with men, and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked him, “Tell me, I pray, your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his thigh. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh on the sinew of the hip.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
In Jacob's mysterious wrestling with God all night long, he received blessing and a new name: Israel. Lord, what in my life do I need to wrestle with you about? Help me make the time like Jacob did, to do so.
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Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
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Se levantó Labán muy de mañana,
dio un beso a sus nietos y a sus
hijas, los bendijo, y se fue. Labán regresó
a su región.
2 Jacob, en cambio, siguió su camino,
y entonces le salieron al encuentro unos
ángeles de Dios. 3 Al verlos dijo Jacob:
–Éste es el campamento de Dios.
Y llamó a aquel lugar Majanaim.
Jacob envió por delante mensajeros
a su hermano Esaú, a la tierra de Seír en
la región de Edom, 5 y les dio esta orden:
–Así diréis a mi señor Esaú: «Esto
dice tu siervo Jacob: He permanecido
con Labán hasta ahora, 6 y poseo bueyes
y asnos, ovejas y vacas, siervos y siervas.
Lo mando comunicar a mi señor para
hallar gracia ante él».
7 Volvieron a Jacob los mensajeros
diciendo:
–Hemos llegado hasta donde está tu
hermano Esaú, y también él viene a tu
encuentro acompañado de cuatrocientos
hombres.
8 Se estremeció Jacob, y se llenó de
angustia. Dividió a la gente que iba con
él, las ovejas, las vacas y los camellos, en
dos campamentos 9 diciéndose: «Si viene
Esaú contra un campamento y lo ataca,
el campamento restante podrá escapar
».
10 Entonces clamó Jacob:
–Dios de mi padre Abrahán, Dios
de mi padre Isaac, el Señor, que me dijiste:
«Vuelve a tu tierra, a tu ascendencia,
que yo seré generoso contigo». 11 Soy
indigno de todos los favores y de toda
la lealtad que has mostrado con tu siervo,
pues atravesé el Jordán sin otra cosa
que mi cayado, y ahora he llegado a formar
dos campamentos. 12 Líbrame de la
mano de mi hermano Esaú, porque tengo
miedo de él, no vaya a venir y mate a
la madre con los hijos. Tú mismo dijiste: «Seré muy generoso
contigo y multiplicaré tu descendencia
como la arena del mar, que, por
ser tanta, no se puede contar».
14 Pasó allí aquella noche y luego, de
lo que poseía, separó un regalo para su
hermano Esaú: 15 doscientas cabras y
veinte machos cabríos, doscientas ovelosjas y veinte corderos, 16 treinta camellas
paridas con sus crías, cuarenta vacas y
diez novillos, veinte burras y diez asnos.
17 Lo confió a sus siervos, cada hato por
separado, ordenándoles:
–Pasad delante de mí y dejad un trecho
entre un hato y otro.
18 Al primero le dio esta orden:
–Cuando te encuentre mi hermano
Esaú y te pregunte de quién eres, a dónde
vas, y para quién es eso que llevas,
19 tú contestarás: «Es de tu siervo Jacob,
un regalo que envía a mi señor Esaú; él
viene detrás de nosotros».
20 Dio la misma orden al segundo,
al tercero y a todos los que iban tras los
hatos:
–Esto es lo que diréis a Esaú cuando
os encontréis con él; 21 y añadiréis: «Tu
siervo Jacob viene detrás de nosotros».
Pues se decía: «Lo aplacaré con el
regalo que va por delante, y después lo
veré cara a cara; quizá esté a mi favor».
22 El regalo pasó por delante de él, y
él se quedó aquella noche en el campamento.
23 Se levantó por la noche, tomó
a sus dos mujeres, a sus dos esclavas y a
sus once hijos y cruzó el vado de Yaboc.
24 Los llevó y les hizo pasar el río; después
pasó todo lo que tenía, 25 y se quedó
Jacob solo. Un hombre estuvo luchando
con él hasta rayar el alba; 26 y al ver aquel
hombre que no le podía, le alcanzó en la
articulación del muslo; y se le dislocó a
Jacob la articulación del muslo en su lucha
con él.
27 Y le dijo el hombre:
–Suéltame, pues va a rayar el alba.
Le contestó:
–No te soltaré hasta que no me bendigas.
28 Entonces le preguntó:
–¿Cómo te llamas?
Respondió:
–Jacob.
29 Le dijo:
–Ya no te llamarás más Jacob, sino
Israel, porque has luchado con Dios y
con hombres, y has podido.
30 Jacob le preguntó:
–Por favor, dime tu nombre.
Le contestó:
–¿Por qué preguntas mi nombre?
Y le bendijo allí mismo. 31 Jacob puso
a aquel lugar el nombre de Penuel, porque
se dijo: «He visto a Dios cara a cara
y conservo la vida».
32 Salía el sol cuando atravesó Penuel,
e iba cojeando del muslo. 33 Por eso
los hijos de Israel no comen hasta hoy
el tendón que está en la articulación del
muslo, porque en el tendón fue alcanzada
la articulación del muslo de Jacob.
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).