Jacob Wrestles the man-God: An Embodied Reading of Genesis 32.24-32

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to uncover the significance of Jacob’s wrestling in Genesis 32:24-32. Although the wrestling is a key feature of Jacob’s encounter, wrestling itself is almost completely absent from the rest of the Hebrew Bible. This raises the question of why out of a number of possible interactions, it is wrestling that occurs. This question is already suggested by interpretations within the reception history of this text that it could have been otherwise. This study investigates Jacob’s wrestling through the embodied philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and an ethnography of combat sport participants. As a fellow participant, I enter into the experiences of Mixed Martial Arts fighters, wrestlers, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu practitioners to understand its purpose and possible spiritual impact. Through over 30 interviews that are analysed in terms of Merleau-Ponty’s focus on the “flesh,” I am able to develop a body-focused and combat-calibrated approach with which to explore the significance of Jacob’s wrestling. This study tracks how Jacob’s wrestling intersects with the phenomena of body, gender, and violence. This highlights a particular dynamic that is unique to the combative interaction Jacob has with his opponent, a figure that I term the man-God. It is a dynamic that holds in tension a number of opposing qualities that almost appear to be reversible. The bodies of Jacob and the man-God are built up as they are broken down, their genders emerge as they disappear, and they rival one another in their co-operative struggle. This study demonstrates that what is fundamental to this combative dynamic is both a struggle against and a struggle with. This is a wrestling dynamic that incorporates both the embrace and resistance, something that sets it apart from other similar physical activities. This has important implications for understanding the intersubjectivity of Jacob and the man-God in their encounter, in the wider Jacob story, and for combat sport in general.