As Jacob travels to meet his brother Esau, he encounters a host of angels. He has already seen messengers from God ascending and descending on a ladder (staircase). He finds out that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men. I often wondered why the scriptures, and especially the Book of Mormon, refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All three were in the peril of their lives at various times. Abraham and Isaac were fastened to altars and rescued by the Lord. Now Jacob fears for his life. He knows the fury of Esau because of the loss of the birthright blessing. His mother has informed him of Esau’s plan to kill him.
Jacob pleads with the Lord and reaffirms his commitment to abide in the Abrahamic Covenant. He has sent his servants to deliver presents to appease his angry brother and is now left alone. We pick up the text in Genesis 32:24:
“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” Hugh Nibley contends that the translation for wrestled could be better rendered as embraced. That drastically alters the story, which continues:
“And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
“And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
“And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
“And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
“And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.” (Genesis 32:25-29)
The Hebrew word for “hollow of the thigh” is kaph. It has several meanings depending on the context. The Strong’s Bible Concordance shows the following definition:
כַּף kaph, kaf; from H3721; the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); figuratively, power:—branch, foot, hand((-ful), -dle, (-led)), hollow, middle, palm, paw, power, sole, spoon.
I am once again posting the entry below:
We encountered the Hebrew word kaph in the story where Noah released the dove, and she “found no rest for the sole of her foot (kaph).” Whether one is touched on the sole of the foot, hollow of the thigh, or in the palm of the hand, it is all the same in Hebrew. We see this in Genesis 24:2,9, where Abraham asks his servant, Eliezer, to make an oath. Abraham said, “Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.” The Joseph Smith Translation changes the word thigh to hand. By the way, Joseph Smith did not have a Strong’s Bible Concordance to help him translate. It wasn’t published until 1890. But he did have a Urim and Thummim.
In Numbers 7, it mentions the “golden spoons” used in the tabernacle and temple. The word is kaph. They were actually ladles. Archeologists have excavated some of these hand-shaped spoons at temple sites, such as the ones found in Megiddo in the images below.
After the messenger touched Jacob in the “hollow of the thigh,” or kaph, he asked him for his name. The ability to give the correct name is associated with the “keeper of the gate,” who requires this to allow passage and progression (see 2 Nephi 9:41). It is here where Jacob receives the new name of Israel. The messenger said, “For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” The name Israel means “God prevails,” or as President Russell M. Nelson taught us, “let God prevail.” This seems very fitting. Throughout Israel’s history, whenever they “let God prevail,” they are successful and prosperous, but when they shut Him out of their lives, things don’t go so well. Names are significant in Israelite history. In ancient times, it was illegal to give a child a bad name.
The new name is associated with the celestial kingdom. In the Book of Revelation, it states, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (Revelation 2:17). Restoration scripture speaks of “a white stone given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.” (D&C 130:11).
In Genesis 32:30, Jacob named this place Peniel (or Penuel), meaning “facing God.” A similar Hebrew word was used for the shewbread in the tabernacle and ancient temple. The Hebrew word for shewbread is paniym, meaning “face or presence.” The Table of Shewbread had twelve unleavened cakes in two piles representing the twelve tribes of Israel, which were symbolically presented before God. The shewbread was in the Holy Place and was changed every Sabbath. The priests would eat the old shewbread, thus it represented both sacrifice and communion. It was a forerunner for the sacrament.
