Dictionaries :: Peniel

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

Peniel:

face or vision of God; that sees God

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Peniel:

pe-ni'-el, pen'-i-el, pe'-ni-el (peni'el, "face of God"; Eidos theou): This is the form of the name in Ge 32:30. In the next verse and elsewhere it appears as "Penuel." The name is said to have been given to the place by Jacob after his night of wrestling by the Jabbok, because, as he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." It was a height evidently close by the stream over which Jacob passed in the morning. Some have thought it might be a prominent cliff, the contour of which resembled a human face. Such a cliff on the seashore to the South of Tripoli was called theou prosopon, "face of God" (Strabo xvi.2,15 f). In later times a city with a strong tower stood upon it. This lay in the line of Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites. When he returned victorious, he beat down the place because of the churlishness of the inhabitants (Jud 8:8,9,17). It was one of the towns "built" or fortified by Jeroboam (1Ki 12:25). Merrill would identify it with Telul edh-Dhahab, "hills of gold," two hills with ruins that betoken great antiquity, and that speak of great strength, on the South of the Jabbok, about 10 miles East of Jordan (for description see Merrill, East of the Jordan, 390 if). A difficulty that seems fatal to this identification is that here the banks of the Jabbok are so precipitous as to be impassable. Conder suggests Jebel ‘Osha. The site was clearly not far from Succoth; but no certainty is yet possible.

Written by W. Ewing

Nave's Topical Bible

Peniel:

See PENUEL

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Peniel:

(face of God) the name which Jacob gave to the place in which he had wrestled with God: "He called the name of the place 'face of El, ' for I have seen Elohim face to face." (Genesis 32:30). In Genesis 32:31 and the other passages in which the name occurs, its form is changed to PENUEL. From the narrative it is evident that Peniel lay somewhere on the north bank of the Jabbok, and between that torrent and the fords of the Jordan at Succoth, a few miles north of the glen where the Jabbok falls into the Jordan.