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Genesis 32

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1 2 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God came·​·upon him.

2 3 And Jacob said when he saw them, This is the camp of God; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim*.

3 4 And Jacob sent messengers before him, to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

4 5 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau, Thus says thy servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have delayed until now.

5 6 And I had ox and donkey, flock and manservant and handmaid; and I send to tell my lord, to find grace in thine eyes.

6 7 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau, and he even walks to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

7 8 And Jacob feared exceedingly, and was·​·distressed; and he halved the people that was with him, and the flock, and the herd, and the camels, into two camps.

8 9 And he said, If Esau come to the one camp and smite it, then there will be a camp left to escape.

9 10 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who says to me, Return to thy land, and to thy birth place, and I will do·​·well with thee;

10 11 I am·​·smaller than all the mercies and all the truth which Thou hast done with Thy servant; for with my stick I crossed·​·over this Jordan, and now I am in two camps.

11 12 Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother above the sons*.

12 13 And Thou saidst, Doing·​·well I will do·​·well with thee, and I will make* thy seed as the sand of the sea, which is not numbered for multitude.

13 14 And in that night he passed·​·the·​·night there, and he took of that which came into his hand a gift for Esau his brother:

14 15 two·​·hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two·​·hundred ewes and twenty rams;

15 16 the nursing camels and their young were thirty; forty she·​·calves and ten bullocks, twenty she·​·donkeys and ten colts.

16 17 And he gave into the hand of his servants each drove alone, and said to his servants, Pass·​·on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.

17 18 And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother encounters thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou? And whither goest thou? And whose are these before thee?

18 19 Then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob’s; this is a gift sent to my lord Esau, and behold, he also is behind us.

19 20 And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all that went after the droves, saying, According·​·to this word shall you speak to Esau, when you find him.

20 21 And you shall also say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will make·​·atonement to his faces with a gift·​·offering that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his faces; perhaps he will accept my faces.

21 22 And the gift·​·offering passed·​·on before him, and in that night he lodged in the camp.

22 23 And he rose·​·up in the night, and took his two women, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and crossed·​·over the fords of Jabbok.

23 24 And he took them, and caused them to cross·​·over the brook, and caused to pass what he had.

24 25 And Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn came·​·up.

25 26 And he saw that he prevailed not over him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of the thigh of Jacob was disjointed in his wrestling with him.

26 27 And he said, Let· me ·go, for the dawn comes·​·up. And he said, I will not let· thee ·go, unless thou bless me.

27 28 And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 29 And he said, Thy name shall no more be said to be Jacob, but Israel; for as·​·a·​·prince thou hast contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 30 And Jacob asked and said, Tell, I pray, thy name. And he said, Why is this that thou dost ask as·​·to my name? And he blessed him there.

30 31 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for I have seen God faces to faces, and my soul is rescued.

31 32 And the sun rose to him as he crossed·​·over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.

32 33 Therefore the sons of Israel eat not the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even·​·to this day, for he touched in the hollow of Jacob’s thigh the sinew of that which was displaced.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

Iz Swedenborgovih djela

 

Arcana Coelestia #4281

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4281. 'The hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him' means that in the descendants of Jacob that conjunction had been thoroughly damaged and the two loves pulled apart. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'wrestling' in this sense as being pulled apart and so suffering damage. It is evident from what has been stated above in 4280 that 'the hollow of the thigh' means a joining together; and that 'Jacob' in the Word means not only Jacob but also all his descendants is clear from very many places, such as Numbers 23:7, 10, 21, 23; 24:5, 17, 19; Deuteronomy 33:10; Isaiah 40:27; 43:1, 22; 44:1-2, 21; 48:12; 59:20; Jeremiah 10:16, 25; 30:7, 10, 18; 31:7, 11; 46:27-28; Hosea 10:11; Amos 7:2; Micah 2:12; 3:8; Psalms 14:7; 24:6; 59:13; 78:5; 99:4; and in other places.

[2] Jacob and his descendants were by nature such that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be joined to natural good, that is, the internal or spiritual man could not be joined to the external or natural man. This is evident from the details told in the Word concerning that nation. For they neither knew nor wished to know what the internal or spiritual man was, and therefore that matter was not revealed to them. In fact it was their belief that nothing existed with man apart from the external and natural. Nor in all their worship did they have anything else in mind, so that Divine worship with them was wholly idolatrous; for once internal worship is separated from external, it is nothing but idolatrous. The Church which was established among them was not in fact a Church but only a representative of the Church, for which reason that Church is called a representative Church. For it was possible for a representative of the Church to exist among such people, see 1361, 3670, 4208.

[3] Indeed in representations no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to the thing represented by him. Consequently not only persons represented Divine, celestial, or spiritual things, but also inanimate objects, such as Aaron's garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep which used to be sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of the presence on the table of gold, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other objects like these. This was why their kings, bad ones no less than the good, represented the Lord's kingship, and why their high priests, bad ones no less than the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord's Divine priesthood, when they performed their own function in external form according to the prescribed rules and commands. In order therefore that among them a representative of the Church might come into existence they were provided through plainly visible revelation with such prescribed rules and such laws as would be entirely representative. Therefore as long as they kept to them and strictly complied with them, those people were able to play a representative role. But when they deviated from them into the prescribed rules and laws of other nations, and in particular to the worship of another god, they deprived themselves of their ability to play that representative role. For this reason they were coerced by external means - which were captivities, calamities, threats, and miracles - into obeying laws and prescribed rules that were truly representative, not by internal means, as those people are whose external worship has internal within it. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal historical sense by the words 'the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint', which sense has regard to Jacob and his descendants.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.