Genesis 32, Verses 1 – 12 in the Bible
1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
5 And I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Genesis 32 Verses 13 – 23
13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
14 Two hundred female goats, and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty cows, and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten foals.
16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?
18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.
19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.
21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
Genesis 32 Verses 24 – 32
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and knocked the socket of Jacob’s hip, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, unless you bless me.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Eco Bible
Small Vessels by Rabbi Yonatan Neril
Genesis 32:24 – After Taking Them Across the Stream, He Sent Across All His Possessions.
Before Jacob’s epic encounter with Esau – reuniting with his brother after decades of estrangement – Jacob brings his family and possessions across a stream. He then returns at night to the other side of the stream, and the Torah narrates that “Jacob remained alone.” The rabbis see the word “alone” (Levado) as superfluous and understand it as related to the similar sounding Lekado, “for his vessel,” yielding “Jacob remained for his vessel.” That is, say the rabbis, he re-crossed the stream at night to recover a few small vessels he forgot to bring across (Rashi on Genesis 32:25). Why does Jacob, facing an imminent confrontation with Esau and his 400-man militia, leave his family alone and vulnerable at night to recover a few forgotten flasks? Why were they so important to him?
The seeming absurdity of Jacob’s action becomes understandable when one examines his worldview: he believes that everything in his possession comes from God, has a specific purpose, and must be used to its full potential. As one rabbinic commentary explains, each material item that a righteous person uses is a means toward spiritual repair in the world (Orchot Tzadikim on Genesis 32:24). Jacob went back for the vessels to ensure he would use them optimally and realize their full potential.
The righteous strive to recognize the value of their God-given possessions and to be careful with them, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant they are. While not overly attached to material things, they do not dispose of objects prematurely or use them inappropriately.
Jacob’s re-crossing of the stream exposes a striking contrast between two worldviews on material possessions. One sees the things we own as essential and indispensable. The other views them as expendable and disposable. Jacob’s example presents a particular challenge for those of us who live in a world of abundance and built-in obsolescence where it is so easy to throw things away and often difficult to get older things repaired.
Perceptions of Possessions from Genesis 32
Today’s global environmental crises can be pinned on no one group of people or nation. This holds for plastic in the ocean, vast garbage dumps, and climate change. Solving these challenges will require the participation of billions of individuals. It is on this crucial level of the individual that Jacob’s actions can speak so profoundly.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov offers a teaching based on Kabbalistic sources that can also help us understand the likely reason for Jacob’s actions. He wrote, “Everything in the world has in it sparks of holiness . . . According to this understanding, an object comes to a person for the purpose of spiritual elevation, and reuse of a physical object enables a further spiritual elevation of the sparks of holiness within the object”(Likutei Moharan §54c).
By raising the sparks to Heaven, we also refrain from littering the earth. These examples show the relationship our sages had with material objects, and the effort they invested in elevating the holy sparks in the objects.
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