15. When Christ had sent this present, before, to the anger of God, he stayed with his company, viz. with his disciples, and arose in the night of the great darkness in our prison of misery, and took his two wives, viz. the twofold spirit of man, viz. the soul and the spiritus mundi (the spirit of this world), the outward soul, and the inward eternal soul, together with the two handmaids, viz. the twofold humanity of the body, and the eleven children, which are the eleven apostles ;1 and passed over the ford Jabbok; that is, he went over the brook Kidron, in the dark of the night, over the water (as here Jacob), with all whatsoever he was, or had assumed from us men.
1 11 Apostles.
16. For the right twelfth Apostle of Christ was not yet chosen in Judas his stead (as here with Jacob), the twelfth son lay yet in the mother's womb unborn. And as Jacob with his eleven sons went over the water in the great night or darkness: so went Christ with his eleven disciples, in this night of Jacob, over the brook Kidron into the garden, and wrestled with the anger of God, so that he sweat a bloody sweat, till he overcame.
17. And as in this night a man wrestled with Jacob till the daybreak (v. 24), so also the spirit of God, viz. the love of God in our assumed humanity, wrestled with God's anger in our humanity till the love of grace brake through the anger, and the daystar of divine love arose in the soul, and overcame the anger (2 Pet. i. 19). As the text in Moses has here very secretly, and yet very clearly, signified in this figure, saying:
18. When Jacob in this night was passed over with his eleven children, and both his wives, and the handmaids, and all his company, and afterwards was alone, there wrestled a man with him till the break of day appeared. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the ham 2 of his thigh; and the ham of his thigh was displaced with the wrestling with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. But he answered, I will not let you go, except you bless me. And he said, What is your name? And he answered, Jacob. And he said, you shall no more he called Jacob, but Israel: for you have striven with God and man, and hast prevailed (Gen. xxxii. 22-28).
19. This text stands wholly in the figure of Christ: for this man, who wrestled with Jacob this whole night, is nothing else but God's righteousness and truth, in which righteousness, in Adam and in all men, the severe judgement of God was awakened. And it signifies the same Man who, on Mount Sinai, gave the Law to the people of Israel, in fire and terror; where he appeared in his righteousness, in the type of the judgement, and commanded man to keep the law of righteousness under pain of the eternal curse; where he required the possibility and ability from man, viz. from the image of God that he had created in Adam.
20. But man having not stood in the trial,3 therefore God inspoke or inspired into him the ground, viz. the fountain of his most inward hidden love, in the promise of the Serpent-Destroyer, viz. the holy name JESUS. This name JESUS stood now as a Covenant of grace in God's severe righteousness, hidden in the most inward ground of the human soul; and opened itself in the holy fathers,l Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in their faith's ens.
2 Or, hollow. 3 Proba or Temptation.
1 Patriarchs.
21. But Jacob at present standing in the figure with his brother Esau, viz. Jacob in the type or image of Christ, and Esau in the type or image of God's righteousness in the anger, according to the kingdom of nature, so at present in this night, when Jacob was in great anxiety, this figure was manifested to him, that he perceived how God's love,
15. When Christ had sent this present, before, to the anger of God, he stayed with his company, viz. with his disciples, and arose in the night of the great darkness in our prison of misery, and took his two wives, viz. the twofold spirit of man, viz. the soul and the spiritus mundi (the spirit of this world), the outward soul, and the inward eternal soul, together with the two handmaids, viz. the twofold humanity of the body, and the eleven children, which are the eleven apostles ;1 and passed over the ford Jabbok; that is, he went over the brook Kidron, in the dark of the night, over the water (as here Jacob), with all whatsoever he was, or had assumed from us men.
1 11 Apostles.
16. For the right twelfth Apostle of Christ was not yet chosen in Judas his stead (as here with Jacob), the twelfth son lay yet in the mother's womb unborn. And as Jacob with his eleven sons went over the water in the great night or darkness: so went Christ with his eleven disciples, in this night of Jacob, over the brook Kidron into the garden, and wrestled with the anger of God, so that he sweat a bloody sweat, till he overcame.
17. And as in this night a man wrestled with Jacob till the daybreak (v. 24), so also the spirit of God, viz. the love of God in our assumed humanity, wrestled with God's anger in our humanity till the love of grace brake through the anger, and the daystar of divine love arose in the soul, and overcame the anger (2 Pet. i. 19). As the text in Moses has here very secretly, and yet very clearly, signified in this figure, saying:
18. When Jacob in this night was passed over with his eleven children, and both his wives, and the handmaids, and all his company, and afterwards was alone, there wrestled a man with him till the break of day appeared. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the ham 2 of his thigh; and the ham of his thigh was displaced with the wrestling with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. But he answered, I will not let you go, except you bless me. And he said, What is your name? And he answered, Jacob. And he said, you shall no more he called Jacob, but Israel: for you have striven with God and man, and have prevailed (Gen. xxxii. 22-28).
19. This text stands wholly in the figure of Christ: for this man, who wrestled with Jacob this whole night, is nothing else but God's righteousness and truth, in which righteousness, in Adam and in all men, the severe judgement of God was awakened. And it signifies the same Man who, on Mount Sinai, gave the Law to the people of Israel, in fire and terror; where he appeared in his righteousness, in the type of the judgement, and commanded man to keep the law of righteousness under pain of the eternal curse; where he required the possibility and ability from man, viz. from the image of God that he had created in Adam.
20. But man having not stood in the trial,3 therefore God inspoke or inspired into him the ground, viz. the fountain of his most inward hidden love, in the promise of the Serpent-Destroyer, viz. the holy name JESUS. This name JESUS stood now as a Covenant of grace in God's severe righteousness, hidden in the most inward ground of the human soul; and opened itself in the holy fathers,l Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in their faith's ens.
2 Or, hollow. 3 Proba or Temptation.
1 Patriarchs.
21. But Jacob at present standing in the figure with his brother Esau, viz. Jacob in the type or image of Christ, and Esau in the type or image of God's righteousness in the anger, according to the kingdom of nature, so at present in this night, when Jacob was in great anxiety, this figure was manifested to him, that he perceived how God's love,
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