ספר בראשית

‎Genesis 25,26. “while his hand was holding on to Esau’s heel.” I ‎assume that the reader is aware that Satan, [also known as the ‎angel of death, Esau himself describing himself as headed for ‎death, Ed.] is considered as the protective guardian of Esau. ‎Yaakov was bent on vanquishing this force, (also known as the ‎poison resulting in death) so that this force would not overwhelm ‎us, his descendants. It is noteworthy that the numerical value of ‎the word ‎עקב‎ (172) is twice the numerical value of the attribute ‎of Justice, ‎אלוהים‎ (86). Symbolically speaking, Yaakov used this ‎numerical superiority of the letters in his name to challenge the ‎supremacy of Justice when not tempered by Mercy.‎