The patriarch had been absent from his parents’ home because he feared the justified wrath of his brother Esav. Hadn’t he unlawfully obtained the patriarchal blessing to the detriment of his brother? His parents warned him of possible fraternal revenge and Yaacov found refuge in the home of his uncle Lavan, where he married his two daughters. Including the concubines awarded to him. Yaacov became the progenitor of twelve children who, in turn, fathered the twelve tribes of Israel.
After twenty years of absence from the parental home, the moment of return arrived. In recent days, Yaacov had concluded that Lavan’s influence had rubbed off on him and that the time had come to face reality: his brother’s anger. But this time he was accompanied by twelve men, a multitude of servants and thousands of heads of animals that made up his herd. The scouts he sent reported that Esav was coming to meet him with four hundred men, a number that augured a warlike confrontation. Yaacov had to prepare.
The night before the meeting he went out alone, probably to ponder the possible outcome of the following day. He ran into an ish, an enigmatic human or angel whom he had to fight until dawn. Who was this iconic figure? Was he a man, a devil or an angel? If he was indeed an angel, what had been his mission? There are those who think that it was Esav’s protective angel who came to wound Yaacov to weaken him before the next day’s meeting between the brothers. Others believe that he was Yaacov’s protective angel, whose mission was to train him and teach him how to overcome Esav.
Rambam thinks that this episode happened in Yaacov’s brain. It was a dream. Such as the donkey of Bileam who, years later, would speak only in the mind of the prophet. A kind of fantasy that had a prophetic quality. According to Rambam, the biblical text perhaps refers to the fight that Yaacov had to wage against himself. The dream had had a real impact because it injured his thigh.
Rabbi Yosef Karo considers the experiences of the patriarchs to augur the future of the Hebrew nation. Abraham’s journey to Egypt in response to the Canaan famine predicted the exile of his descendants into Egyptian slavery. The events that accompanied the life of Yitschak correspond to the exile in Babylon, and Yaacov exemplifies the millennial exile of the Hebrew people. Now, Esav demands the return of the paternal blessing and the rights of the firstborn that Yaacov took away. Esav knows he has no merit for it and sends his protective angel to fight Yaacov. Yaacov comes out victorious of the encounter and the angel blesses him and thus confirms who owns the blessing that the old patriarch Yitschak had given.
The case of the primogeniture is different: Karo thinks that the wound that Yaacov receives in the thigh is a sign that this matter has not been resolved. With the gifts that Yaacov offers to Esav in this anticipated meeting, the full payment for the birthright is fulfilled, since Esav knows that he does not possess the moral integrity to assume the religious leadership of the family, a primordial function of the primogeniture. Yaacov’s limp is cured after Esav accepts his brother’s gifts.
Shaul Regev quotes Rabbi Eliecer Ashkenazi, who believes that the birthright was legally acquired by Yaacov. He even received a document signed by Esav which, as was the custom, he tied around his waist and this is the reason why the angel attacked him in that area of his body. The idea is that Yaacov did not acquire that right through a stratagem, behavior that is derived from the etymology of his name Yaacov. Therefore, the angel changed his name from Yaacov to Israel, whose meaning is authority.
Abarbanel, who points to Rambam’s interpretation that everything had happened in the course of a prophetic stupor, differentiates between “dream” and “vision.” In the case of a “prophetic vision,” the events take on a tangible reality, as in the case of the three characters who appeared before the convalescent Abraham after his circumcision.
For Abarbanel, he was not just a person who wanted to eliminate Yaacov; the angel represented a nation and, therefore, the fight against Israel did not end with that episode. The Jewish people will not be defeated, but they will be wounded. As long as Israel resides in Esav’s territory, while it is in exile, it will have to suffer injuries. But when the final redemption comes, the other peoples will have to offer him a blessing and, in this way, they will confirm the authenticity and legitimacy of the original blessing Yaacov received from the elder Yitschak.
