Jacob Left Alone and the Stranger Who Wrestled Him in the Dark

"And he took them and sent them over the stream" (Genesis 32:24) - he made himself like a bridge, taking from here and setting down there. "And Jacob was left alone" (Genesis 32:25). "There is none like God, O Yeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help" (Deuteronomy 33:26). "There is none like God" - and who is like God? Yeshurun, the fairest and most praised among you. You find that whatever the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to do in the future, He has done beforehand through the righteous in this world. The Holy One revives the dead, and Elijah revives the dead; the Holy One holds back the rains, and Elijah holds back the rains; the Holy One blesses the little, and Elijah blesses the little. The Holy One revives the dead, and Elisha revives the dead; the Holy One remembers the barren, and Elisha remembers the barren; the Holy One sweetens the bitter, and Elisha sweetens the bitter. "There is none like God, O Yeshurun" - who is like God? Yeshurun the elder [Jacob]. As of the Holy One it is written, "The LORD alone shall be exalted" (Isaiah 2:11), so here, "And Jacob was left alone." Rav Huna said: He [the assailant] appeared to him in the form of a shepherd. This one had flocks and that one had flocks, this one had camels and that one had camels. He said to him: Take mine across and I will take yours across. Jacob our father took his across, then went back and looked, in case he had forgotten anything. At once, "And a man wrestled with him." Rabbi Chiyya bar Rabbah, Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi, and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel were dealing in silk in Tyre. When they finished, they said: Let us take up the trade of our fathers. They said: Let us go back and see whether we have forgotten anything. They went back and found a bale of their silk. They were asked, From where does this custom come? They said: From our father Jacob, who went back - "And Jacob was left alone." The Rabbis said: He appeared to him as a brigand. This one had flocks and that one had flocks, this one had camels and that one had camels. He said: Take mine across and I will take yours across. The angel crossed in the blink of an eye, while Jacob our father was carrying across and returning and finding things forgotten. He said to him: Sorcerer! He took a halter and put it around his neck. He said: Sorcerer, sorcerer, witchcraft does not succeed at night! In the end the angel said: I will make him know with whom he is dealing. What did he do? He took his finger and placed it on the ground, and [the earth began to seethe with fire]. He said to him: With this you frighten me? I am wholly of it! This is what is written, "And the house of Jacob shall be fire" (Obadiah 1:18). Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said: It was the guardian angel of Esau. This is what he said to him, "For I have seen your face as one sees the face of God, and you have accepted me" (Genesis 33:10). "And he saw..." - like an athlete wrestling with the son of the king. He lifted his eyes and saw that the king was standing over him, and he let himself go limp before him. Rabbi Berekhiah said: We do not know who prevailed, whether the angel or Jacob. But from what is written, "And a man wrestled with him" [literally, got covered in dust with him], who was covered in dust? The man who was with him.