 | VaYishlach |  |
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| | 32:23 |
In the middle of the night he got up, and took his two wives, his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and sent them across the Jabbok River shallows.
Vayakom balaylah hu vayikach et-shtey nashav ve'et-shtey shifchotav ve'et-achar asar yeladav vaya'avor et Ma'avar Yabok. |
| 32:24 |
After he had taken them and sent them across, he also sent across all his possessions.
Vayikachem vaya'avirem et-hanachal vaya'aver et-asher-lo. |
| 32:25 |
Jacob remained alone. A stranger [appeared and] wrestled with him until just before daybreak.
Vayivater Ya'akov levado vaye'avek ish imo ad alot hashachar. |
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Commentary:
Jabbok River
An eastern tributary of the Jordan, about midway between the Kinnereth and the Dead Sea.
| stranger
According to tradition, this was Samael, guardian angel of Esau and the incarnation of Evil (Bereshith Rabbah 77; Rashi; Zohar). See Hosea 12:4,5. Jacob's wrestling with him would symbolize the struggle with evil that he and his descendants would have from this time forth (Bachya; See Handbook of Jewish Thought 4:29). According to others, it was a holy angel, symbolizing Jacob's future struggles with the spiritual (Targum Yonathan; Tanchuma).
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