{"id":355,"date":"2026-09-21T19:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/?p=355"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:42:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:42:05","slug":"jacobs-struggle-when-the-struggle-becomes-a-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soul4you.net\/en\/2026\/09\/21\/jakob-tusakodasa-amikor-a-kuzdelem-aldassa-valik\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob\u2019s Struggle: When Struggle Becomes a Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A whole night spent facing a single stranger, who turns out to be: you yourself<\/em><\/p>\n

Soul4you \u00b7 Georgina Kovacs \u00b7 Article 3 from the series \u201eThe Birth of Choice\u201d \u2014 reading time: approx. 12 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

In the previous episode, Isaac rose from the sacrificial altar \u2014 or, to be more precise, there was never any question of him being killed. The Hebrew haal\u00e9hu<\/em> He did not ask Abraham to kill his son, but to take him up the mountain. The Korb\u00e1n<\/em> (Hebrew: offering, literally \u201ebringing near\u201d) is not a sacrifice, but a drawing near. We have seen that devotion is not a loss, but a drawing near.<\/p>\n

Now comes another night, by a ford. Here, someone isn\u2019t struggling to get closer. They\u2019re struggling because they can\u2019t \u2013 and perhaps don\u2019t even want to \u2013 run away.<\/p>\n

Imagine wrestling all night with someone whose face you cannot see. You don\u2019t know whether they are an enemy or an ally. You don\u2019t know whether they want to kill you or bless you.<\/p>\n

All you know is this: if you let her go now, you\u2019ll lose the chance to find out who she is \u2014 and who you are. This is what happens to a man in the Book of Genesis, in the space of a single night, on the banks of a single river. By morning, he gets up limping and has a new name.<\/p>\n

But the story is not about the limp, nor is it about the name. It is about Jacob not letting go of someone all night long \u2014 he will not let go until he sees who he is actually wrestling with. It is this realisation that makes the struggle a blessing: not that he wins, but that he does not run away until he knows who he is up against.<\/p>\n

I. The ford where Jacob was left alone<\/h2>\n

Jacob is on his way home when he learns that his elder brother, Esau, is approaching him with four hundred men. They had not seen each other for twenty years \u2014 ever since Jacob had deceived him to obtain the birthright blessing and had been forced to flee. Now, at the ford of the River Jabbok, Jacob sends everything across to the other side: his two wives, his two servants, his eleven children, and all his possessions.<\/p>\n

\u201eThat very night he got up, took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and led them across the stream, and then took everything he owned and carried it over to the other side. Jacob was left alone.\u201d (Genesis 32:23\u201325, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Hebrew text reads as follows: Vajivvat\u00e9r Jaakov Levadd\u00f3<\/em> \u2014 \u201eAnd Jacob was left alone\u201d. Rabbinic tradition (Bereishit Rabbah 77:1) dwells at length on this sentence: it is no coincidence that Jacob first sends everything across, and only then is left alone.<\/p>\n

The continuation: \u201eand a man wrestled with him until the break of day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the struggle begins, one must let go of everything. That is the first message. Only then can the real question be asked: who will Jacob wrestle with when there is no one else left for him to pay attention to?<\/p>\n

II. The scuffle \u2014 the accuracy of the text<\/h2>\n

\u201eAnd a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the socket of his hip, and Jacob\u2019s hip was dislocated whilst he wrestled with him.\u201d (Gen 32:25\u201326, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Hebrew verb here vajje\u00e1vek<\/em>. Its root, avak<\/em> (Hebrew: dust, or to wrestle), meaning both a struggle and dust. According to Rashi (Shlomo ben Yitzhak, 11th century, based on Genesis 32:25 and Bereshit Rabbah 77:3), the struggle raised a cloud of dust which rose all the way to the heavenly throne. The struggle is therefore a dusty, physical, earthly reality \u2014 not an abstract vision.<\/p>\n

Who is this attacker? Tradition offers no single answer. According to Rashi, it is Esau corner<\/em> (in Hebrew: \u201eEsau\u2019s heavenly patron\u201d, his guardian angel). According to Ramban (Moses ben Nachman, 13th century), he was an angel sent by God as a test. According to Ibn Ezra (12th century), the entire scene was a prophetic vision, not a physical struggle.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter exactly who the attacker was. What matters is that Jacob won\u2019t let anyone go until he knows who he\u2019s up against.<\/em><\/p>\n

Esau is approaching with four hundred men (Gen 32:7) \u2014 this weight is also there in the background. At the ford, Jacob is facing not only his own past, but also the weight of an entire legacy.<\/p>\n

III. Why the hip\u2019s rotator bone, of all things?<\/h2>\n

The attacker does not strike Jacob at random. The text specifies exactly where: the hip socket (in Hebrew kaf ha-jerekh<\/em>, \u201ethe top of the thigh\u201d). The sciatic nerve, the body\u2019s largest nerve \u2014 the one that enables us to walk, run and flee \u2014 passes through this point.<\/p>\n

Anatomically speaking, the consequence of the impact is exactly as described in the text: a limp, but not death. A sprain is not life-threatening, but it makes escape impossible.<\/p>\n

Tradition interprets this in several ways. Rashi (based on Chullin 91a) states that the thigh is the seat of descent (Gen 46:26). According to Malbim (19th century), it is the centre of balance and gait \u2014 and thus the seat of the ability to flee. The Kabbalistic tradition, meanwhile, interprets it as the physical manifestation of will and perseverance.<\/p>\n

The point of contact also carries a symbolic message: one cannot run away from the past forever. One must face it eventually. Jacob had not seen his elder brother for twenty years, and the blow strikes precisely the part of the body he used to flee.<\/p>\n

Where in your life is that one thing you\u2019ve been trying not to put any weight on for years, because you know that if it\u2019s touched, you\u2019ll be limping afterwards?<\/em><\/p>\n

IV. \u201eI won\u2019t let you go until you bless me\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201eThen he said, \u00bbLet me go, for the dawn is breaking.\u00ab But she replied, \u00bbI will not let you go until you have blessed me.\u00ab\u201d (Gen 32:27, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

By this point, Jacob\u2019s hip was already dislocated. He is in physical pain. Yet he does not let go of his attacker.<\/p>\n

This sentence structure is rare in the Bible: Jacob does not ask for healing, mercy or deliverance, but for a blessing. This is where the article gets to its real heart: Jacob does not remain in the struggle because he wants to win. He remains because he senses that this is no ordinary opponent. And until he knows who he is fighting, he cannot let go.<\/p>\n

The blessing does not come from my victory. It comes from the fact that you did not give up the fight until you saw who you were fighting against.<\/em><\/p>\n

Twenty years earlier, Jacob had obtained the blessing intended for his elder brother by deceit (Gen 27). Now, at the ford of the Jabbok, he asks for that very same blessing. But no longer by deceit \u2014 rather, facing it head-on, alone, and limping.<\/p>\n

Asking for a blessing is thus also an act of seeking forgiveness. He no longer wishes to misappropriate the stolen blessing, but to validate it \u2014 through inner acceptance, not through external subterfuge.<\/p>\n

The motif of clinging is linked to the scene of his birth: Jacob was already clinging to Esau\u2019s heel at the moment of his birth \u2014 which is where he got his name (Yaakov<\/em>, \u201ewho clings to his heel\u201d, Gen 25:26). The act of clinging is the same gesture. But now it stems from a different motive: not from acquisition, but from confrontation.<\/p>\n

Imagine someone lying awake at night, with a long-standing conflict on their mind \u2014 with a sibling, an ex-partner, or a colleague. They toss and turn, look at their phone, then put it down. They can\u2019t sleep because they can\u2019t let go of the thought: what they should have said differently.<\/p>\n

At three o\u2019clock in the morning, he realises: he isn\u2019t really fighting the other person at all. He is struggling with what the other person has brought out in him \u2014 his own sense of hurt, his own compulsion to justify himself. From that moment on, he cannot extricate himself from the situation until he understands what it is that is really holding him back.<\/p>\n

He wakes up in the morning, feeling tired but with a clearer head. He hasn\u2019t resolved the conflict. But he now knows what he\u2019s up against.<\/p>\n

V. \u201eHe shall no longer be called Jacob\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u201eThen he said to him, \u00bbWhat is your name?\u00ab He replied, \u00bbJacob.\u00ab And he said, \u00bbYour name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.\u00ab\u201d (Genesis 32:28\u201329, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

According to tradition, the man\u2019s question \u2014 \u201eWhat is your name?\u201d \u2014 is not a request for information, but a test. When his father had previously asked him who he was, Jacob lied: \u201eI am Esau\u201d (Genesis 27:18\u201319).<\/p>\n

Now, by the ford, alone and limping, he utters his own name: \u201eJacob\u201d. Only then \u2014 after uttering his real name \u2014 does the new name come to him. This sequence is no accident: first you must admit who you really are; only then can you be given a new name.<\/p>\n

The name itself, in short: the Hebrew Yaakov<\/em> means \u201eone who clings to his heel\u201d; in a broader sense, \u201eone who outwits\u201d (Ter 27:36). The new name, Israel<\/em>, which, according to the text (Gen 32:29), means: \u201ehe who wrestled with God and men, and prevailed\u201d \u2014 or Crap Life<\/em>, \u201eGod, my Ruler\u201d. Modern biblical scholarship considers both readings to be valid (based on Victor P. Hamilton\u2019s commentary).<\/p>\n

According to M\u00e1lbim\u2019s observation, the old name is not erased: later on (from Genesis 33 onwards), Jacob is referred to by both his names, alternately. The new name does not replace the old one, but is added to it. The trace of the old reality remains, whilst the new state is already in effect \u2014 just as the limp remains alongside the blessing.<\/p>\n

VI. Dawn \u2014 the boundary between light and darkness<\/h2>\n

Before Jacob could see God face to face, dawn broke. The text emphasises this twice: \u201euntil the break of dawn\u201d (Gen 32:25), and \u201eLet me go, for the dawn is breaking\u201d (Gen 32:27). This is not a mere embellishment.<\/p>\n

The Hebrew word for \u2018dawn\u2019 S\u00e1ch\u00e1r<\/em> (Hebrew: dawn, daybreak \u2014 but the root also means \u2018to be dark\u2019 or \u2018to be dim\u2019). The word therefore embodies the twilight before dawn: that moment when the darkest part of the night is beginning to fade, but the sun has not yet risen. At this point, dawn is not the triumph of light over darkness, but the point where the two meet.<\/p>\n

According to Rashi (on Genesis 32:27), the angels must return to God at dawn to sing the morning hymn of praise \u2014 which is why the attacker asks Jacob to let him go. The Kabbalistic tradition interprets the night as a crisis of faith, and dawn as the light that arrives after the struggle.<\/p>\n

Dawn appears on several occasions in the biblical text as a turning point: Lot is urged by dawn to flee from Sodom (Gen 19:15), the walls of Jericho fall after a march lasting until dawn (Joshua 6:15), and Samuel rouses Saul at the break of dawn (1 Samuel 9:26). It always marks the transition between the hidden and the obvious.<\/p>\n

At the ford of the Jabbok, Jacob\u2019s situation is precisely this: it is still dark, he is still limping, and he has not yet seen Esau. The attack comes to an end at daybreak, but the realisation of who he has been wrestling with all night only dawns on him in the very next moment.<\/p>\n

VII. Peni\u00e9l \u2014 scene by scene<\/h2>\n

\u201eJacob asked, \u00bbPlease tell me your name.\u00ab But he replied, \u00bbWhy do you ask my name?\u00ab Then he blessed him there. And Jacob called that place Peniel, for he said, \u00bbI have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.\u00ab\u201d (Gen 32:30\u201331, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

Peni\u00e9l \u2014 in Hebrew pen\u00e9-\u00c9l<\/em>, \u201eThe Face of God\u201d. The name comes from the panim el panim<\/em> It derives from the expression \u201eface to face\u201d, which in the Bible denotes a special closeness (Exodus 33:11: \u201eThe Lord spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend\u201d).<\/p>\n

According to tradition, anyone who sees God face to face will die (Ex 33:20). Jacob, however, survives, and commemorates this by naming the place.<\/p>\n

After the struggle, Jacob does not say, \u201eI have overcome\u201d. He says, \u201eI have seen him face to face\u201d.<\/p>\n

The focus is not on victory. The focus is on insight. What is at stake in the night-time struggle is not who remains standing, but what the fighter recognises in it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here, Jacob does not wake up from a dream \u2014 the Bible does not explicitly state that he \u201ewoke up\u201d, just as it did not do so earlier in the case of Adam, when the tardem\u00e1h<\/em> (Hebrew: a deep, induced trance-like state) came over him. But something changes: Jacob is the first to describe precisely what happened to him. Not as an escape, not as a victory \u2014 but as a vision.<\/p>\n

If you had to grapple with an old conflict all night until morning, what would you say about it in the morning: \u201eI\u2019ve overcome it\u201d or \u201eI\u2019ve come to terms with it\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

VIII. The Lameness \u2014 Conclusion of the Text<\/h2>\n

\u201eThe sun had risen above him as he left Penuel, and he was limping on his hip.\u201d (Gen 32:32, SZIT)<\/em><\/p>\n

The story does not end with a recovery. Jacob does not get up fully recovered. He limps.<\/p>\n

The lasting nature of the hip injury is no coincidence. The memory of it remains \u2014 both in Jacob\u2019s body and in the dietary habits of the people of Israel: tradition holds that the nikkur<\/em> (Hebrew: the removal of the sciatic nerve from the thigh of a kosher animal) remains part of Jewish halakhic<\/em> (Hebrew: relating to religious law) practice.<\/p>\n

A blessing does not heal the wound. They coexist \u2014 just as the whole night was not a single flash, but a prolonged process, the traces of which the body continues to bear.<\/p>\n

The name of the river, Jabbok, means \u2018emptying\u2019 in Hebrew \u2014 the jbq<\/em> The root of the word means \u201eto pour out\u201d. This is precisely what Jacob did at the ford: he let go, outwards, of everything that had hitherto protected and defined him, and, inwards, of that which he had hitherto used to take refuge in.<\/p>\n

IX. So what should we do?<\/h2>\n

The story of Jacob is not about avoiding struggle. It is about how there comes a point where struggle is no longer an enemy, but a prerequisite for the next step.<\/p>\n

Three exercises you can try today, if you like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The practice of river crossing.<\/strong> Take a sheet of paper and write down what it is that you\u2019re currently carrying around with you \u2014 an object, a role, a habit, a relationship \u2014 that weighs you down rather than builds you up. You don\u2019t have to let it go straight away. Just name it. The first step in letting go is always to name it.<\/li>\n
  2. The question of the night.<\/strong> If you were to find yourself \u201ewrestling\u201d with an old conflict until morning \u2014 a grievance, an unfinished conversation \u2014 ask yourself: what would you like to see by morning, if you were seeking insight rather than victory?<\/li>\n
  3. Acceptance of limping.<\/strong> Think of an old wound that has now healed, but has left a scar. Instead of hiding it or feeling ashamed of it, say to yourself: \u201eThis is proof that I\u2019ve got through it.\u201d Notice how you change when you treat the scar not as a flaw, but as a reminder.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    X. The arc that takes you further<\/h2>\n

    Jacob wakes up in the morning, limping but blessed \u2014 and what follows is not the end of the struggle, but an encounter: he must face Esau, the man he deceived twenty years ago. The night of the struggle had prepared him not to experience this encounter as a flight.<\/p>\n

    The next section deals with Joseph\u2019s forgiveness. There, it will no longer be a matter of a single night\u2019s struggle, but of twenty-two years of grievance \u2014 of what happens when one has to contend not with a stranger until dawn, but with those who once cast him into the pit.<\/p>\n

    Your dream<\/h2>\n

    Is there a \u201ecrossroads\u201d in your life right now where you feel you\u2019ll soon have to be on your own \u2014 before anything can move forward?<\/p>\n

    Who have you been fighting with all night \u2014 and are you sure you know who it was?<\/p>\n

    What would it mean to you if, when recounting an old struggle, you didn\u2019t describe it as a victory or a defeat, but rather said: \u201eI realised something\u201d?<\/p>\n

    Is there a scar \u2014 physical or emotional \u2014 that you\u2019ve kept hidden until now, but which you could try to see today as a mark of your past rather than something to be ashamed of?<\/p>\n

    If so, then perhaps you already know: the person you\u2019re wrestling with all night long is you. And dawn is already on its way.<\/p>\n

    With love,<\/p>\n

    Georgina<\/p>\n

    Soul4you \u00b7 soul4you.net<\/p>\n

    Sources<\/h2>\n

    Biblical text and linguistic background<\/h3>\n