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Penuel - location profile

Location and Setting

• Penuel was located about eight miles east of the Jordan River and about five miles east of Succoth.
• Surrounded on three sides by the Jabbok River, Penuel could be totally surrounded by water during the rainy season.
• Penuel was situated on a major east-west route that passed through the Wadi Jabbok connecting the Transjordanian Highway with the Jordan Valley and routes leading into the hill country of Samaria.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• After sending an offering to his estranged brother, Esau, from his flocks and herds, Jacob left Mahanaim and crossed the Jabbok River. Jacob wrestled with "a man" all night until dawn. Later, the prophet Hosea explained that the man Jacob wrestled was, in reality, an angel (Hosea 12:4). Jacob and the angel struggled without either gaining an advantage. Finally, the angel touched Jacob’s leg socket and dislocated it. Jacob still refused to let the angel go unless he blessed him. The angel did bless him and changed Jacob’s name to Israel, which means "he who strives with God." Jacob named the site Peniel, meaning "the face of God," because he believed that he had seen God face to face and had survived. As the sun rose, Jacob left "Penuel," a variant spelling of Peniel (Gen 32:22-32).
• Weary from pursuing the Midianite leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna, Gideon and three hundred of his men came to Penuel and requested bread from them. The inhabitants of Penuel refused aid to Gideon, just as the people of Succoth had just done. Apparently, these cities supported Zebah and Zalmunna, assuming that they ultimately would overcome Gideon’s small band. Although retreating, the Midianites far-outnumbered Gideon’s forces. Gideon threatened to return after his victory over them and destroy the tower of Penuel. When he had defeated the Midianites, Gideon returned to Penuel, tore down the tower there, and killed the men of the city (Judg 8:8, 9, 17).
• Penuel was strategically located to protect the Northern Kingdom from invasion from the east. A major east-west route led down the Wadi Jabbok, across the Jordan River to the Wadi Fari’a on the western side of the valley. The Wadi Fari’a provided easy access into the hill country of Samaria and made Shechem vulnerable. Jeroboam I, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, fortified Penuel as well as Shechem. Penuel may have become an alternate capital as a result of the threat of Rehoboam, the king of Judah, against Jeroboam’s rule from Shechem (1 Kgs 12:25).
• During Jeroboam’s reign, the Egyptian pharaoh Shishak attacked Penuel and listed it among the cities he invaded in Israel.

For further study, see also: Mahanaim

Bibliography

1. Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible, A Historical Geography. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1979.
2. Job, J.B. "Penuel" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
3. Smith, George Adam. The Historical Geography of the Holy Land. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1966.