Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. (Genesis  32:24)

Utterly alone in the dead of night, Jacob is attacked by a mysterious assailant. Despite the fact that Scripture identifies Jacob’s antagonist simply as a man, Rembrandt follows centuries of biblical interpretation and depicts him as an angel. His portrayal of the angel is enthralling. His gentle, almost feminine facial expression, so full of compassion, has the viewer convinced that Jacob is embracing the angel rather than struggling with him. One is left pondering just what point in the biblical narrative the artist has captured.

The story of Jacob and the angel is a tale of fear and confrontation; of defeat and triumph; of struggle and destiny.

Twenty years earlier, an altercation with his older brother Esau compelled Jacob to flee his parent’s home. He found safe haven with his uncle Laban. It was there that he married, raised a family, became a successful businessman. He might have stayed indefinitely, had the domestic climate not changed, but between Laban’s hostility and God’s command it was time to return home. But returning home meant facing his long-lost brother Esau, whom he had not left on good terms. The text describes Jacobs’s trepidation about what might ensue.

Having sent messengers to Esau to inform him of his return, Jacob was taken aback to hear that his brother was marching to meet him, accompanied by 400 men. Had the time of reckoning arrived?

Jacob was greatly frightened and anguished, he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, thinking, If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, the other camp may yet escape. (Genesis  32:8-13)

Seizing upon the doubling of the verbs used to describe Jacobs’s anxiety. The Rabbis commented:

Rabbi Judah ben Ilai said: Jacob reasoned: if he overpowers me he shall kill me, and if I overpower him, I shall kill him, as it says: And Jacob was fearful – that he not kill, and anguished – that he not be killed. (Genesis Rabbah 76:2)

Not only was Jacob fearful for his own life and that of his family, he dreaded the possibility of killing his own kin. He had reached an impasse. There was little left to do other than prepare himself for the attack, to pray for salvation, and escape to the refuge of sleep. It was there that he encountered an apparition.

Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn…Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.’ But he answered, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ Said the other, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘Jacob’. Said he, ‘Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed’…So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, ‘I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.’ (Genesis  32:23-33)

Who was this mysterious stranger with whom Jacob wrestled? One explanation is that the angel was the personification of Esau. Jacob struggles in his restless slumber with his deepest subconscious fears. On the eve of his fateful encounter with his estranged brother, he battles with fear of confrontation.

The Rabbis were aware that Jacob’s ultimate struggle was with himself. In the Midrash, they embellish the story, positioning Jacob face to face with several mirror images.

And there wrestled a man with him. Rabbi Huna said: He appeared to him in the guise of a shepherd…The Rabbis said: He appeared to him in the guise of a brigand…Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said: he appeared to him in the likeness of an idol worshiper…Rabbi Shmuel bar Acha said: he appeared to him in the likeness of a scholar.  (Genesis Rabbah 37:2)

Consider the cast of characters Jacob midrashically encounters in his dream; a shepherd, a brigand, an idol worshiper, a scholar. They all appear to be manifestations of Jacob himself.

Jacob had been a shepherd both in his father’s home and in the house of Laban. He had been accused of thievery and dishonesty in both settings. This midrashic encounter catapults him back in time, dredging up unresolved issues. His pangs of conscience are psychologically transformed into a wrestling match with the angel.

Ostensibly, the idolater and the scholar described in the midrash are polar opposites. A first reading might have us assume that we are speaking of Esau versus Jacob, but another reading is preferable. The idolater and the scholar represent extremes within Jacob, dimensions of Jacobs’s character in collision.

Jacob is returning home and wonders what awaits him; what will ultimately be his destiny? Will he return to being the Jacob who he once was in his father’s home, the peaceful scholar? Or after years of having left that, will he resort to idolatry? The destiny of his father’s home is beleaguered with overwhelming challenges. Perhaps the life of the scholar demands too much of him. Maybe the time has come to cast off the burden of responsibility. The life of an idol worshiper is far less encumbered. Might it be that through these encounters he confronts incarnations of self that not only reflect his past but also serve to carve out his future?

Finally, the audacious possibility exists that he was struggling with God Himself. After all is said and done we are told:

So Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, ‘I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.‘ (Genesis  32:31)

Jacob is consumed by fears and doubts. On that dark night he fought with the untouchable God who had promised his forefather Abraham unbounded blessing and limitless progeny, and given him a life of dialectic: a barren wife taken from him twice, a son whom he was forced to banish, and the ultimate near death trial of the Akedah. The contradiction between promise and reality continued in the life of his father Isaac and his mother Rebecca, who were also barren for twenty years. And in his own life, Jacob, who was promised that he would inherit the land, as forced into a long exile and is now returning home, is fleeing for his life from his vengeful brother. As he crosses the River Yabok, Jacob struggles with death and destiny. 

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi read it: and he struggled with him, as one who embraces his friend.

The story of Jacob and the angel is one of fear and confrontation, of defeat and triumph, of struggle and destiny – but it contains within it resolution and reassurance. The angel symbolizes all the potential rewards and dangers inherent in close encounters. In our interactions with ourselves, our fellow man, and with the Almighty Himself, we grapple with the fears and the uncertainties that define our lives. Although Jacob is wounded and will always remain manque both physically and existentially, he has been touched by the Untouchable, and reassured that the sun will rise; Jacob will become Israel, and the painful struggle will end in warm embrace.

1. Bernard Och, “Jacob at Bethel and Penuel: the Polarity of Divine Encounter”, Judaism 42,4 (1993), pp.164-176.