You Have Striven With Divine and Human Beings and Prevailed

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 133:3

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"For you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Genesis 32:29). You wrestled with the higher beings and overcame them, and with the lower beings and overcame them. Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said: It was the guardian angel of Esau, for that is why Jacob said to Esau (Genesis 33:10), "for I have seen your face as one sees the face of a divine being." Just as the face of the divine being means judgment, so too your face is judgment; just as concerning the face of the divine being it says (Exodus 23:15), "and none shall appear before Me empty-handed," so too you, none shall appear before you empty-handed. "With the lower beings": this is Esau and his chiefs.

Themes

PatriarchsAngelsDivine Justice

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