"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." (Genesis 32:24)

The following is excerpted from an excellent article by Andrew C. Skinner, "Jacob: Keeper of Covenants," Ensign, March 1998.

"All scripture one way or another points us to the house of the Lord and its covenants, and few episodes in the Old Testament teach us more about temple-centered covenants and promises than the story of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes.

"In the face of every trial, Jacob had remained faithful and God had been with him as promised. It was the Lord that commanded him to leave Laban's land and return to the land of Canaan. Jacob's journey home was remarkable for its divine manifestations. Jacob was returning to face a seemingly inevitable, possibly mortal conflict with Esau — a conflict which had been partially responsible for Jacob's flight from Canaan in the first place. It likely seemed a life crisis of staggering proportion in Jacob's mind. He feared his family faced annihilation.

"That night, as Jacob was settling down, inspiration came. At some point that evening, he was joined by a person who would be with him for the rest of the night. Jacob would not let his visitor leave until the visitor gave him a special blessing. It seems reasonable to suppose that Jacob's wrestle was physical as well as spiritual, because the text is specific in its description of Jacob's dislocated hip. It is not entirely clear from the Bible the nature of Jacob's experience. The Hebrew word used to describe the patriarch's visitor is simply 'ish, meaning 'man,' without overt reference to divine status.

"President Joseph Fielding Smith offered the following: 'Who wrestled with Jacob on Mount Peniel? The scriptures say it was a man. The Bible interpreters say it was an angel. More than likely it was a messenger sent to Jacob to give him the blessing. To think he wrestled and held an angel who couldn't get away, is out of the question. The term angel as used in the scriptures, at times, refers to messengers who are sent with some important instruction. Later in this chapter when Jacob said he had beheld the Lord, that did not have reference to his wrestling.'

"Men and women in every dispensation have had to wrestle at some point in their lives for desired blessings, greater truth, and light from God. President Brigham Young said that all of us are situated 'upon the same ground,' in that we must 'struggle, wrestle and strive until the Lord bursts the vail (sic) and suffers (allows) us to behold his glory, or a portion of it.' And so it was with Jacob on that lonely night near the river Jabbok, when he began to wrestle with a divine visitor for a blessing — a blessing that would burst the veil and shower down on him greater light and glory from God."

Joseph A. Cannon is editor of the Deseret News.

E-MAIL: cannon@desnews.com