Genesis Chapter 32

Jacob’s vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his wrestling with an angel.

“And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.” (Genesis 32:6)

Jacob being fearful of meeting his brother Esau, remembers the Lord’s promises and calls on his help.

“See how this was sufficient to aggravate the good man’s fear. Far from realizing precisely his brother’s intent, Jacob was terrified to learn the number of those approaching and suspected that they were bent on hostilities and so wanted to catch up with him. Note the text says, ‘Jacob was in a state of fear and perplexity.’ Fear disturbed his thinking, and instead of knowing what to do, he was at a loss; hence Jacob was terrified of almost everything, and, with the prospect of death before him, ‘he divided all the people with him into two camps.’ You see, he said, ‘If he comes upon one camp and attacks it, the other will have the chance of being saved.’ While it was Jacob’s fear and great terror that suggested this, … seeing himself caught in a trap he had recourse to the invincible Lord and invoked the promises made him by the God of all, as if to say to him, ‘Now the time has come for a good man to enjoy your complete assistance on account of the virtue of his forebears and the promises made by you.’” (4) -St. John Chrysostom

“And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau.” (Genesis 32:13)

Jesus Christ promises his peace despite what we may suffer in this world.

“Then, intending to ask for peace from his brother, Jacob slept in the encampment. Perfect virtue possesses tranquility and a calm steadfastness; likewise the Lord has kept his gift for those who are more perfect and has said, ‘My peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you.’ It is the part of those who have been perfected not to be easily influenced by worldly things or to be troubled with fear or tormented with suspicion or stunned with dread or distressed with pain. Rather, as if on a shore of total safety, they ought to calm their spirit, immovable as it is in the anchorage of faith, against the rising waves and tempests of the world. Christ brought this support to the spirits of Christians when he brought an inner peace to the souls of those who had proved themselves, so that our hearts should not be troubled or our spirits be distressed. That this peace is beyond all understanding our apostolic teacher proclaimed when he said, ‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and feelings in Christ Jesus.’ And so the fruit of peace is the absence of disturbance in the heart. In short, the life of the just person is calm, but the unjust person is filled with disquiet and disturbance. Therefore the ungodly person is struck down more by his own suspicions than people are by the blows of others, and the stripes of the wounds in his soul are greater than those in the bodies of people who are lashed by others. It is a sublime thing that someone is tranquil within himself and in agreement with himself.” (4) -St. Ambrose

As imitators of Christ, we must seek to nurture an interior peace despite trials.

“Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, not even if your whole world seems upset. If you find that you have wandered away from the shelter of God, lead your heart back to Him quietly and simply.”
-St. Francis de Sales

“He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning.” (Genesis 32:24)

Those who cast off worldly things and wrestle with God in the struggle of virtue, come nearer to the image of God.

“Therefore Jacob, who had purified his heart of all pretenses and was manifesting a peaceable disposition, first cast off all that was his, then remained behind alone and wrestled with God. For whoever forsakes worldly things comes nearer to the image and likeness of God. What is it to wrestle with God other than to enter upon the struggle for virtue, to contend with one who is stronger and to become a better imitator of God than the others are? Because Jacob’s faith and devotion were unconquerable, the Lord revealed his hidden mysteries to him by touching the side of his thigh. For it was by descent from him that the Lord Jesus was to be born of a virgin, and Jesus would be neither unlike nor unequal to God. The numbness in the side of Jacob’s thigh foreshadowed the cross of Christ, who would bring salvation to all people by spreading the forgiveness of sins throughout the whole world and would give resurrection to the departed by the numbness and torpidity of his own body. On this account the sun rightly rose on holy Jacob, for the saving cross of the Lord shone brightly on his lineage. And at the same time the Sun of justice rises on the person who recognizes God, because he is himself the everlasting Light.” (4) -St. Ambrose

“But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? “ (Genesis 32:28)

The vision of God will be the reward of all the saints.

“Now, as I said just a little while ago, Jacob was also called Israel, which was the name generally borne by the people descended from him. This name was given him by the angel who wrestled with him when Jacob was on his way back from Mesopotamia. This angel obviously presents a type of Christ. For the fact that Jacob ‘prevailed over’ him (the angel, of course, being a willing loser to symbolize the hidden meaning) represents the passion of Christ, in which the Jews seemed to prevail over him. And yet Jacob obtained a blessing from the very angel whom he had defeated; thus the giving of the name was the blessing. Now ‘Israel’ means ‘seeing God,’ and the vision of God will be the reward of all the saints at the end of the world. Moreover, the angel also touched the apparent victor on the broad part of his thigh and thus made him lame. And so the same man, Jacob, was the same time blessed and lame—blessed in those who among this same people of Israel have believed in Christ and crippled in respect of those who do not believe. For the broad part of the thigh represents the general mass of the race. For in fact it is to the majority of that stock that the prophetic statement applies, ‘They have limped away from their paths.’” (4) -St. Augustine