Глава 32

In fear of his upcoming meeting with Esau, Jacob receives encouragement from above - a vision of Angels, Jacob's prayer Gen.32:1–2. But Jacob went his own way. [And, looking, he saw the army of God encamped.] And the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the army of God.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. “Since Jacob’s fear of Laban ceased and had already passed, and fear of his brother took its place, the Lord, the lover of mankind, wanting to encourage the righteous man and dispel all his fear, granted him to see a regiment of Angels” (St. John Chrysostom, Demon. 58, p. 625). Based on the testimony of Prince. Yashar that, in contrast to the 400 men of Esau, sent by him at the instigation of Laban, Rebekah sent seventy-two people to protect Jacob, some Jewish interpreters saw in the “Angels of God” or the “militia of God” simply travelers, whose caravan encouraged Jacob in his fear. Josephus (Antiqu. 1:20, 81) speaks of certain “visions” (φαντάσματα) that Jacob had as he approached Canaan and foreshadowed “good hopes” for him in the future. But both interpretations clearly distort the direct meaning of the biblical text: “Angels of God” are the same heavenly guardians of God’s chosen one that he saw in a dream on the way to Mesopotamia (chapter 28). Their name “militia of God” (machoneh Elohim) corresponds to the completely common name in the Old Testament for the angelic world “the army of heaven” (Josh. 5:14, Ps. 102:21). That the host of Angels was often called “the army of God” can be seen from (1 Chronicles 12:22). The dual form of the name “Mahanaim” is explained in such a way that Jacob sees two camps at once: earthly (his own) and heavenly (Angels), or two hosts of Angels; The last interpretation was proposed, among others, by R. Yarhi: according to him, one host was the Guardian Angels of the land of the Chaldeans, who accompanied him unharmed to the borders of Canaan, and the other host was the Guardian Angels of the land of Canaan, who now took Jacob from the first for safekeeping (cf. interpretation on Gen. 28:12–13). Belief in the protection of individuals by Angels (Ps. 33:8, etc.) and entire nations and kingdoms (Dan. 10:13, 21, 12:1) - biblical teaching. Mahanaim - subsequently a city of refuge (Joshua 21:36) is mentioned more than once in the history of David and Solomon (2 Sam. 2:8, 17:24, 27, 19:32). Gen.32:3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom, Having received encouragement from the heavenly messengers-Angels (maleachim), Jacob sends earthly messengers (also maleachim, which is why the rabbis expressed the absurd idea about the embassy of Angels to Jacob) to Esau, to Seir. The last name, which was the nickname of Esau (based on his appearance, Gen. 25:25), his other nickname is Edom (Gen. 36:1), probably due to the incident with lentils (Gen. 25:30), is used here proleptically (as in Gen. 14:6) about the mountainous and cave-rich territory of the Troglodyte Horites, east of Jordan, later occupied by the tribes of Esau (Deut. 2:12, 4–5, 8). Esau and his family moved there later (Gen. 36:6), but perhaps he was already wandering around his future possessions, which provided convenience for his pleasant pastime - hunting. Gen.32:4. and he commanded them, saying: Thus shall you say to my master Esau: This is what your servant Jacob says: I lived with Laban and have lived until now; The titles: “master” for Esau and “slave” for himself on the part of Jacob, who received the highest blessing and dominion over Esau, is an act of Eastern politeness (cf. Gen. 23:6; 1 Sam. 24:9), and together with an indication of the possibility of gifts to Esau, an obvious captatio benevalentiae. Gen.32:6. And the messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you, and with him four hundred people. No response was received to this greeting; on the contrary, alarming news was received that Esau was coming to meet with 400 men, probably from the tribe of Ishmael, with whom Esau had previously become related (Gen. 28:9). Gen.32:7–8. Jacob was very afraid and confused; and he divided the people who were with him, the flocks and herds, and the camels, into two camps. And [Jacob] said: If Esau attacks one camp and defeats it, then the rest of the camp can be saved. Jacob's fear, despite the divine promises of protection (Gen. 28:13–15, 31:13), which Jewish interpreters already paid attention to, not without reason, reveals, of course, the imperfection of Jacob's faith in God's Providence (his faith was extremely inferior in strength and firmness to the faith of Abraham Gen. 15:6). Accordingly, he uses, first of all, a purely human means of protecting the expected hostile actions from Esau. One might think, however, that, in addition to the natural attachment to life and fear for himself and his family, Jacob’s inner anxiety was caused by reproaches of his conscience for deceiving him in relation to Esau. This highest motive naturally turns Jacob's thoughts to God. Gen.32:9–11. And Jacob said: God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord [God], who said to me: return to your land, to your homeland, and I will do good to you! I am unworthy of all the mercies and all the good deeds that You have done for Your servant, for I crossed this Jordan with my staff, and now I have two camps. Deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, lest he come and kill me [and] the mother and children. Aware of the inadequacy of human strength and means as weapons of defense against the upcoming danger, Jacob turns in prayer to the God of the fathers. This prayer, the first in the Bible, except for Abraham’s intercession for the Sodomites (Gen. 18:23–32), has all the signs of true prayer, distinguished by sincerity, childlike simplicity, gratitude to God, humility before Him and hope in Him alone. At the beginning of the prayer there is a confession of God as the God of salvation and an indication of the direct command (Gen. 31:13) of God to Jacob to return to his homeland, with the promise to be with him (v. 9). In comparison with those great blessings that the Lord had already promised and bestowed on Jacob, he feels his insignificance, unworthiness, especially since he has tangible evidence of God’s providence for him, in the form of his enrichment in Mesopotamia, while he was heading there with only a staff (Jewish interpreters, paying attention to the construction bemaqeli, with a staff, or, more precisely, by means of rod, they believed that Jacob divided the Jordan with a rod). Praying intensely for salvation, Jacob expresses fear for the integrity of the family - “lest Esau kill him and the mother and children (v. 11). The last expression is a current phrase (Hos. 10:14; Deut. 22:6), meaning completeness and at the same time cruelty, bloodthirstiness of extermination. Gen.32:12. You said: I will do good to you and make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. The basis of Jacob's hope is the promises of God to him and his fathers (Gen. 28:13, 22:17). To appease his brother, Jacob sends gifts to his brother and crosses the stream of Jabbok with his family. Gen.32:13. And Jacob slept there that night. And he took from what he had, [and sent] as a gift to Esau his brother: Jacob remains overnight at the place of prayer, according to Abarbanel, waiting for an answer to it. Under the impression of prayer, Jacob cancels his initial intention - to save at least half of the camp by flight from Esau (v. 7) - and decides to go straight to meet Esau, first sending gifts to him. Gen.32:16–20. And he gave each flock separately into the hands of his servants and said to his servants: Go before me and leave a distance from herd to herd. And he commanded the first, saying: When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying: Whose are you? and where are you going? and whose flock is this [coming] before you? then say: Thy servant Jacob; this is a gift sent to my lord Esau; behold, he himself [is following us]. He commanded the same thing [as the first] to the second, and the third, and to all who followed the flocks, saying: Thus tell Esau when you meet him; and say, Behold, thy servant Jacob [is] following us. For he said within himself: I will appease him with the gifts that go before me, and then I will see his face; maybe he will accept me. In choosing the best of the cattle and in the order of sending them out - in separate herds, and finally, in instructing the slaves to prepare Esau for the merciful meeting of Jacob, one can see Jacob's great knowledge of the human heart and the means to act reconcilingly on the most angry heart. Gen.32:22–23. And he arose that night, and took his two wives and his two handmaidens, and his eleven sons, and forded Jabbok; and taking them, he brought them across the stream, and brought all that he had. Having transferred the cattle and family through Jabbok - to the southern side of it, Jacob himself remained on the northern side. The Stream Jabbok, now the Zerka, rises from the mountains of Bashan and flows into the Jordan on the left side, almost half the distance between Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Jacob is left alone, probably to pray. Jacob wrestles with the Angel at Penuel and receives the name Israel from the Angel Gen.32:24–29. And Jacob was left alone. And Someone fought with him until dawn appeared; and when he saw that it did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh and damaged the joint of Jacob's thigh when he wrestled with Him. And he said to [him], Let Me go, for the dawn has risen. Jacob said: I will not let you go until you bless me. And he said: What is your name? He said: Jacob. And he said to [him]: From now on your name will not be Jacob, but Israel, for you have fought with God, and you will overcome men. Jacob also asked, saying: Tell [me] Your name. And He said: Why do you ask about My name? [it is wonderful.] And he blessed him there. The mysterious wrestler who fought Jacob at night, injured his hip and renamed him Israel, according to the prophet Hosea (Hos. 12:3–4), was God. Jacob himself (v. 30) admits that he saw God, the face of God. Therefore, the Jewish and Christian interpretation of this passage equally recognize the wrestler as a phenomenon from the heavenly world - an Angel. At the same time, church teachers and many later Christian interpreters saw in this Angel an uncreated Angel - the Angel of Jehovah, who had previously appeared to Jacob at Bethel (chap. 28) and in Mesopotamia (chap. 36) and, according to Jacob’s belief, who protected him all his life (Gen. 48:16), the Son of God. “From the entire story of Gen. 32:24–34 we know,” says blessed Theodoret, “here the only begotten Son of God and God appeared to Jacob” (answer to question 93). The opinion of some rabbis that Esau's guardian angel fought with Jacob or even a demon took revenge on Jacob for Esau is, of course, strange, but contains some element of truth, since it puts the mysterious struggle of Jacob with his hostile relationship with his brother. Jacob had previously struggled with his brother, and not always with impeccable means. Now the Angel of the Lord “puts courage into Jacob, who was afraid of his brother” (Blessed Theodoret, ibid.). But Jacob achieves this gracious encouragement through a struggle with the Angel-God, a struggle that was not only a strain of Jacob’s physical strength (Hos. 12:3), (beono, “in his strength, his strength”), but also an even greater strain of spiritual strength, the prayer of faith: according to the prophet Hosea, Jacob in his struggle with the Angel-God “and prevailed,” but “wept and besought Him” (Hos. 12:4). An indication of the spiritual moment of the struggle is also found in Moses’ narrative - in Jacob’s request to bless him (v. 26). According to this inner side, the struggle of Jacob with the Angel of Jehovah is a type of spiritual struggle of faith that does not yield to any tests and difficulties of life; at the same time, it is also a foreshadowing of the entire future of the descendants of Jacob, who henceforth receive (v. 28) the name of Israel - the entire Old Testament theocratic history. In general, in its nature and significance, Jacob’s fight against God is reminiscent of Abraham’s night vision (Gen. 15), which also (but more specifically) foreshadowed the future history of the chosen people, which also consisted of the people’s opposition to the divine calling, their possession of enduring spiritual benefits and temporary trials and material losses. That Jacob’s struggle was not a dream or generally a visionary phenomenon is evident from the verb abaq used in the Hebrew text (vv. 24-25; Heb. 25-26) - to fight like an athlete (covered with dust), and even more from the damage to the composition of his thigh (nervus ischiadicus) and his lameness as a result (vv. 25, 31). So, “and upon Jacob’s awakening, his leg remained damaged, and he continued to limp, so as not to regard the vision as a dream, but to accurately find out the truth of the dream” (Blessed Theodoret). At the same time, this was supposed to teach Jacob that victory was granted to him only through the condescension of the mysterious Fighter. And Jacob, as if having understood the meaning of the struggle, does not want to part with the struggle and the Fighter without His blessing (v. 26). But the Angel of Jehovah - in relation to the views of the ancients that theophany visit a person only at night, tells Jacob about the need to remove Him at dawn (according to the rabbinic explanation, the Angel hurries to bring morning praise to God with the angelic hosts, Beresch. r. Par. 78, s. 378). The blessing requested by Jacob is given to him in the change of his name, in accordance with the circumstances of the case and the inner mood of Jacob. Henceforth, his struggle with cunning stops - “stammering” in relation to people and circumstances (in receiving blessings, in relations with Laban, etc.), and the sacred struggle of his spirit for the highest God-given calling begins; therefore, instead of the former natural name “Jacob”, he and his descendants are given the sacred, theocratic name “Israel” - according to the explanation of the text itself, “fighter of God” (St. John Chrysostom interprets: “seeing God” - this explanation would be suitable in meaning, but etymologically it is hardly possible), - through the constancy of the feat of prayer (cf. Heb. 5:7) receiving spiritual benefits from God, which at the same time will be the guarantee of the victory of Jacob-Israel over his enemies. Having received a new name from the Angel of Jehovah, Jacob asks Him about the name, but He does not name Himself, making it clear that Jacob could learn this from the case itself. Compared with the Masoretic text, in the LXX, in glory. and Russian is in Art. 29 addition to the Hebrew text: “it is wonderful,” similar to (Judges 13:18), confirming that he fought with the Angel of God, and apparently taking place in the original list. Gen.32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place Penuel; for, he said, I saw God face to face, and my soul was preserved. The geographic location of Penuel is not known with certainty; mentioned later in the history of Gideon (Judges 8:8) and Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:25). Gen.32:32. Therefore, even to this day the children of Israel do not eat the sinew that is on the thigh, because He who fought touched the sinew on the thigh of Jacob. The custom of not using the “camel vein” of an animal, hitherto observed by the Jews, dates back to the time before Moses, who, without introducing it into his legislation, nevertheless notes its existence and makes it possible to see its importance, rooted in the importance of the historical event that served as its support. You might be interested in: