Midrash su Genesi 32:24

Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥelbo: It is written: “A man wrestled with him” (Genesis 32:25). We do not know who was dominated by whom; whether the angel was dominated by Jacob or Jacob was dominated by the angel, except from what is written: “He said: Release me, as dawn has broken” (Genesis 32:27). The angel said to Jacob: ‘Release me, as the time for my lauding has arrived.’ Thus, the angel was dominated by Jacob.
In what guise did he appear to him? Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: He appeared to him in the guise of Esau’s guardian angel. That is what is written: “For I have therefore seen your face like seeing the face of an angel” (Genesis 33:10). [Jacob] said to [Esau]: ‘Your face is like that of your angel.’ This is analogous to a king who had a tamed lion and a wild dog. What did the king do? He brought the lion and incited it against his son. He would say: If the dog comes upon my son, my son will say: If I overcame the lion will I not be able to overcome the dog? So too, when the nations of the world come upon Israel, the Holy One blessed be He says to then: ‘Your guardian angel was not able to withstand their ancestor, will you be able to overcome them?’
Rabbi Huna said: He appeared to him as a herdsman; this one had flocks and that one had flocks, this one had camels and that one had camels. He said to him:⁵⁰The angel said to Jacob. ‘Cross mine and I will cross yours.’⁵¹Help me cross the stream with my livestock, and I will help you cross with your livestock. Some suggest that the text should read: Cross yours and I will cross mine. This is consistent with the version of the text in Bereshit Rabba 77:3 and with the continuation of the midrash here (Etz Yosef). After Jacob our patriarch crossed his, he said: ‘Let us return and see, perhaps we forgot something.’ Once he returned, “a man wrestled with him.”⁵²The angel, appearing as a herdsman, fought with Jacob under the pretense that after crossing his own livestock, Jacob had come to take some of his livestock. Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great and Rabbi Shimon ben Rabbi were engaged in commerce and were dealing silk fabric. They entered Tyre and engaged in their labor. When they exited the city gates, they said: ‘Let us return and see, perhaps we forgot something.’ They returned and found a bundle of silk fabric. They said: This matter is from Jacob our grandfather, as it is written: “A man wrestled with him.”⁵³This event occurred after Jacob had returned to see if he forgot anything. They derived from Jacob’s behavior that checking if one forgot anything is a good habit.
The Rabbis say: He appeared to him as an arch robber; this one had flocks and that one had flocks, this one had camels and that one had camels. He said to him: Cross mine and I will cross yours. The angel crossed Jacob’s flocks in the blink of an eye. Our patriarch Jacob was crossing the flocks of the angel, and he was returning and finding other flocks all that night. What did Jacob our patriarch do? Rabbi Pinḥas said: At that moment, Jacob wrapped a soft woolen scarf around his neck. He said to him: ‘Sorcerer, sorcerer, you are a wizard, but wizardry is not effective at night.’ Rabbi Huna said: At that moment the angel said: ‘Shall I not inform him with whom he is dealing?’ What did he do? He placed a finger on a rock and it began bursting into flames. [Jacob] said to him: ‘With this you are seeking to frighten me? I am constituted entirely from it,’ as it is stated: “The house of Jacob will be fire” (Obadiah 1:18).
Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Esau’s guardian angel: ‘Are you standing against him? He is coming against you with five amulets in his hand: His merit, the merit of his father, the merit of his mother, the merit of his grandfather, and the merit of his grandmother. Assess yourself relative to him, as you are unable to stand even against his own merit.’ Immediately, “he saw that he could not overcome him” (Genesis 32:26). Rabbi Levi said: He saw in the Divine Presence that he could not overcome him. [This is analogous] to an arch robber who was struggling with the son of a king. He lifted his eyes and saw that his father the king was standing over him, and he submitted to him. So too, when the angel saw the Divine Presence standing over Jacob, he submitted before him. That is what is written: “He saw that he could not overcome him.” Rabbi Levi said: He saw in the Divine Presence that he could not overcome him.
“He touched the socket of his thigh” (Genesis 32:26), the righteous men and the righteous women and the prophets and the prophetesses who were destined to emerge from him and his sons. What is that? It is the generation of persecution.⁵⁴The generation that lived after the destruction of the Temple, when the Romans persecuted the residents of the Land of Israel. “The socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated [vateka]” (Genesis 32:26), Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Berekhya, Rabbi Eliezer says: He smoothed it.⁵⁵The bone that protrudes from the thigh no longer protruded. Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rav Asi:⁵⁶The Hebrew text says Ravasa, which is short for Rav Asi. He fractured it like [one splits] a fish.⁵⁷Lengthwise. Rabbi Naḥman bar Yaakov said: He dislocated it, just as you say: “My soul was alienated [vateka] from her” (Ezekiel 23:18).

What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He sent an angel to him to deliver him, and to save him from the hand of Esau; and he appeared unto him like a man, as it is said, "And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (Gen. 32:24). As soon as the dawn appeared, the angel said to him: Let me go, for the time has arrived when I must stand to sing and to chant praises before the Holy One, blessed be He. But Jacob did not wish to let him go. What did the angel do? He began to sing and to chant praises from the earth, || and when the angels (on high) heard the voice of the angel who was singing and praising from the earth, they said: Because of the honour of the righteous (one) do we hear the voice of the angel who is singing and praising from the earth; and concerning him the verse says, "From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, glory to the righteous" (Isa. 24:16).