Genesis 32 - Jacob's Wrestle

Jacob Wrestling With The Angel by Gustave Dore.

One of the most puzzling stories found in the Old Testament (aka Hebrew Bible) is the story related in Genesis 32: 22-30 about Jacob's contest with the "man" (איש - 'ish).

The story begins with Jacob and several of his family crossing the Jabbok River at night. Jacob  for some reason is left alone and then begins wrestling with the aforementioned man which continues until the break of dawn at which time the man bestows a new name and blessing upon the head of Jacob after realizing that he is unable to defeat him.

The identity of the "man" is not explicity stated in the text but verse 30 implies that the "man" may have been God himself since Jacob declares at the conclusion of the account that he had seen him. Other possibilities have been explored as noted by Esther Hamori in the introduction to her book When Gods Were Men where she states: "The figure defined as an 'ish who wrestles with Jacob (Genesis 32:23-33) has been identified in modern scholarship as an angel, a demon, a man, God, and various other alternatives" (1). Rabbi Louis Ginzberg's compilation of aggadah in his work the Legends of the Jews states that it was the archangel Michael who wrestled with Jacob and Josephus agrees it was an angel but does not provide a name.

Assuming the figure was a heavenly one it seems inconceivable that the wrestling match would last more than just a few seconds or that Jacob would be able to wrestle the being to a stand still. There are elements of the account that suggest there was more going on than is immediately apparent. In verse 24 the word "wrestled" is translated from אבק (abaq) the definition of which is given by Strong as "A primitive root; probably to float away (as vapor)... to bedust, that is grapple: - wrestle". The reason that the concepts of dust and vapor are linked with wrestling in Biblical Hebrew is that when two individuals wrestled they kicked up a significant amount of dust into the air and became covered in the substance themselves. The author of this account may have used this terminology to conceal what was really happening. The imagery of floating away as vapor is reminiscent of Nephi's description of being carried away in the spirit in 1 Nephi 11:1 and the description of Moses being caught away in Moses 1:1. Additionally, we learn from Moses in the Pearl of Great Price that part of Enoch's vision entailed being clothed upon with glory (see Moses 7:3-4). The imagery of being covered in dust as a result of wrestling may have been intended to invoke this idea.


In verses 27-28 of Genesis 32 after requesting a blessing from the heavenly ministrant Jacob is given the new name of Israel which can be translated as one who prevails with God. Receipt of a new name was a feature of some ancient coronation rituals. The image to the right shows two of the names for Pharaoh Tutankhamun - his birth name and his regnal name. At his birth he was named Tutankhaten (which means "living image of Aten") but subsequently changed it to Tutankhamun ("living image of Amun) on account of pressures to disavow his predecessors policy of worshipping Aten to the exclusion of the rest of the Egyptian pantheon. The cartouche on the left bears the name Tutankhamun. The cartouche on the right bears his regnal name which he assumed at his coronation at the age of nine years. His royal name was Nebkheperure ("Lord of the forms of Re).

Additionally, we know that several of the kings of Judah were given royal names upon their ascension to the throne. That list includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Eliakim became Jehoiakim
• Jeconiah became Jehoiachin
• Mattaniah became Zedekiah

Therefore, Jacob's receipt of a new name may be an indication that this account is to be understood in the context of a coronation. This is reinforced by the fact that Jacob is also called a "prince" (שרה - sarah) by the heavenly messenger.

There is one last element in the account which has caused a great deal of debate among Bible scholars and that is when the man touches Jacob's thigh and it becomes disjointed. In verse 32 the Biblical writer mentions that the Israelites of his day did not eat the corresponding sinew on the animals which were used for food in commemoration of this event. The sinew was emblematic of a person's strength and vigor. Saying that the heavenly messenger put his sinew out of joint may have been a way of saying that Jacob's strength was spent by his encounter with the divine.

It is common for those who commune with divine beings to have their strength exhausted by the experience. Moses experienced this in his great theophany (see Moses 1:9-10) as did Joseph Smith in his encounter with the resurrected Moroni (see JS-H 1:48).

Another possibility is that this part of the story refers to another element of Near-eastern ritual. New Kingdom temple rituals were designed to guide the Pharaoh and other high officials through the hazards of the underworld and into the presence of Osiris. This is illustrated beautifully in the papyrus of the scribe of Hunefer found in the British Museum.

In the papyrus, the initiate (in this case Hunefer's scribe, in white) is required to answer the questions posed by numerous divine beings along the top of the papyrus. They ask questions of him to determine his worthiness to proceed along his path. In the lower portion of the image he is taken by the hand of Anubis who guides him to a scale where his heart is weighed against the feather of Maat which represents truth. Having passed the test he is brought before the partition separating him from Osiris by Horus where he enters the presence of Osiris and himself becomes an Osiris for eternity.

As the initiate passed through the partition or veil to join with Osiris he was welcomed by a ritual embrace. A representation of this is found on the back side of the holy of holies in the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. The picture to the left was taken by me when I visited the Karnak Temple in 1999. While it is damaged it is possible to see the ritual embrace of the initiate on the left and the deity on the right.

Clearer images of the ritual embrace can be found in Nibley's book The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, an Egyptian Endowment on page 431 (see below).  Regarding this image Nibley wrote:

"The climax and culmination of the coronation rites was a ritual embrace of father and son designated as shn, the word becoming a terminus technicus for the coronation itself... The shn-rite was taken over from the coronation into the funerary rites, but in either sphere it deals with the embracing of an otherworldly father" (430-1).

This ritual embrace may be alluded to in verse 25 of Genesis 32. Just as the initiate in Egyptian temple rituals was welcomed into the presence of deity following their successful completion of certain tests (or might we say contests?) so Jacob may have experienced something similar in his diving encounter near the Jabbok River.

The description from Nibley's book reads as follows: "Figure 136. (B) The four sides of an eleven-foot pillar, one of eight from the jubilee chapel of Senwosret, show the pharaoh being embraced by four different gods in four different ways, just as the accompanying inscriptions are similar but never the same. Thus the divine family welcomes their son back home. Senwsret I pillar, ca. 1940 B.C. Courtesy of Cairo Museum."

Jachin and Boaz

Model of Solomon's temple showing the two pillars,
Jachin and Boaz.

One feature of the temple of Solomon was a set of brass pillars which sat in the ulam (אוּלם) or porch of the temple at the entrance to the holy place. These pillars were known as Jachin and Boaz and there has been a great deal of discussion about the purpose and meaning of the two columns. A description of Jachin and Boaz can be found in 1 Kings 7:13-22 which lists the following characteristics:

- Each was made of cast bronze by Phoenician craftsmen.

- Each were 18 cubits high and 12 cubits in circumference.

- Each was topped with a capital made of cast bronze 5 cubits high and decorated with a pomegranate and lotus motif.

Several theories have been put forth to explain the meaning of the pillars. Margaret Barker has written the following:

"Some have suggested that the pillars represented sacred trees, fertility symbols. There are stylized trees standing on either side of the entrance on several models of shrines which have been unearthed. Another possibility is that they were fire altars, or that they represented the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud which led the Israelites in the desert." (Barker, Gate of Heaven p.29-30)

Matthew Brown has suggested the pillars represented the king and the Lord and has cited numerous passages from the scriptures to support this idea. (Brown, Gate of Heaven p.117-119)

Another possibility is that the pillars were analogous to the stone obelisks that stood at the entrances to Egyptian temples.

Entrance to the Luxor temple in Upper Egypt. Originally two obelisks stood at the entrance. The other is now located in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France.

This idea was suggested by Flinders Petrie (ref) and seems possible in light of the close cultural affinity which ancient Israel shared with its neighbor. If this is the case then examining what the obelisks represented to the Egyptians may shed some light on the meaning of Jachin and Boaz.

Obelisks were associated with the sun by the Egyptians and were thought to represent the petrified rays of Aten. The pylons which stand behind the obelisks represented the hills between which the sun rose and represented the horizon. The hieroglyph for the word "horizon" was a depiction of the sun rising between the hills (see below) and could also be translated as "mountain of light". (ref)

In ancient Israel the horizon was connected with the concept of eternity (עולם - olam in Hebrew). The place beyond the horizon was distant and hidden just as eternity was. (ref) The holy place and most holy place in the temple represented this distant, hidden place where God's abode was located. Crossing the threshold from the courtyard into the holy place was crossing from profane to sacred space. Likewise in Egyptian temples. The two pillars were located in the porch or אוּלם (ulam) of the temple. This may have been word play with olam (eternity) as the two words are very similar. Therefore, it seems reasonable to suppose that the two bronze pillars, Jachin and Boaz symbolized the horizon, or the barrier between the temporal world and the eternal world just as the obelisks and pylons did in Egyptian temples.

Facsimile 2, Figure 2

For the past week or two I've been reading the new Hugh Nibley book "One Eternal Round". There is a paragraph or two that talks about figure 2 in facsimile number 2 (the hypocephalus) on pages 109 - 110 that I thought was really interesting. Here it is:

"Any point on the rim of a speeding wheel is going either up or down, and no matter how fast the vehicle is moving, that point must stand dead still when it touches the earth - or else the wheel would be skidding. One might call it a singularity, moving up and down at the same time. Yet it is clearly displayed in the important 17th chapter of the Book of the Dead. There we see the sun on the horizon, but it is neither yesterday nor tomorrow...

"The same idea is expressed in Facsimile 2, Figure 2, the two faced god that represents the sun at the zenith and symbolizes the joining together of Re and Osiris... The two come together at, and only at, the indefinable instant of time when the sun reverses its course from a southerly to northerly direction. The Egyptian text explains that this is indeed the combined oneness of Re (who looks forward to the day) with Osiris (who is looking back on it). At that moment his two faces are in both worlds at once, and on some hypocephali the figure is drawn with a double body as well. But it is only for an unthinkable instant, the passing of time from past to future, the fatal paradox or the moment in which we are all living."

I also thought I would add Joseph Smith's commentary on this figure:

"Fig. 2. Stands next to Kolob, called by the Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation near to the celestial or the place where God resides; holding the key of power also, pertaining to other planets; as revealed from God to Abraham, as he offered sacrifice upon an altar, which he had built unto the Lord."

In BYU Studies, vol. 17 (1976-1977) p. 268 Michael Rhodes gave a translation of facsimile 2 and this is what he had to say about figure 2:

"A two-headed deity wearing the double-plumed crown of Amen, with Ram's horns mounted on it. On his shoulders are jackalheads, and he is holding the jackal standard of Wepwawet. To his right is an altar with offerings on and around it. In most hypocephali, he is holding the ankh, or symbol of life, in his right hand. Also to his right a line of hieroglyphics reading: "The name of this Mighty God.

"P.J. de Horrack considers this to be Amen-Re; the two heads illustrating the hidden and mysterious power of Amen combined with the visible and luminous power of Re. fn William Petrie agrees that it is Amen-Re, but sees the two heads as representing the rising and setting sun. fn That the deity is a form of Amen is clear from the fact that he is wearing the double plume crown mentioned in chapter 162 of the Book of the Dead, but why he has jackals' heads on his shoulders and is holding a jackal standard is not so evident. The jackal is generally is used as a symbol of Anubis and Wepwawet, both funerary gods. Anubis being specifically the god assigned to guide the dead through the afterworld to the throne of Osiris. Perhaps due to the funerary character of the hypocephalus, it was thought that Amen should also carry emblems indicative of his power over that realm as well.

"Again, we can compare here the significance ascribed to these characters by Joseph Smith. Where the hypocephalus depicts the two-headed deity holding the symbol of life or power over death, Joseph mentions "holding the key of power." Where an altar is shown, Joseph identifies the principle of "sacrifice upon an altar" as revealed by God to Abraham. A hidden power seems to be associated with the name of the two-headed God, who probably serves as a guide for the dead bring them into the presence of God. This might concur with Joseph's explanation that this figure "stands next to Kolob," as a guide surely must do if the is going to be able to lead the dead to God."

Karnak Coronation Ritual

In honor of my friend Josh and his family who just moved to Cairo I am posting a photograph I took of a relief depicting a coronation ritual at the Karnak Temple near Luxor, Egypt. In the relief are a series of panels which are intended to be viewed as a succession of events similar to a comic strip. In the first panel the initiate (Pharaoh) is washed by two individuals who appear to be Thoth and Horus. Next Pharaoh is crowned and an ankh is placed in his mouth. Finally he passes through the curtain and into the presence of Osiris.

This relief has been a source of interest for Latter-Day Saint scholars because the themes of washing, coronation and union with deity can also be found in modern temples. Additionally, kings in ancient Egypt typically had two names. One name was given at birth and the other was given at the monarch's coronation. Taking upon oneself additional names is another theme found in modern temples as well as in the ordinance of baptism.

I AM THAT I AM

In Exodus chapter 3 Moses tells the story of when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush and called him to deliver Israel from Egypt. In verse 13 Moses asks an interesting question.

He asks:

"when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?"

The Lord gives his answer in verses 14 and 15:

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

In a lecture given at the BYU Kennedy Center on 8 March 2007 Gary A. Rendsburg, chair of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University gave a fascinating lecture in which he talked about a possible reason for Moses' question (lecture can be watched here). Professor Rendsburg mentioned an Egyptian myth (found on Papyrus Turin 1993) called the Unknown Name of Ra in which Isis tricks Ra into revealing his secret name.

Isis does this by taking some dirt into which Ra had spit and then fashoning it into a venomous snake. The serpent then bites Ra who is tormented by the poison coursing through his body. He asks for Isis's help who in turn asks for his secret name by explaining "Tell me your name, my divine father. A man lives when called by his name". Eventually Ra gives in and tells her his secret name and is then healed. This story illustrates that the Egyptians believed that there is power to be had by knowing a god's secret name. When Moses came to the Israelites (who by this time had been in Egypt for generations and were steeped in Egyptian myth) he presumed that they would want to know the secret name of God.

In the KJV the name the Lord gave to Moses has been translated into English as "I AM THAT I AM". The phrase "I AM THAT I AM" can be confusing to modern English speakers because it's meaning isn't very clear. The phrase comes from the Hebrew "Ehyiah asher Ehyiah" which can be translated various ways. According to John Gill's Exposition of the Bible the English rendering of this phrase from the Targum Jonathan is "I am he that is, and that shall be" which makes more sense than the phrase "I AM THAT I AM". The Targum Jonathan translation sounds very similar to the Lord's introduction to the apostle John in Revelation chapter 1 verse 8:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty

In these verses Jehovah seems to be teaching Moses and John important truths regarding his mission and Eternal nature. The Greek letters alpha and omega are, respectively, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. During John's time Greek was the lingua franca of the Hellenistic world and was the original language of the New Testament. John's audience would have understood what the Lord meant when he described himself as "Alpha and Omega". At the time of Moses the Israelites were unfamiliar with the Greek alphabet of John's day so, of course, this phrase is not used but in both instances the Lord seems to be communicating similar ideas.