Shalom,
The passage says:
"Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.""- Genesis 32:24-30
Christians like to say here that Jacob wrestled a physical G-d in the flesh. They get this from the last line that says "seen G-d face to face." However, up until this point the person Jacob wrestles with is called simply "a man." Christians reconcile this by saying that this was actually a pre-incarnate Jesus, who is both man and G-d.
However, if this passage seems unclear because of the last passage, all you need to do is look to Hosea. Hosea recounts this event, and uses words that cannot be twisted to support the Christian position.
"Now the Lord has a contention with Judah, and to visit upon Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds He shall recompense him. In the womb, he seized his brother's heel, and with his strength he strove with an angel." - Hosea 12:3-4
There it is, plain as day. Jacob wrestled with an angel, not a mangod.
What about this passage ?
Exodus 3
Moses and the Burning Bush
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
And Moses said, "Here I am."
5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
Doesn't this state that "the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush".
Then it says that "God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" "
So it makes it clear that the angel of the LORD and God is the same person. Then to make sure you cannot mistake it "Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob".
So the angel in the Burning Bush and The God of Abraham is the same person ?
How do you interpret it ?
YEh