Chapter VII.
Jacob wrestles with God and limps from a touched thigh nerve. His brothers avenge the violence done to Dinah, which Jacob disapproves of. He is commanded to dwell in Bethel, which foreshadows the Holy Church.
30. So Jacob, who had cleansed his heart from all envy and harbored a peaceful disposition, after he had rejected all his possessions, remained alone and wrestled with God (Gen. XXXII, 24 and 25). For whoever neglects worldly things comes closer to the image and likeness of God. For what is it to wrestle with God, if not to engage in the struggle of virtue, to contend with the superior, and to become a better imitator of God than others. And because his faith and devotion were invincible, the Lord revealed to him secret mysteries, touching the width of his thigh (Gen. 32:25); because from his seed the Lord Jesus was to descend from the Virgin, who was neither unequal nor unequal to God; the width of the thigh signified the cross of him who astoundedly died, because the forgiveness of sin, spread throughout the whole world, would be beneficial to all who, astonished by their own body and given sleep, would grant resurrection to the dead. Hence not undeservedly rose the sun of holy Jacob, upon whose race the saving cross of the Lord shone brightly; for he is the sun of justice, who beholds God; for he is the eternal light.
But Jacob limped from his hip: For this reason, the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon to this day (Gen. XXXII, 32). Oh, if they had eaten and believed! But because they were not going to do the will of God, they did not eat. There are also those who take it this way, that Jacob limped from one hip because, with two peoples flowing from his generation, the wonder of one was already declaring himself to be about to become about the grace of faith. He is therefore the people who limped in the astonishment of treachery.
32. Finally, not long after the revelation of this kind, when Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, had been violated and her virginity defiled by the son of an alien, her brothers, who did not understand the mystery, killed the aliens who were offering a partnership of faith through the union of their families out of a desire for revenge. However, Jacob, who loved compassion with moral gentleness, foresaw by a mystical spirit the sacrament of gathering from the nations for the Church and reluctantly and sorrowfully accepted that scene of completed vengeance. To the one prophesying the coming of the Lord Jesus, a divine response was given: Arise, go up to the place Bethel (Gen. XXXV, 1), which means 'house of bread,' where Christ was born, as the prophet Micah testified, saying: And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. From you shall come forth a ruler, who will be the shepherd of my people Israel, whose origins are from ancient times (Mic. V, 2). Truly, the house of bread is the house of Christ, who has come to us as the bread of salvation from heaven, so that no one may hunger while seeking the food of immortality. There the Patriarch is commanded to dwell, there to make an altar to the God who appeared to him. There he received foreign gods and hid them under the terebinth tree. There also Rachel was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. There Jacob also set up a pillar on his monument (Gen. XXXV, 1 et seq.).
How many mysteries there are, because of the Church of God that exists for you, in which God appears and speaks with His servants. There the idols of the nations are taken away and hidden. For the faith of the Church has abolished all observance of paganism. But why has it hidden under the lentisk tree, I wonder? Certainly, that kind is unfruitful. There, therefore, are the gods of the nations, where there is no fruit. There the earrings of the pagans are buried, which were given by Jacob, so that they may become accustomed to hearing a new language; let them not know the sound of ancient treachery, let their ears become deaf to sacrilege, and let them be cleansed for grace. Daniel rightly discovered there the false testimony against Susanna. There he wanted to still place his roots of deceitfulness, but he could not hide, for he was exposed by a prophetic spirit. The error of the priest, however, is fitting for the true confession, for he declared the defiled chastity there, where the idols of the Gentiles are buried. But the truth of the Church did not cover up deceitfulness, but concealed it, and shut the ears of the Gentiles.
Conveniently, holy Rachel is also buried there; because all those who are baptized in Christ are buried with Christ. For thus are we taught by the Apostle, saying: For we are buried with him by baptism into death; that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Rom. VI, 4). Therefore, every error of the Gentiles is truly hidden when one is washed from vices; for the old man, nailed to the cross, no longer knows how to serve the old sin. Moreover, a column is also placed above Rachel's monument; because the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth.