Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina said: It was Esau’s guardian angel. That is what he said to him: “For therefore, I have seen your face, as the sight of the face of angels, and you welcomed me” (Genesis 33:10). “He saw that he could not prevail against him, and he touched the joint of his thigh; the joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him” (Genesis 32:26). This is analogous to an athlete who was standing and wrestling with the king’s son.
He lifted his eyes, saw the king standing over him, and cast himself down before him. That is what is written: “He saw that he could not prevail against him” – He saw in the Divine Presence that he could not prevail over him. Rabbi Berekhya said: We do not know who was victorious, whether it was the angel or Jacob, but from what is written in the verse: “A man wrestled [vaye’avek] with him” – that is, who became covered with dust [avak]; the man who was with him.14Since the man who was with him became covered with dust, that indicates that Jacob was victorious.
Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He said to him [to the angel]: 'He comes against you with five amulets in his possession: His merit, his father’s merit, his mother’s merit, his grandfather’s merit, and his grandmother’s merit. Evaluate yourself whether you are able even to stand against his merit.' Immediately, “he saw that he could not prevail against him.” This is analogous to a king who had a wild dog and a tame lion.
The king would take his son and embolden his heart with the lion,15He was emboldened by the fact that he would emerge victorious over the lion. so were the dog to come and confront him, the king would say to him [the dog]: ‘The lion could not stand against him, and you seek to confront him?’ So, were the nations of the world to come and confront Israel, the Holy One blessed be He will say to them: ‘Your ministering angel could not stand against him, and you seek to confront his descendants?’
“He touched the joint of his thigh” – he touched the righteous men and women, the prophets and prophetesses, who are destined to emerge from him. Which is that [generation]? It is the generation of persecution.16The generation that lived in the wake of the Bar Kokhva rebellion. “The joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated [vateka]” – Rabbi Berekhya and Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Eliezer said: It was smoothed.17The bone that naturally protrudes in the thigh joint was driven inward, like a peg that is driven [tekua] into the ground.
Rabbi Berekya said in the name of Rabbi Asi: It was split like a fish.18It was split lengthwise. In this interpretation, vateka is a derivation of the word beka, meaning split. Rav Naḥman bar Yaakov said: It was dislocated from its place, as it is written: “I was repulsed [vateka]…as My soul was repulsed [nake’a]” (Ezekiel 23:18). “He said: Release me, as dawn has broken.
He said: I will not release you unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:27). Throughout that night each of them was striking the other, this one’s shield against that one’s shield. When dawn broke: “He said: Release me, as dawn has broken.”