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.
All Commentaries on Genesis 32:32 Go To Genesis 32
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Just as the truth is quite plain in this case, however, so with the good man a kind of apparition occurred that had the effect of convincing the good man of the degree of care he enjoyed from God and the fact that Jacob would be unvanquished by all those plotting against him. Then, in order that the vision he had would not be forgotten by anyone in the future, “his thigh made him limp. For this reason the sons of Israel do not eat the nerve that stiffened on the flat of his thigh, because he lay hold of the flat of Jacob’s thigh, and it stiffened.” You see, since the good man had completed his lifespan and was about to leave this life, and since the providence accorded him by God and the marvelous considerateness should be known to the whole human race, accordingly it says, “The sons of Israel do not eat the nerve that stiffened on the flat of his thigh.” Aware of their ingratitude and the way, they forgot God’s kindnesses; he therefore devised a constant reminder for them to have of the kindnesses done by him and arranged for these reminders to be preserved in their observances of this kind. You can find this throughout the whole of Scripture. In fact, this in particular is the explanation of the great number of observances. They represent God’s wish that future generations would unfailingly meditate on God’s kindnesses and, by consigning them to oblivion, not have recourse again to their own errors—a particular weakness of the Jewish people. I mean, those who give evidence of their typical ingratitude in the face of these very kindnesses would all the more readily, had this not happened, have banished from their mind all that had been done for them by God.
