Numerous are the interpretations of the identity and nature of this "man." After careful study and deliberation, bearing in mind also the time and nature of this attack as well as the nature and ways of G-d and that of the evil one, I  understand something entirely different from the standard explanation.

First of all - to repeat myself once again - G-d had sworn an oath regarding Abraham’s offspring. Secondly, G-d promised to be FOR Jacob, NOT against him. At every hour of great need and fear for his safety and life, G-d appeared to comfort him, not to harass him even more. Upon entrance into Eretz Israel, G-d sent Jacob a heavenly camp to meet and encourage him.

G-d is light, and with and in Him is no darkness at all. Even the night becomes as day so bright before Him. His works are works of the day, works of light, and He does not work in the cover of darkness. All His works are truth and righteousness, justice, mercy and peace.

Messiah Himself also is light. He is the Light that came into this world to illuminate our darkness, that we may see². His works are also works of light and not of darkness. He does not hide His works, but does them openly, in the light of day. G-d and Messiah are comparable to the light of the sun and moon: the sun rules over the day, and the moon over the night. One lights my path, the other is a lamp to my feet. Both bring brightness, so that in their light one can see and there be no stumbling at all. The sun is a consuming fire³, while the face of the full moon shines down upon us⁴ without burning. In the Heavenly Jerusalem G-d will be the Light, and Messiah the Lamp (for neither sun nor moon will be needed anymore as witnesses⁵).

The "man" (the Hebrew word is “ish”-“man”, not “malâch”-“angel”⁶) who attacked Jacob did so in the blackness of night⁷. Neither was there any light about him. He came, not to strengthen Jacob, but to harm him. An assailant does not "assault" to bless, but to harm. An attacker of the night comes not with a gentle embrace, but with violent might to overpower. Someone who seeks to bless and assist another does so with encouragement and comfort, JOINING his strength to that of the other. A sudden assault in the blackness of night is not an encouragement but rather horribly frightening.

Jacob was already fearful. He was in severe, acute distress. The assailant seems to have known of Jacob's fear, and banked on his weakness. Therefore a sudden attack in deep darkness makes Jacob easy prey.

Nothing, absolutely nothing indicates this man’s nature to have been benevolent. The Church has always interpreted this man to have been ‘The Angel’ of the Lord, i.e. Messiah, who assaulted Jacob and wrestled with him. Yeshua --- assaulting?! Yeshua the attacker --- of his own chosen, Jacob?!

But I recall assaults in my own life --- assaults of black fear! That fear would never assault me by day, only by night. My mother's constant fears of the approaching step of SS boots, of a knock at her door by night, and being discovered as a Jewess, were passed on to me while in her womb. My mother lived in a continual state of paranoia. Every night she faced with acute distress. Every day was filled with apprehension. But also every night and every day she cast herself in hope upon G-d, crying to Him, calling upon Him to save her and her posterity. Like Jacob she prepared to face her enemy as good as she knew how --- yet never without faith and hope in G-d.

I did not understand where this fear came from. I did not understand why I was so assaulted. This fear was cruel. It sought to overpower me until the break of dawn, when the rays of Messiah’s light dawned in my heart and life and delivered me from this nightmare of fear.

Would you call such an assailant benevolent? God-sent? Does the Word not say that G-d has NOT given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind?⁸  Who then is this man in the “blackness” of night, attacking us when we are weakest?

I believe it was the evil one, the destroying angel, the one who works in the cover of darkness. He assaults us without warning when we are weakest, and targets our most feeble points at a time of trouble and adversity. He grips our hearts with distress, and tries to weaken our faith, quench our hopes, and destroy our trust in G-d.

He is the ancient inner enemy, the fear of Noah, who crossed over the Deluge with him into the new world to continue his dark works of deception and destruction. He assaulted Jacob that night as the angel of Esau, the angel of he who hated Jacob, who desired to kill him, of whom Jacob was so dreadfully afraid. He attacked Jacob in the form of this "man" in that moment of severe weakness¹.

But Jacob did not succumb! He wrestled for his life! He wrestled for his soul! He wrestled for his birthright, for his inheritance, for his children, his whole future posterity! What a mighty wrestler Jacob turned out to be!

This wrestling match was not just any ordinary fight --- it was a struggle as of titans, for it would determine the destiny of Jacob’s posterity. The force of the evil one was pitched against that of the godly one, whereby the evil one had called the shot (had the advantage of surprise). 

This wrestling conflict was the most decisive event in Jacob's life. It determined his life and the future destiny of his descendants. This struggle was as crucial as was Abraham's readiness to offer up Isaac. It was as climactic as Isaac's willingness to be that offering. Each Patriarch was confronted with a most severe testing from which there was but one way out: faith in G-d and His promises!

The decisive factor in those climactic crises in the Patriarch’s lives was: whom would they believe?  Would they heed the voice of the ancient fear, the inner enemy who lied to them and distorted the truth? Or would they hearken to the Voice of the Lord G-d, Who had promised by His own Name with an oath? This age-old battle was waged and won for us by the Patriarchs. They overcame! They set the pattern of victory for their future posterity. Hallelujah!

What am I talking about? It all began, when the serpent pitched his word against G-d's and… since then the battle has been waging:

WHOM WILL WE BELIEVE --- G-D OR THE ACCUSING LIAR?!
Now that Yeshua has come, THERE REMAINS BUT ONE THING FOR MAN TO DO: TO BELIEVE!!!

Should the enchanting enticer - “nachash”, the serpent, who corrupts man’s faith with his poisonous whispers - demoralize us into doubt and unbelief, then we would be lost unto G-d and He unto us, for eternity!
 
 

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