The+JPS+Torah+Commentary Fac 32
The+JPS+Torah+Commentary Fac 32
The+JPS+Torah+Commentary Fac 32
CHAPTER 32
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G. A. Danell, Studies in the Name of Israel in the Old Testament (Uppsala: Appelbergs boktryckeri,
1946); Y. Kaufmann, Toledot ha-emunah ha-yisreelit, vols. 67 (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1947 1948), 134137; M. H. Segal, Masoret u-Bikkoreth (Jerusalem: Kiriat Sefer, 1957), 6175; F. Van Trigt, La signification de la lutte de Jacob pres du Yabboq, Gen. XXXII 2333, OS 12 (1958): 280 309; H. L. Ginsberg, Hoseas Ephraim, More Fool than Knave, JBL 80 (1961): 339347; J. L. McKenzie, CBQ 25 (1963): 7176; J. R. Bartlett, The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Edom, PEQ 104 (1972): 2637; A. de Pury, Promesse divine et lgende cultuelle dans le cycle de Jacob (Paris: J. Gabalda, 1975), 1:92ff.; J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1975), 197 223, 230f.; S. Gevirtz, Of Patriarchs and Puns, HUCA 46 (1976): 5054; B. Dinur, Historical Writings (Hebrew), vol. 3 (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1977), 1845.
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Josh. 21:36; 2 Sam. 2:4, 8, 12, 29; 17:24, 2729; 19:33; 1 Kings 2:8; 4:14.
Freed from anxiety about Laban, Jacob resumes his homeward journey. But his relief is shortlived. Long-suppressed memories from his ignoble past intrude upon his consciousness. The specter of a vengeful Esau looms before him. The action divides itself into two main parts: 32:422 describe Jacobs preparations for his encounter with Esau; 33:117 relate the story of the actual meeting of the two brothers. In between is the strange narrative of the struggle between Jacob and a powerful assailant (32:2333).
Cf. Gen. 14:6; 33:14; 36:8f., 30; Deut. 2:4, 12. 25:25, 27, 29, 30; 27:11.
So noted by Ramban. See O. Pardee, An Overview of Ancient Hebrew Epistolography, JBL 97 (1978): 321246.
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Cf. the lists in Gen. 12:16; 24:35; Job 1:3; 42:12. The phrase I send this message, literally I send to tell, without a direct object, occurs in Lachish letter 3.12.
collective. He omits mention of the camels, the most valuable of all his livestock, even though they are listed in verse 8 and part of the gift in verse 16. His purpose is to understate his possessions so that the present will be all that much more of a delightful and spectacular surprise to Esau. 7. The messengers report back that Esauhis brother, not his lordseems to have obtained independent intelligence about Jacobs movements. He is coming to meet him, a phrase that can convey either amity or enmity8 and so underlines the inability to decipher Esaus intentions. four hundred men To judge from such passages as 1 Samuel 22:2, 25:13, and 30:10, 17, this seems to have been the standard size of a militia. The number is therefore ominous.
Cf. Gen. 24:65; Josh. 9:11; 2 Kings 8:9 with 1 Kings 20:27; 2 Kings 23:29. For minah as a gift, cf. Gen. 43:11, 15, 25f.; as tribute paid by a vassal, cf. 2 Sam. 8:2, 6; 1 Kings
5:1.
1516. There are 550 beasts in all, an extraordinarily lavish presentation. 17. drove by drove Esau just has time to scrutinize and admire the animals and to interrogate the men when the next drove arrives, and so forth. 2122. The repeated use of Hebrew panim, obscured in the translation, and the mention of the night effect the transition to the next scene: the night encounter at Peniel.
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avak, dust, i.e., to kick up dust, so Rashi (i), Ibn Ezra, Radak, and in avak, to entangle, clasp, so Rashi (ii), Ramban. The suggestion of word play is found in Mid. Sekhel Tov 1.173.
of Jacobs hip, that is, to the acetabulum, the cup-shaped socket in the hipbone that receives the head of the thighbone. But Jacob still refuses to let go. was strained Not dislocated, for then Jacob would have been unable even to limp (v. 32). 27. for dawn is breaking Only now does Jacob realize the supernatural nature of his opponent. 2829. What is your name? A rhetorical question that affords opportunity for Jacob and Israel to be counterposed, thus bringing to mind the contrasting connotation of the names. Since names in the Bible are inextricably intertwined with personality and destiny, the change here signifies a final purging of the unsavory character traits with which yaakov has come to be associated. Israel It is the bestowal of the new name that constitutes the essence of the blessing and the climax of the entire episode. Jacob had feared for his posterity; now he is tacitly assured that he will become the patriarch of a nation named Israel. The meaning of the name Israel is discussed in Excursus 25. with beings divine and human The humans would have been Esau and Laban, or the term may refer to incidents in the patriarchs life that have not been preserved but once had popular currency. Judges 9:13 suggests that, alternatively, the phrase may be a fossilized expression, a merism meaning all and sundry.11 and have prevailed The innovation of the name Israel in the Bible is associated with struggle and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. Curiously and instructively, the earliest extrabiblical document to mention Israel, the victory hymn of King Merneptah of Egypt (ca. 1207 B.C.E.), reports that Israel is laid waste, his seed is not, while the second, the victory inscription of King Mesha of Moab (ca. 830 B.C.E.), declares Israel has perished forever. 30. In the preexilic period all angels remain anonymous. The story in Judges 13:1718 again illustrates how any attempt to discover the identity of a divine being is turned aside. 31. Peniel Literally, Face of God. The name may already have belonged to the site due to some grotesque rock formation. A promontory on the Phoenician coast that contained the profile of a monstrous face was called Gods Face. Whatever the origin of the name, in our text it is invested with new meaning derived from Jacobs experience. Peniel is most plausibly identified with Tulul adh-Dhahab, which stands on the Jabbok a few miles from where it flows into the Jordan. It was a place of strategic importance. meaning Hebrew ki. See Comment to 4:25. also referred to as elohim (v. 22). I have seen face to face Two idioms are combined here, both inherently ambiguous. To see the face may describe an experience of either cordiality or hostility. Face to face, used only of divine-human encounters, may be an adversary confrontation or an experience of extraordinary intimacy. The deliberate ambiguity simultaneously portrays the perilous and the auspicious nature of the furious struggle. yet my life has been preserved The idea behind this statement forms a recurring theme in the biblical narratives. At the burning bush Moses hides his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Gideon and Manoah both fear death after experiencing Gods self-manifestation. God explicitly tells Moses, Man may not see Me and live! This is the biblical way of expressing the intensity of the experience of the individual encounter with the Divine
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a divine being Hebrew elohim. In Judges 13 the one repeatedly called an angel is
Presencethe utterly overwhelming nature of the mysterious contact with the awesome majesty of the transcendent yet immanent God. 32. The sun rose Jacobs ignominious flight from home was appropriately marked by the setting of the sun; fittingly, the radiance of the sunrise greets the patriarch as he crosses back into his native land. In light of Malachi 3:20, the rising sun may also betoken the healing of Jacobs injury. 33. Appended to the narrative is a historical note tracing the origin of an Israelite dietary abstention to the previously described episode. the children of Israel This is the first biblical usage of this phrase, which here refers to the entire people, not to Jacobs sons.12 to this day This is written from the perspective of a later age. the thigh muscle Venerable Jewish tradition identifies this unique and cryptic term gid hanasheh with the sciatic nerve (nervus ischiadicus).
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Other than Gen. 36:31, which also appears in an Esau-Edomite context, 42:5; 45:21; 46:5, 8 all refer to the sons of Jacob.
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Sarna, Nahum M.: Genesis. Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society, 1989 (The JPS Torah Commentary), S. 223