Commentaria in Genesim
Note: some think that here only the name Israel is promised to Jacob, and that it is actually given him in chapter 35, verse 10. But it is truer that it is actually given him here, on account of so memorable a struggle and victory, and that it is renewed and confirmed in chapter 35, verse 10.
Note, secondly: this wrestling, and this name Israel, befell Jacob in the 97th year of his age; for in his 91st year Joseph was born, and afterwards Jacob still remained in Haran, serving for flocks, six years, as I showed in chapter 30, verse 25. But in the seventh year, that is, in the 97th year of his age, as he fled and journeyed on, he received the name of Israel.
Allegorically, the wrestling of Esau with Jacob is here signified, that is, of the Synagogue with the Church, namely the persecution of the Jews against the first Christians; for these, with Jacob their father, stood firm in this temptation, and therefore carried off the victory and were blessed by God. Where Alcazar rightly notes that God shows Himself propitious and familiar to the tempted and afflicted: first, in tempering the forces with which He tries and assails Jacob and the faithful through the Jews and other enemies; second, in granting to the same Jacob and the faithful the fortitude by which they may stand constant in this struggle.
Tropologically, this wrestling is prayer, in which with Jacob we see God face to face, and our soul is saved. Again, by prayer we, like Israel, rule with God, and consequently over all fears, affections, disturbances and enemies; thereupon the thigh, that is, self-love, trust in our own strength, and the concupiscence that flourishes in the thigh, touched by the power of God, wastes away, is dislocated and grows faint; and then we limp on one foot, while the other remains sound: because, when the love of the world is weakened, man must grow strong in the love of God, says St. Gregory, homily 14 on Ezechiel, and on the sixth Penitential Psalm, at the beginning.
Learn therefore from this place, O soldier of Christ, from Jacob, in every temptation, tribulation and persecution, to take refuge in God by prayer; for if by prayer thou persuadest and prevailest with God, thou wilt prevail over thine enemies also, and God will make them either friends or subjects to thee; for so He did to Israel, a secret known to Jacob. This secret of conquering, and of conquering and obtaining anything whatever, the saints, united to God, who work valiantly in God, have known and used, and use even now. “I can do all things,” says Paul, “in him who strengtheneth me.” For God holds in His hand the hearts of all men and kings, even the fiercest, and at His nod bends and changes them whithersoever He wills.
29. Tell me by what name thou art called. Jacob asks the name of the angel, that by it he might proclaim him as his blesser and benefactor, celebrate him, and invoke him in any adversity.
Why dost thou ask my name? Some add, “which is wonderful.” Whence Alcazar on Apocalypse chapter 11, verse 1, thinks that the name of this angel was Wonderful, partly to intimate by this name that in this wrestling the wonderful counsel of God concerning the persecutions and victories of the Church is prefigured; partly that it might be a type of Christ, who is called Wonderful, Isaias chapter 9, verse 6. Some Rabbis teach the same. Hear Fernel the physician, book 1 On the Hidden Causes of Things, chapter 11: “We have received from writings,” he says, “that the guardian angel of the first parent was called Raziel, Zachiel, of Isaac Raphael, of Jacob Peliel (that is, the wonderful of God), of Moses Metatron; through these messengers they received very many things from God.” But these are conjectures or inventions of the Cabalists; for these words, “which is wonderful,” are to be deleted in this place, as the Hebrew, Greek and Roman Latin texts delete them; they are, however, found in Judges 13:18, whence they seem to have been transferred to this place by some smatterer.
The angel was unwilling to disclose his name to Jacob, partly lest his posterity should adore it or worship it superstitiously (for the Jews were very prone to idolatry and superstition); partly because angels are pure spirits and minds, which have no vocal names; partly because this angel represented the Word about to be incarnate, whose name before the Incarnation was silent and hidden.
By calling him Israel, the angel blessed Jacob, verse 28, as I said; but here he blessed him explicitly, making over him the sign of the cross or a like sign, and saying: May God bless thee, and give thee the blessing promised to Abraham and his seed.
And he called the name of that place Phanuel. “Phanuel,” or, as it is in Hebrew, Phaniel, is the same as the face of God; for pane means face, and el means God. The city afterwards built here was likewise called Phaniel, which the pagan Strabo, book 16, calls the face of God. St. Chrysostom, homily 58, reads from the Septuagint: “Jacob called the name of this place, the appearance of God.” For then God assumed the appearance of man, afterwards the very reality and nature of man: “Foreshowing,” he says, “that He would take human nature. But then, since these were beginnings and first principles, He appeared to each of them in a figure, as He says through Osee, chapter 12: I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets. But when the Lord deigned to take human form, He put on not an apparent flesh only, but a true one.”
Saying: I have seen the Lord face to face. As if to say: I have seen God in a bodily form, represented to me by the angel; for it is certain that Jacob, in this nocturnal and obscure form, did not see the divine essence, nor indeed God properly, but an angel representing God in an assumed body.
Second, and better: “I have seen the Lord face to face,” that is, I have wrestled and fought hand to hand with the angel who represented God, bringing hand to hand, foot to foot, side to side, and joining battle. For so King Amasias says to Joas: “Let us see one another,” that is, let us contend hand to hand in war, 4 Kings 14:8. So Josias saw Pharao, when he was slain in battle by Pharao, 4 Kings chapter 23.
And my soul has been saved. For, as St. Cyril and Cajetan say, it was an old persuasion that he who had seen an angel would die. Whence Manue, having seen the angel, says: “We shall surely die, because we have seen the Lord,” Judges 13:22. Hence Jacob congratulates himself that he has seen God and yet is safe.
Second, and more plainly, St. Chrysostom and Lipomanus: as if to say, by this familiar vision of God, by His benevolence and friendship through His angel, whom I have seen and with whom I have wrestled, I am delivered from fear of my brother, and from every other scruple and anguish. Whence Osee, chapter 12, renders it, I was strengthened; for thenceforth Jacob did not fear his brother, but went to him boldly and confidently.
Hence Cassian and others skilled in spiritual things teach that it is a mark of a good angel if he who appears first strikes the man with terror, but soon consoles the man, wipes away sadness and all clouds of the mind, strengthens him, and leaves him calm and cheerful; the devil does exactly the contrary. So the angel appeared to Josue in a terrible form, holding a drawn sword, but soon consoled and encouraged him, saying: “I am prince of the host of the Lord, and now I am come,” Josue 5:13. So Gedeon, having seen the angel, was struck with fear and thought he must die, but soon heard: “Peace be with thee, fear not, thou shalt not die,” Judges 6:23. So Daniel, having seen the angel of august form, fell down struck and fainted; but was soon raised up and strengthened by the same, Daniel 10:8 and following. So the women coming to the sepulchre of Christ, seeing the angel with an appearance of lightning, were astonished; but he soon said: “Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; he is risen, he is not here,” Mark, last chapter, verse 5.
Gennadius in the Catena thinks that Jacob remained lame thereafter, and the Hebrews hand down that he was at last cured of his lameness when he came to Sichem, or Sichar, which was thence called Salem, that is, perfect, Genesis 33:18, because there Jacob began to walk perfectly.
But Abulensis judges better that Jacob was cured at once by the angel touching and striking him, before he came to Esau on the next day: for why should he remain lame and helpless, especially before his brother, over whom he was to prevail according to the angel’s promise?
32. The children of Israel eat not the sinew. By the sinew understand the muscle by which the thigh is moved and contracted; for the sinew is not usually eaten by many, even among the Gentiles. So Vatablus.
Allegorically, the sinew and flesh of Jacob signify the carnal sense of the old law, which by the wrestling of the angel, that is, of Christ, with Jacob, that is, with the Jews, was to be loosened and dislocated. Hence Judaism began to limp; because one part of it, namely the true Israel, went up to Christ by the staff (of which, verse 10), that is, the cross, says St. Augustine, and this part was blessed by Christ; the other, which would not believe in Christ, went downward, bereft of grace and glory; hence the true sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the letter and of the carnal understanding of the law, which kills. So St. Thomas, and St. Augustine, sermon 80 On the Season.