Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
The children of Israel. The descendants of Jacob were designated for the most part by this name, though they are sometimes called also by his first name. It may be remarked, that in the case of Abraham and Sarah, their old names were never used, because their new appellations indicated their high and important position. But the new name bestowed upon Jacob was descriptive of spiritual character, and yet, since he still retained in his regenerated state a portion of his corrupt nature, he was often called Jacob as well as Israel; in like manner, since his posterity inherited both his privileges and his conflict, they are called sometimes the children of Jacob, at other times the children of Israel (Numbers 23:7; Numbers 23:10; Numbers 23:23; Deuteronomy 33:10; 1 Chronicles 16:13, etc.).
The sinew which shrank - [Hebrew, giyd (H1517) hanaasheh (H5384), nervus ischiaticus, the nerve or tendon that extends from the top of the thigh down the whole leg to the ankles.] Our version follows the Septuagint, which renders the hapax legomenon word х naasheh (H5384), ho enarkeesen], which shrank. Josephus ('Antiquities,' book 1:, chapter 20:, section 2) renders it more correctly [to neuron to platu] the broad sinew. 'Jacob himself,' continues that historian, 'abstained from eating that sinew ever afterward; and for his sake it is still not eaten by us.' The practice of the Jews in abstaining from eating this in the flesh of animals is not founded on the law of Moses, but is merely a traditional usage. The sinew is carefully extracted; and where there are no persons skilled enough for that operation, they do not make use of the hind legs at all.
Abstinence from this particular article of animal food is universally practiced by the Jews, and is so peculiar a custom in their daily observance, that as the readers of 'The Jews in China' will remember, the worship of that people is designated by the name of the Teaou-kin-keaou, or 'Pluck-sinew-religion.' This remarkable incident formed a turning point in the history of Jacob-a point at which he was raised above the deceit and the worldliness of his past life into higher and more spiritual relations with God.
Those who regard it as a vision, an ecstasy during which all the powers of his nature were intensely excited, so that, in fact, he was above and out of himself, consider the impression made upon his limb as the effect of 'a mental struggle, involving a strain so severe, not on the moral only, but also on the physical being of the terrified man, that the muscles of his body bore the mark of it ever after. Such results of wild emotion are not of unfrequent occurrence in persons of enthusiastic temperament, as is exemplified by the proceedings of the dancing dervishes of our own times.' But that it was not merely a vision or internal agony of soul-that it was a real transaction-appears not only from a new designation being given to Jacob himself, which was always in memory of some remarkable event, and from the significant name which he bestowed upon the scene of this occurrence, but from the fact of the wound he received being in a part of his body so situated that Jacob must have been assured no mere man could have so touched it as to effect a dislocation.
No objection can be urged against the appearance of the Divine Being on this occasion in the form of humanity that will not equally militate against the reality of similar manifestations already recorded as being made in the experience of the patriarchs. There he was a special propriety in the appearance of "the angel of the Lord" as a man on this occasion, and in his assuming the attitude of a foe, to convince Jacob that, in order to overcome his formidable brother, he must first overcome God, not by the carnal weapons with which he had heretofore obtained his advantages over men, but by the spiritual influence of faith and prayer. Hence, while the contest was at first carried on as between man and man, Jacob appeared more athletic and powerful. But his antagonist having wounded him in such a manner as could only have been done by a being of a superior nature, his eyes were opened; 'he found himself unconsciously striving with God, and his self-confidence utterly failed, so that forthwith he desisted from the struggle, and had recourse to supplications and tears (Hosea 12:4).
In short, this wrestling was a symbolic act, designed to show Jacob that he had no hope of conquering his powerful foe by stratagem, reliance on his own strength-as his lameness indeed proved-or by any other means than a firm, unwavering trust in the word of that covenant God who had promised (Genesis 28:13-15), and would establish him in, the possession of Canaan as an inheritance to his posterity. 'Hosea clearly teaches that Jacob merely completed, by his wrestling with God, what he had already been engaged in from his mother's womb-namely, his striving for the birthright; in other words, because the possession of the covenant promise and the covenant blessing' (Delitzsch).