One of the purposes of the opening narrative of Genesis is to show that Yahweh, as the one-and-only Creator of the cosmos, is also the One who reigns supreme. Part of this can be seen in Yahweh’s role as Name-Giver; For in the ancient world, to name someone, or something, meant that one had power/authority/dominion over that thing. This held true for the Israelites, as well; And as Yahweh brings order to an existence which had thus far been formless and void, we see Him naming throughout the first three days:
The light He called “Day”.
The darkness He called “Night.”
The firmament He called “Sky”.
The dry He called “Land”.
The gathering of the waters He called “Seas”.
The above emphasizes that the expanse of Yahweh’s dominion extends to the far reaches of all time (covering both day and night) as well as space (air, land, and sea). However, even while Yahweh continues creating and ordering the universe for the next three days, it’s not until later when we get the next occurrence of naming, and this time from a different source;
Then Yahweh-Elohim fashioned from the ground all of the living-beings-of-the-field and all of the flyers-of-the-heavens and brought them to the man, to see what he would call them; And everything that the man would call them, all the breathing-living-beings, that would be their name. Then the man gave names to all of the beasts, and to all of the flyers-of-the-heavens, and to all of the living-beings-of-the-field.
Given the fact that man is called to be Yahweh’s representatives on earth- Living and reigning while conducting themselves as reflecting the Image-of-Elohim, Yahweh’s giving man the power to name is a significant gesture; As if Yahweh is handing over His Royal signet ring, or His seal.
He even says as much;
Let us make man in Our Image, according to Our Likeness! They shall rule the fishes of the sea, the flyers-of-the-heavens, the beasts and all in the land, and over all the creepers that crawl in the land!
With all of this in mind, let's turn to the the story of Yaakov’s midnight encounter with the mysterious and enigmatic figure who jumps him in the night, and see some of these themes resurface. (Gen 32.21-32)
Here is the story translated to modern English from the Hebrew we have from the Israelites.
A brief commentary follows.
Yaakov and his tribe were encamping.
But then in the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, his 11 sons, and crossed over the Wadi-Jabbok. He took them, and brought them over the wadi, and brought over all that was his.
And then Yaakov remained alone.
And a man came and wrestled with him until the breaking of the dawn. But he saw that he could not prevail over him, and so he touched his hip-socket, and Yaakov’s hip was dislocated when he wrestled with him.
And he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”
And he said, “I will not let you go until you bless me!”
And he said to him, “What is your name?”
And he said, “Yaakov!”
And he said, “No longer will it be said that Yaakov is your name. But; “Yisrael” For you have contended/saritha with elohim and with men, and you have prevailed!”
Then Yaakov asked, “Tell me your name!”
And he said, “Why are you asking thusly for my name?” And he blessed him there.
Then Yaaakov called the name of the place, P’ni-El/Face-of-El, for I have seen Elohim face-to-face, and my life was spared!
And the sun shone upon him when he crossed over P’nuel.
Commentary
I want to start off by looking into the very meaning of Yaakov's newly-given name- one of my favorites from Genesis, which reflects a part of Yaakov's very nature; As Yisrael, he is now known as the Contender-with-El, to be locked in battle with divinity, but also destined to prevail!
The Hebrew story as we have inherited it gives no further clarification about this conflict, and so it is left to us to suppose as we will. I’d like to propose an idea in light of the opening passages of creation discussed above; The realm of man is the realm of a blurring of lines. For man is adam min ha’adamah, created from the very soil of the very earth; But shaped so as to have the potential to reflect the Image-of-Elohim, reigning on this earth as would a Just-and-Compassionate King.
And yet, it can be a dangerous thing when Divine Authority is wielded by feeble, fallible man, once one realizes that such power can be abused, and misappropriated towards pursuing the selfish satiation of primal pleasure.
Esau, in being a hunter, saw himself as a god striding amongst the animals of the wild, his weapons in hand, killing and gorging with impunity.
Meanwhile Yaakov, dwelling in tents, prepared foods from lentils rather than flesh pillaged from the innocent (see our A Justified Conspiracy). They had clashed in the past, and Yaakov outmaneuvered and triumphed over Esau. Very soon they will clash again; And through their descendants, their clash will be destined to occur time and time and time again; For the Israelites will find themselves living in a world of people presuming to be gods, wielding authority over the life and death of others more vulnerable than they; People who think so highly of themselves, and so lowly of others that they will even prioritize their lust for taste over another’s right-to-LIFE.
It is with these would-be-(false)-gods, these humans twisting and distorting what it means to don the Divine-Image, with whom Yisrael is destined to be locked in conflict; But over whom, with the support and help of Yahweh, he will ultimately triumph.
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