The denouement begins with an etiology for the toponym Peniel, which
means “the face of God” (cf. the spelling “Peniel” in v. 31). Oddly, the notion
of seeing God per se is not an issue in the story. Exodus 33:20 (and Isa 6:5)
attests to the notion that seeing the deity means risking death, a conviction
that lies behind Jacob’s remark that he has seen God face-to-face and remained
alive. This comment about seeing the face of God derives more from the name and
secondary etiology of Peniel then it does from the narrative itself. Only in
verse 30, in a secondary etiology, does explicit reference to the deity appear.
Read without this verse, the narrative is inherently ambiguous about the
identity of “the man.” The narrative admits that he is strong, though not strong
enough to defeat Jacob; devious (the dislocation of Jacob’s hip); and able to
change a person’s name as well as to offer a blessing. That conjunction of
features may well explain why Hosea 12 characterizes his struggles as with God
// messenger. Also present is the denouement is a dietary etiology (V. 32). Now
vocabulary occurs here gîd, tendon, of the nāšeh, muscle. This
dietary prohibition occurs nowhere else in the OT. (David L. Petersen, Genesis
[The Old Testament Library; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2025],
282)
