CHAPTER XXXVII JACOB AND THE ANGEL [49A. ii.] "As if a man did flee from a lion || and a bear met him" (Amos 5:19). The "lion" means Laban, who pursued (Jacob) like a lion to destroy [ In Jalḳuṭ, Amos, in loc., the reading is “to tear in pieces”; cf. Ps. 7:2, and see Midrash Haggadol, c. 524.] his life. The "bear" refers to Esau, who stood by the way like a bear bereaved by man, [ The first editions read: “like a bereaved bear, he came.”] to slay the mother with the children. The lion is shamefaced, the bear is not shamefaced. [ Laban not only did not molest Jacob, but admitted that he was unable to do so. Esau made no such admission.] Jacob arose and prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying: Sovereign of all the Universe ! Hast Thou not spoken thus unto me, "Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee"? (Gen. 31:3).
And behold, Esau, the evil one, has now come to slay me; but I fear him and he does not fear Thee. Hence (the sages) say: Do not fear an executive officer or a ruler, but (fear) a man who has no fear of Heaven. (Esau) stood by the way like a bear bereaved by man, to slay mother and child.
What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He sent an angel [ See Gen. Rab. 78:1, as to whether the angel was Gabriel or Michael, see also Rabbinic Philosophy and Ethics, 95 f.; for a parallel see Pal. Targum, Gen. 32:25.] to him to deliver him, and to save him from the hand [ For the wording see Jer. 42:11.] of Esau; and he appeared unto him like a man, as it is said, "And there wrestled a man with him [ i.e. Jacob. The quotation ends here in the MS.; it is continued in the first editions.] until the breaking of the day" (ibid. xxxii. 24). As soon as the dawn appeared, the angel said to him: Let me go, for the time has arrived when I must stand [ In Heaven; cf. Isa. 6:3 for the song of the angels. The same idea occurs in the New Testament; see Luke ii. 13. See also Midrash Haggadol, c. 511 f.] to sing [ The first editions read: “to minister.”] and to chant praises before the Holy One, blessed be He. But Jacob did not wish to let him go. What did the angel do? He began to sing and to chant praises from the earth, || and when the angels (on high) heard the voice of the angel who was singing and praising from the earth, they said: Because of the honour of the righteous (one) do we hear [ The MS. reads: “stand.” The first editions read: “hear.”] the voice of the angel who is singing and praising from the earth; and concerning him the verse says, "From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, [ The quotation ends here in the MS.] glory to the righteous" (Isa. 24:16).
Again the angel said to him: "Let me go" (Gen. 32:26). Jacob answered him: I will not let thee go until thou hast blessed me; [ The first editions add: “as it is said: ‘I will not let thee go except thou bless me’” (Gen. 32:26).] and he blessed him, as it is said, "And he blessed him there" (ibid. 29). Again he said to him: "Let me go" (ibid. 26). He answered him: I will not let thee go until thou tellest me what thy name [ See also Hos. 12:4.] is. And (the angel) called his name Israel [ The second half of this sentence is omitted by the Prague edition.] like his own name, for his own name was called Israel. [ See Gen. Rab. 78:3, and Tosaphoth on T.B. Synhedrin, 37b, catchword “From the corner”; cf. Num. Rab. 10:6. The idea of this Haggadah seems to be: the angel is named according to the mission entrusted to him by God. Here it was to announce the ideal for Jacob to pursue, namely, that he was to live as Israel, the warrior of God, destined in his seed to do battle with everything which opposes the establishment on earth of the Kingdom of God. Therefore the angel is named Israel. Israel must fear neither man nor angel; he has prevailed over the powers above man, and need fear only God. See Judg. 13:3 ff. for the case of the angel and Manoah, where the same principle obtains. The angel is called פלאי, which suggests הפלאה, “the separation” involved in the Nazirate of Samson. It may also be that the angel was the guardian angel of Israel and therefore bore the name “Israel.”] Jacob wished to prevail over the angel, and to throw him down upon the earth. What did the angel do? He took hold of the sinew of the hip, which was upon the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and he lifted the sinew of his hip (out of its place), and it became like the fat [ The fat around the sinew of the thigh is prohibited to the Israelite; see T.B. Chullin, 89b, 92b, and 100b, and Maimonides, Maakhaloth Asuroth, viii. 1.] of the dead. Therefore the children of Israel are forbidden to eat of the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the animal's thigh, as it is said, "Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh" (ibid. 82).
Jacob wished to cross the ford of the Jabbok, and he was detained [ The first editions read: “and to stay there.”] there. The angel said to him: Didst thou not speak thus [ The first editions add: “unto me.” The Jalḳuṭ, Gen. § 132, omits “unto me.”] —"Of all that thou shalt give me [ The MS. and the first editions omit the first part of the verse.] I will surely give a tenth unto thee" (ibid. xxviii. 22)? What did our father Jacob do? He took || all the cattle in his possession which he had brought from Paddan-Aram, and he gave a tithe of them amounting to 550 (animals). [ Jubilees xxxii. 4 refers to the separation of the tithe of Jacob’s cattle. 119 animals being offered: “This was his offering, in consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth.”] Hence thou mayest learn that all the cattle in the possession of our father Jacob, which he had brought from Paddan-Aram, amounted to 5500 (animals). [ The Jalḳuṭ, loc. cit., reads: “He took all his cattle and gave a tithe amounting to 550 (animals); hence we learn that all his cattle amounted to 5500 animals.”] Again Jacob wished to cross the ford of the Jabbok, but he was hindered here. The angel said: Didst thou not speak thus—"Of all that thou shalt give me [ The quotation ends here in the MS.] I will surely give a tenth unto thee" (ibid.)? Behold, thou hast sons. Thou hast not given a tithe of them. What did Jacob do? He put apart the four firstborn [ The first-born are excluded from the operation of the law of tithe; see T.B. Bekhoroth, 53b.] children of the four mothers, and eight children remained. He began (to count) from Simeon, and finished with Benjamin, who was still in his mother's womb. [ That means, eight children. Two more were required, and starting to count ab initio we find that Levi is the tenth. See Jubilees xxxii. 3, where Levi is chosen as the tithe: “Jacob counted his sons from (Benjamin), and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord.” Pal. Targum, loc. cit., agrees with our author, but Gen. Rab. 70:7, and Tanchuma, Re’êh, § xiv., offer another calculation. Both Jubilees and our author fix the choice of Levi at the time when “Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin” (Jubilees xxxii. 3).] Again he began (to count) from Simeon, and he included Benjamin, and Levi was reckoned as the tithe, holy to God, as it is said, "The tenth shall be holy unto the Lord" (Lev. 27:82).
Rabbi Ishmael said: All firstborns are required to have a tithe taken (only) when they fall under the observation [ According to Luria we should read: “When they do not fall under the observation of the eye.”] of the eye. [ i.e. guarded so that the owner derives no benefit from them; see T.B. Bekhoroth, 9b, and T.B. Baba Mezi‘a, 6b.] Only Jacob observed the law of tithe in advance; he began with Benjamin, who was in his mother's womb, and Levi was reckoned as holy to the Lord, [ This is exactly the same method of reckoning which occurs in Jubilees xxxii. 3. Dr. Charles’ note on p. 192 of Jubilees must be modified accordingly. See also Jalḳuṭ, Gen. § 133.] and concerning him the Scripture says, "The tenth shall be holy unto the Lord" (ibid.).
Michael, the angel, descended and took Levi, and brought him up before the Throne of Glory, [ See Test. Levi ii. 6: “And behold the heavens were opened, and an angel of God said to me, Levi, enter.”] and he spake before Him: Sovereign of all || the universe ! This is Thy lot, [ See supra, p. 177.] and the portion [ So also in Jubilees xxxii. 3.] of Thy works. [ Instead of “Thy works” (מעטיך) read: “Thy tithe” (מעטרך); see R. Bechai on Num. 18:20, p. 200a, and Jalḳuṭ, loc. cit.] And He put forth His right hand and blessed him, that the sons of Levi should minister on earth [ See Deut. 10:8, and cf. Test. Levi ii. 10 ff., which forms a close parallel to our Midrash.] before Him, like the ministering angels in heaven. [ The priests are called “angels”; see Mal. 2:7, which the R.V. renders “messenger”; see also Ps. 103:21, and cf. Gen. Rab. 70:7.] Michael spake before the Holy One, blessed be He: Sovereign of all worlds ! Do not such who serve the king have provision of their food given to them? Therefore He gave to the sons of Levi all holy things which accrue to His Name, [ Jubilees xxxii. 15 reads: “And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy unto the Lord, and shall belong to His priests.” Our author and Jubilees agree in ascribing the law of the tithe and the choice of Levi to the priesthood to Jacob’s fulfilment of his vow to give a tithe “of all that came with him, both of men and cattle” (Jubilees xxxii. 2).] as it is said, "They shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance" (Deut. 18:1).
When Jacob passed to come into the land of Canaan, Esau came to him from Mount Seir in violent anger, contriving to slay him, as it is said, "The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth" (Ps. 37:12). Esau said: I will not slay Jacob with bow and arrows, but with my mouth and with my teeth will I slay him, and suck his blood, as it is said, "And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept" (Gen. 33:4). Do not read vayishakêhu (and he kissed him), but (read) vayishkêhu (and he bit him). But Jacob's neck became like ivory, and concerning him the Scripture says, "Thy neck is like the tower of ivory" (Cant. 7:4). The wicked (Esau's) teeth became blunt, [ See Cant. Rab. to Cant. 7:5, Gen. Rab. 54:9, and Midrash Haggadol, c. 517. The New Testament speaks of Esau as “a fornicator or profane person” (Heb. xii. 16): “For ye know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears” (ibid. 17).] and when the wicked one saw that the desire of his heart was not realized he began to be angry, and to gnash with his teeth, as it is said, "The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away" (Ps. 112:10).
Jacob took all the tithe of his possessions and sent it by the hand of his servants, and gave it to Esau, saying to them: Say ye || to him, "Thus saith thy servant Jacob" (Gen. 32:4). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Jacob ! That which was holy hast thou made profane? He replied to Him: Sovereign of all worlds ! I flatter the wicked, so that he should not slay me. Hence the (wise men) say, we may flatter the wicked in this world for the sake of the ways of peace. [ See T.B. Soṭah, 41b, and Midrash Haggadol, c. 508. On the “ways of Peace” see Lazarus, Ethik, i. pp. 179 ff. The Sermon on the Mount says: “Resist not him that is evil” (Matt. v. 39). The disciples of the Founder of Christianity are commanded to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (ibid. x. 16), as they were being sent forth “as sheep in the midst of wolves” (ibid.).] Esau said to him: O my brother, I have enough; as it is said, [ See Jalḳuṭ, loc. cit.] "And Esau said, I have enough" (Gen. 33:9). And because he gave honour to Jacob, [ The first editions read: “Because Jacob gave honour to Esau.”] therefore the sons of Jacob paid honour to the sons of Esau with the same expression; [ “Rab” (enough), also signifying “Rabbi” or “Master”; cf. the N.T. use of Rabbi, as a title of honour, Matt. xxiii. 7. See also Deut. Rab. xi. 10, and Midrash Haggadol, c. 517.] as it is said, "Ye have compassed this mountain long enough" (Deut. 2:8). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Jacob ! Is it not enough for thee that thou hast made profane that which is holy? Nay, but I have said, "And the elder [ This in Hebrew is “Rab.”] shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23); and yet thou hast said, "Thy servant Jacob" (ibid. xxxii. 4). By thy life ! it shall be according to thy words; he shall rule over thee in this world, and thou shalt rule over him in the world to come. Therefore Jacob said to him (Esau): "Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant" (ibid. xxxiii. 14). Hence thou mayest learn that the sons of Esau will not fall until a remnant from Jacob shall come, and cut off the feet of the children of Esau from Mount Seir, [ Seir was the territory of Esau.] and the Holy One, blessed be He, will descend. [ This phrase, “and the Holy One, blessed be He, will descend,” occurs only in the MS. The first editions quote Num. 24:19.] "And there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; [ The quotation ends here in the MS.] for the Lord hath spoken it" (Obad. 18).