to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
name
שְּׁמֶ֑ךָshe.Me.kha
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
said
וַיֹּ֖אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Jacob
יַעֲקֹֽבya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 32:24–end
We have here the remarkable story of Jacob's wrestling with the angel and prevailing, which is referred to, Hos 12:4. Very early in the morning, a great while before day, Jacob had helped his wives and his children over the river, and he desired to be private, and was left alone, that he might again more fully spread his cares and fears before God in prayer. Note, We ought to continue instant in prayer, always to pray and not to faint: frequency and importunity in prayer prepare us for mercy. While Jacob was earnest in prayer, stirring up himself to take hold on God, an angel takes hold on him. Some think this was a created angel, the angel of his presence (Isa 63:9), one of those that alway…
I will not let thee go, except thou bless me--It is evident that Jacob was aware of the character of Him with whom he wrestled; and, believing that His power, though by far superior to human, was yet limited by His promise to do him good, he determined not to lose the golden opportunity of securing a blessing. And nothing gives God greater pleasure than to see the hearts of His people firmly adhering to Him.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 32:26
Let me go, for the day breaketh - Probably meaning, that as it was now morning, Jacob must rejoin his wives and children, and proceed on their journey. Though phantoms are supposed to disappear when the sun rises, that could be no reason in this case. Most of the angelic appearances mentioned in the Old and New Testaments took place in open day, which put their reality out of question.
John Gill on Genesis 32:27
And he said unto him, what is thy name?.... Which question is put, not as being ignorant of it, but in order to take occasion from it, and the change of it, to show that he had granted his request, and had blessed him, and would yet more and more:
and he said, Jacob; the name given him at his birth, and by which he had always been called, and therefore tells it him at once, not staying to ask the reason of the question.
The Church Fathers
(Verse 27 and 28.) And he said to him: What is your name? He said, Jacob. And he said to him: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but your name shall be called Israel: for you have wrestled with God, and have prevailed with men. Josephus, in the first book of Antiquities, thinks that Israel was called so because he wrestled with an angel. I carefully examined this, but I could not find it at all in Hebrew. And why should I seek the opinions of individuals, when the one who gave the name explains the etymology himself? He said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel will be your name.' Why? Aquila interprets it as 'because you have begun with God,' Symmachus as 'because I will start towards God,' the Septuagint and Theodotio as 'because you have prevailed with God.' Sarith (which is derived from the word Israel) means 'prince.' Therefore, the meaning is: Your name will not be supplanter, that is, Jacob, but your name will be prince with God, that is, Israel. For just as I am a prince, so you, who were able to wrestle with me, shall be called a prince. But if you were able to wrestle with me, who am God or an angel (for many interpret it differently), how much more so with humans, that is, with Esau, whom you should not fear! However, that which is interpreted as 'Israel' in the book of Numbers, 'a man who sees God' or 'a mind that sees God', seems to me to have been interpreted not so truly, but rather forcefully, in the common speech. For here Israel, as it is written in these letters, is spelled Iod, Sin, Res, Aleph, Lamed, which means Prince of God, or Direct of God, that is, εὐθύτατος Θεοῦ. But the word for "seeing" God is spelled Aleph, Iod, Sin, so that it is written with three letters and pronounced Is (), while "seeing" is spelled with three letters, Res, Aleph, He, and pronounced Raa (). And El () is formed by two letters, Aleph and Lamed, and it means God, or strong. Although, therefore, they are of great authority, and the shadow of their eloquence oppresses us, who have transformed the man, or rather the mind perceiving God, into the Israel: we are rather led by the authority of Scripture, and of the Angels, or of God, who called him Israel, than by any worldly eloquence. That which also follows afterwards:
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Music — Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the…
Penuel — Face of God, a place not far from Succoth, on the east of the Jordan and north of the river Jabbok. It is also called “Peniel.” Here Jacob wrestled (Gen. 32:24-32) “with a man” (“the angel”, Hos.…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Boldness, Holy · Exemplified: Jacob — Exemplified: Jacob
Christ Is God · Acknowledged by the Old Testament saints — Acknowledged by the Old Testament saints
Communion With God · Exemplified: Jacob — Exemplified: Jacob
Israel · 1. A name given to Jacob — 1. A name given to Jacob
Prayer, Answers To · Exemplified: Jacob — Exemplified: Jacob
Religion · .Jacob — .Jacob
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Genesis 32:26-27
Let me go. God concedes the praise of victory to his servant, and is ready to depart, as if unequal to him in strength: not because a truce was needed by him, to whom it belongs to grant a truce or peace whenever he pleases; but that Jacob might rejoice over the grace afforded to him. A wonderful method of triumphing; where the Lord, to whose power all praise is entirely due, yet chooses that feeble man shall excel as a conqueror, and thus raises him on high with special eulogy. At the same time he commends the invincible perseverance of Jacob, who, having endured a long and severe conflict, still strenuously maintains his ground. And certainly we adopt a proper mode of contending, when we n…
"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,…
What is your name? The Lord’s question was really about Jacob’s character, not his identity (cp. 3:9; 4:9). By giving his name, Jacob confessed his nature, his way of doing things as “Heel-grabber, Deceiver, Usurper.” Before God would bless him, he had to acknowledge who he was, and then God would change his identity.
Rashi on Genesis 32:15
עזים מאתים ותישים עשרים TWO HUNDRED SHE GOATS AND TWENTY HE GOATS — Two hundred she goats have need of twenty he goats, and so too in the case of all the various species the males were in number according to the need of the females. In Genesis Rabbah 76:7 an inference is made from here as regards the minimum period imperative for the marital duty imposed by the Torah - [for] the men of leisure, every day; [for] the laborers, twice a week; [for] the donkey drivers, once a week; [for] the camel drivers, once in thirty days, [for] the sailors, once in six months. I am unable however to show exactly how this inference is arrived at. But it appears to me that we may learn from here at least that…
