Jabbok River

The Jabbok in the Bible

The Jabbok appears in the Bible in two contexts.

• Jacob's wrestling: In Genesis 32, on the night before he meets his brother Esau, Jacob sends his family and possessions ahead across "the ford Jabbok" (a ford being a place where a river is crossed) and remains behind alone (Genesis 32:22–23). Then "a man" wrestles with Jacob "until the breaking of the day," strikes the hollow of Jacob's thigh so that it is put out of joint, and gives him the name "Israel" (Genesis 32:24–28). Jacob calls the place "Peniel" ("the face of God") (Genesis 32:30).
• A boundary: According to Numbers 21:24, Israel took possession of the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and the Jabbok formed the border with the children of Ammon. The same boundary appears in Deuteronomy 2:37 and 3:16 and in Joshua 12:2. In Judges 11, the king of Ammon claims the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and the Jordan as his own, and Jephthah rebuts him by recounting how the land came to belong to Israel (Judges 11:13–27).

Background

The Jabbok rises on the plateau east of the Jordan and flows westward, joining the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. It is generally identified with the Zarqa River (Nahr ez-Zarqa) in modern Jordan. Its upper course is known to pass near Rabbah (modern Amman), the chief city of Ammon. Because it cuts a deep valley, it has served since antiquity as a natural boundary between regions, and it is understood to divide the region of Gilead into northern and southern parts.

The precise etymology of the Hebrew name Yabboq is uncertain. Because the words "Jabbok" (Yabboq), "Jacob" (Ya'aqov), and "wrestled" (ye'abeq) sound alike in Genesis 32, however, many interpreters regard the text as employing deliberate wordplay.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The episode at the Jabbok is the scene in which Jacob becomes "Israel," and it is thus connected to the origin of the nation's name. Hosea 12:3–4 recalls the event, saying that Jacob "had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him." Genesis 32:32 records that because of this event the children of Israel do not eat "the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh." The Jabbok River itself is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debated Questions

• Jacob's opponent: The Genesis text calls him "a man," Jacob declares that he has seen the face of God, and Hosea calls him "the angel." Accordingly, some interpret the figure as an angel and others as a manifestation of God himself. Some Protestant traditions read him as the preincarnate Christ. Some commentators in the Jewish tradition have explained him as Esau's guardian angel.
• Wrestling and prayer: In Korean churches this wrestling is commonly explained as "wrestling in prayer." This interpretation rests on the phrase "made supplication" in Hosea 12:4 and on the prayer Jacob offered just beforehand (Genesis 32:9–12). Genesis 32:24–30, however, narrates the scene as wrestling rather than prayer, and reading it as prayer is a matter of interpretation.

In the Korean Church

"The Jabbok River" and "the ford of Jabbok" are frequently invoked in sermons on prayer, desperate supplication, the experience of having one's self-will broken, and receiving a new name and a new identity. Jacob's being left with a limp is often cited as an illustration of human weakness and the grace of God.