The Law · Chapter 32 of 50

Genesis 32

Returning home after twenty years, Jacob learns that Esau approaches with four hundred men. Terrified, he divides his household, prays for deliverance, and sends waves of gifts ahead. Left alone by the Jabbok, he wrestles a mysterious man until daybreak. Though wounded in the thigh, he refuses to let go without a blessing, and receives a new name, Israel, and a limp he will carry forever.

What happens in Genesis 32

Jacob resumes his journey and is met by angels of God, naming the place Mahanaim. He sends messengers to Esau in Edom, seeking favor, but they return word that Esau is coming with four hundred men. Greatly afraid, Jacob splits his people into two companies so one might escape, then prays, confessing he is unworthy of God's mercies and pleading for rescue. He prepares a lavish present of livestock, sending it ahead in successive droves to appease his brother.

That night he takes his family across the ford Jabbok and is left alone. A man wrestles with him until dawn, dislocating his thigh yet unable to prevail. Jacob clings on, demanding a blessing. The man renames him Israel, for he has struggled with God and men and prevailed. Jacob calls the place Peniel, having seen God face to face, and limps away as the sun rises.

Genesis 32 in context

Jacob had fled Canaan decades earlier after deceiving Esau out of the birthright and blessing. Now, commanded by God to return, he must face the brother he wronged. He comes as a changed but still fearful man, wealthy yet vulnerable.

This night at the Jabbok stands at the hinge of his life, between the schemer of his youth and the patriarch Israel, whose twelve sons will become the tribes of the covenant nation.

Main themes of Genesis 32

Genesis 32 (KJV)

1And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; 8And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. 9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 11Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 12And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. 13And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. 16And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 18Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. 19And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. 20And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. 21So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. 22And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Verses to carry from Genesis 32

“I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.”Genesis 32:10

“And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”Genesis 32:26

“And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”Genesis 32:28

Reflection

Where are you wrestling in the dark, afraid of what the morning will bring? Jacob shows that you can bring both your fear and your faith to God, holding on even when you are wounded. Do not let go until you have received his blessing. The struggle may leave a mark, but it can also leave you changed and named anew.

A prayer from Genesis 32