Genesis 32:26

"And when He (the unknown) saw that He did not overcome him, He touched his hip-socket; and his hip-socket was put out of joint (תּקע from רקע) as He wrestled with him." Still Jacob would not let Him go until He blessed him. He then said to Jacob, "They name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel (ישׂראל, God's fighter, from שׂרה to fight, and אל God); for thou hast fought with God and with men, and hast prevailed." When Jacob asked Him His name, He declined giving any definite answer, and "blessed him there." He did not tell him His name; not merely, as the angel stated to Manoah in reply to a similar question (Jdg 13:18), because it was פּלא wonder, i.e., incomprehensible to mortal man, but still more to fill Jacob's soul with awe at the mysterious character of the whole event, and to lead him to take it to heart. What Jacob wanted to know, with regard to the person of the wonderful Wrestler, and the meaning and intention of the struggle, he must already have suspected, when he would not let Him go until He blessed him; and it was put before him still more plainly in the new name that was given to him with this explanation, "Thou hast fought with Elohim and with men, and hast conquered." God had met him in the form of a man: God in the angel, according to Hos 12:4-5, i.e., not in a created angel, but in the Angel of Jehovah, the visible manifestation of the invisible God. Our history does not speak of Jehovah, or the Angel of Jehovah, but of Elohim, for the purpose of bringing out the contrast between God and the creature. This remarkable occurrence is not to be regarded as a dream or an internal vision, but fell within the sphere of sensuous perception. At the same time, it was not a natural or corporeal wrestling, but a "real conflict of both mind and body, a wor…

We have here Jacob still upon his journey towards Canaan. Never did so many memorable things occur in any march as in this of Jacob's little family. By the way he meets, I. With good tidings from his God (Gen 32:1, Gen 32:2). II. With bad tidings from his brother, to whom he sent a message to notify his return (Gen 32:3-6). In his distress, 1. He divides his company (Gen 32:7, Gen 32:8). 2. He makes his prayer to God (Gen 32:9-12). 3. He sends a present to his brother (Gen 32:13-23). 4. He wrestles with the angel (Gen 32:24-32).

32:26 At daybreak, the significance of this fight began to dawn on Jacob. He realized who his assailant was, and since it was futile to fight, he held on to obtain God’s blessing.