One of the most enigmatic episodes in Genesis recounts how the patriarch Jacob, alone at night beside the ford of the Jabbok River in the region of Gilead, wrestles until dawn with a mysterious being—identified in some passages as an angel, in others as God himself (Genesis 32:24–30). Jacob names the place Penuel or Peniel, meaning “the face of God,” because, as he declares, he has seen God face to face and survived.
The question remains: where exactly did this episode occur? The Hebrew Bible does not provide coordinates, only indicating that it took place in Transjordan, east of the Jordan River. Tradition has placed the scene in various parts of what is now northern Jordan, and among these possible locations, some researchers have suggested that the encounter could have taken place at the archaeological site of Pella.
This identification is not universally accepted, but it is compelling. Pella—known in antiquity as Pihilum or Pehel—lies in northwestern Jordan, in a fertile area abundant with natural springs. Topographically and symbolically, the setting corresponds well to the biblical description: a crossroads, a transitional zone between desert and settled land, a place of encounter and transformation.
Archaeology provides additional hints that reinforce this hypothesis. Excavations at Pella have revealed the remains of a monumental Canaanite temple from the Bronze Age, dated to around 1600 BCE. This suggests that the site already had a sacred character during the period in which the patriarchal figures are generally situated.
By Ben Churcher. Pella Project, University of Sydney, Australia. - Own work, CC BY 3.0,
The resemblance between the names “Pihilum” and “Penuel” has further fueled speculation, though phonetic similarity alone does not amount to conclusive evidence. To date, archaeology has uncovered no inscriptions, artifacts, or contextual traces that directly connect Jacob to Pella or to Penuel. Still, in the Near Eastern landscape—where myth, history, and geography often converge—the absence of proof does not necessarily imply the proof of absence.
What is certain is that Pella lies within a zone that has been traversed and contested since ancient times. After his nocturnal struggle, Jacob reconciles with his brother Esau, who had moved southward to settle in the region of Seir, homeland of the Edomites.
Esau, remembered in biblical tradition as the father of Edom, represents the parallel branch of the Abrahamic lineage, often appearing in the narrative as a figure of conflict, division, and separation. The reconciliation of Jacob and Esau across this Transjordanian crossing can therefore be read not only as a personal moment but also as a geographic metaphor for the recurring tensions and reunions that shaped the histories of the Semitic peoples.
Thus, while the identification of Pella with Jacob’s Penuel remains speculative—resting somewhere between tradition and interpretation—it opens a window into the symbolic richness of this archaeological site. Here, where the landscape slopes toward the Jordan River and the eastern hills, one might imagine how collective memory deposited, layer upon layer, the echoes of a story in which divine presence and human struggle were inseparably entwined.