Genesis 32

Jacob names another place because he sees angels, and send messengers ahead to meet with his brother, Esau, hoping to make Esau happy. When the messengers return they tell him about the 400 men coming with him. Jacob thinks he’s going to be attacked by Esau, so divides everyone up into 2 camps. God tells him not to worry, but he does anyway.

Jacob sends gift of hundreds of sheep and cows and donkeys all hoping to make Esau happy enough not to kill him. Considering that Jacob lied to and cheated him on multiple occasions, I can understand Jacob being worried.

At this point Jacob send everything ahead and stays behind to wrestle with some guy for a long time. A guy who can simple touch his hip and mess him up, but not beat him in a battle. This is a very odd story made even more odd by Jacob then asking the guy for his blessing. At this point the guy gives Jacob a new name, Israel. Jacob thinks the guy was God and names the place.

The chapter ends with Jacob limping off and telling us that Israelites no longer eat the hip tendon because of this.