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{{Short description|Biblical place}}
[[File:Lutte de Jacob avec l'Ange.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Depiction of [[Jacob wrestling with the angel]] at Penuel by [[Eugène Delacroix]]]]
'''Penuel''' ({{langx|hbo|פְּנוּאֵל|Pənuʾēl}}) is a place described in the [[Hebrew Bible]] as being not far from [[Sukkot (place)|Sukkot]] on the east of the [[Jordan River]], south of the [[Zarqa River#Biblical Jabbok|Zarqa]] in [[Jordan]].

Penuel is mentioned in the [[Book of Genesis]] as the site of [[Jacob wrestling with the angel|Jacob's struggle with the angel]]. In [[1 Kings]], it is mentioned as a capital for [[Jeroboam]], the first king of the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)]], which he fortified.

== Biblical narrative ==
According to the Biblical narrative, the site was named ''Peniel'' ("Face of [[El (god)|God]]") by Jacob:
{{Blockquote | It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared. | Gen. 32:30 NIV}}
Here [[Jacob wrestling with the angel|Jacob wrestled]] with [[El (deity)|El]] "till the break of day." El  changed Jacob's name to "Israel" in Genesis 32:28, explained as "he who strives with God",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kierkegaard |first1=Søren |title=Fear and Trembling |date=20 July 2006 |page=13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107268821 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUNY5KzvIEYC&pg=PA13}}</ref> (literally, "God strives").

Penuel is later mentioned in the [[Book of Judges]]. The men of this place refused to give bread to [[Gideon]] and his three hundred men when they were in pursuit of the Midianites in [[Judges 8]]:1–21. On his return, Gideon tore down the tower there and killed all the men of the city.

According to the Bible, [[Jeroboam]], King of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel-Samaria]], established his capital in [[Shechem]]. A short time later, he left Shechem and fortified Penuel, declaring it as his new capital in [[1 Kings 12]]:25. He and his son, [[Nadab of Israel|Nadab]], ruled there until [[Baasha of Israel|Baasha]] seized the throne in 909 BCE and moved the capital to [[Tirzah (ancient city)|Tirzah]] in [[1 Kings 15]]:25–34. In the scriptures, it is identified as both a site for the worship of El and [[Yahweh]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nohrnberg |first1=James |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Like_Unto_Moses/sRnTXKQYJQEC&pg=PA295 |title=Like Unto Moses: The Constituting of an Interruption |page=295}}</ref>

Some scholars consider that the material of Genesis 32–35, including the account of Jacob being renamed Israel at Penuel, may be a later addition that introduces a new power structure centered around the establishment of sacral places in the North (Penuel, Shechem and [[Bethel]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=David M. |title=Reading the Fractures of Genesis: Historical and Literary Approaches |date=January 1996 |page=298 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=9780664220716 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UJctZxFHikC&pg=PA298}}</ref>

== Identification ==
Up until 1970, [[biblical scholars]] identified Penuel with the twin peaks of [[Tulul adh-Dhahab]] in modern-day [[Jordan]]. Based on the account given in Genesis, scholars believed Penuel to be the location of a sacred sanctuary,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klein |first=Lillian R. |date=1998 |title=''Reading the Fractures of Genesis: Historical and Literary Approaches'' (review) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hbr.1998.0034 |journal=Hebrew Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=213–216 |doi=10.1353/hbr.1998.0034 |issn=2158-1681 |s2cid=170758324|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and presumed that there must have been a temple from [[Ancient Near East#Iron Age|Iron Age I]] or earlier on one of the peaks.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Reinhard |first1=Jochen |last2=Rasink |first2=Bernd |title=A preliminary report of the Tulul adh-Dhahab (Wadi az-Zarqa) survey and excavation seasons 2005 - 2011 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28748552 |journal=Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan |pages=85}}</ref> Since such a structure has not been found, this identification was questioned.
[[File:Tell_ad-dahab_ash-sharqiya2841.JPG|thumb|[[Tulul adh-Dhahab]]'s Tell edh-Dhahab el-Sharqi, a proposed location for ancient Penuel]]
Contemporary Israeli archaeologist [[Israel Finkelstein]] suggested to see the twin peaks as two distinct sites that probably featured distinct names during antiquity. He suggested identifying the western, larger, Tell el-Dhahab al-Gharbi with [[Mahanaim]] and the eastern one, Tell edh-Dhahab el-Sharqi, with Penuel.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |title=Ugarit-Forschungen; Band 43 (2011) |last2=Lipschits |first2=Oded |last3=Koch |first3=Ido |publisher= |year=2012 |isbn=978-3-86835-086-9 |location=[Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar] |pages=146 |chapter=The Biblical Gilead: Observations on Identifications, Geographic Divisions and Territorial History. |oclc=1101929531}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Vayishlach]], the Torah reading describing the events at Penuel

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{EBD}}
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[[Category:Torah places]]
[[Category:Jacob]]
[[Category:Book of Genesis locations]]
[[Category:Book of Judges locations]]
[[Category:Books of Kings locations]]
[[Category:El (deity)]]
[[Category:Establishments in the Kingdom of Israel]]