Genesis Chapter 32 | Preparation to Meet Esau and the Encounter with an Angel

Here’s another example that prayer goes hand in hand with action.

Jacob does as he prays for protection against his brother Esau.

From Jacob to Israel, first mention of Israel is in this chapter of Genesis.

“Jacob Prays to be Rescued from His Brother Esau”
“The Struggle with the Angel”

Jacob went on his way, and angels of God encountered him. Jacob said when he saw them, “This is a Godly camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
32:2-3
Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac; Hashem Who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will do good with you’ –
:10
Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.
:25
When he perceived that he could not overcome him, he struck the socket of his hip; so Jacob’s hip-socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him.
:26
He said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” He said, ‘ ‘No longer will it be said that your name is Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with the Divine and with man and have overcome.”
:28-29
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel – “For I have seen the Divine face to face, yet my life was spared.”
:31
Therefore the Children of Israel are not to eat the displaced sinew on the hip-socket to this day, because he struck Jacob’s hip-socket on the displaced sinew.
:33

1 And Laban arose early in the morning and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them, and Laban went and returned to his place.
2 And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him.
3 And Jacob said when he saw them, “This is the camp of God,” and he named the place Mahanaim.
4 Jacob sent angels ahead of him to his brother Esau, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
5 And he commanded them, saying, “So shall you say to my master to Esau, ‘Thus said your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and I have tarried until now.
6 And I have acquired oxen and donkeys, flocks, manservants, and maidservants, and I have sent to tell [this] to my master, to find favor in your eyes.’ “
7 The angels returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is also coming toward you, and four hundred men are with him.”
8 Jacob became very frightened and was distressed; so he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the cattle and the camels into two camps.
9 And he said, “If Esau comes to one camp and strikes it down, the remaining camp will escape.”
10 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, Who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your birthplace, and I will do good to you.’
11 I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all the truth that You have rendered Your servant, for with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
12 Now deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, lest he come and strike me, [and strike] a mother with children.
13 And You said, ‘I will surely do good with you, and I will make your seed [as numerous] as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of multitude.’”
14 So he lodged there on that night, and he took from what came into his hand a gift for his brother Esau:
15 Two hundred she goats and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
16 Thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she donkeys and ten he donkeys.
17 And he gave into the hands of his servants each herd individually, and he said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and make a space between one herd and another herd.”
18 And he commanded the first one, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and for whom are these before you?’
19 You shall say, ‘[I belong] to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my master, to Esau, and behold, he himself is behind us.’”
20 And he commanded also the second one, also the third one, also all those who followed the herds, saying, “In this manner shall you speak to Esau when you meet him.
21 And you shall say, ‘Also, behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease his anger with the gift that is going before me, and afterwards I will see his face, perhaps he will favor me.”
22 So the gift passed on before him, and he lodged that night in the camp.
23 And he arose during that night, and he took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and he crossed the ford of [the] Jabbok.
24 And he took them and brought them across the stream, and he took across what was his.
25 And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.
26 When he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s hip became dislocated as he wrestled with him.
27 And he (the angel) said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking,” but he (Jacob) said, “I will not let you go unless you have blessed me.”
28 So he said to him, “What is your name?” and he said, “Jacob.”
29 And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have commanding power with [an angel of] God and with men, and you have prevailed.”
30 And Jacob asked and said, “Now tell me your name,” and he said, “Why is it that you ask for my name?” And he blessed him there.
31 And Jacob named the place Peniel, for [he said,] “I saw an angel face to face, and my soul was saved.”
32 And the sun rose for him when he passed Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
33 Therefore, the children of Israel may not eat the displaced tendon, which is on the socket of the hip, until this day, for he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip, in the hip sinew.