And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let you go, except you bless me.
Read Chapter 32
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
“Let me go, because it is already morning.” “Morning” we understand as the light of truth and wisdom, through whom all things were made. You will enjoy the morning when this night has gone, that is, the iniquity of this world. That’s when it will be morning, when the Lord comes, in order to be seen by us as he is already seen by the angels. Because “now we see through a mirror in a riddle, but then it will be face to face.” So let us hold fast to this saying, brothers, “Let me go; behold, it is already morning.” But what did he say? “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” The Lord, you see, does bless us first through the flesh. The faithful know what they receive, that they are blessed through the flesh. And they know that they would not be blessed unless that flesh had been crucified and given for the life of the world. But how is Jacob blessed? In that he got the upper hand with God, in that he held on bravely and persevered and did not lose from his grasp what Adam lost. So l...
Now as to the fact that Jacob came to the Jordan and after sending over all his possessions remained alone and wrestled with a man until the break of day. In that struggle Jacob prefigured the people of the Jews; the angel with whom he wrestled typified our Lord and Savior. Jacob wrestled with the angel because the Jewish people were to wrestle with Christ even to death. However, not all the Jews were unfaithful to Christ, as we said above, but a considerable number of them are read to have believed in his name, and for this reason the angel touched Jacob’s thigh, which began to be lame. That foot with which he limped typified the Jews who did not believe in Christ; the one that remained uninjured signified those who received Christ the Lord. Finally, notice carefully that in the struggle Jacob was victorious and sought a blessing. When the angel had said to him, “Let me go,” Jacob replied, “I will not let you go till you bless me.” In the fact that he was victorious Jacob signified th...
You see how he does not continue fighting at daybreak. In fact, there is no fight for those who already live in the light. It is fitting for those who have been brought to such magnificence to say, “God, my God, I watch you from the light.” And in addition, “In the morning you shall hear my voice, in the morning I shall wait on you, and you shall see me.” When the light of justice, that is, Christ, rises in our mind and introduces his brilliance into our hearts, then we also will be waited on as noble souls and will be made worthy of the divine attention. “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous.” At daybreak the fight ceases. ,
