Theme: Wrestling with God

Exegetical note
The identity of Jacob's opponent is uncertain here, both to the patriarch and to the reader. But the names Israel ("he who strives with God") and Peniel ("the face of God") in the story suggest that the "man" with whom he wrestled throughout the night was actually God, and that what we therefore have here dramatized as a physical altercation is an internal, spiritual struggle. The implication is that, even for those with exemplary faith, encounters with God are not always easy.

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