Genesis 32:28 Commentary and Bible Study

His name was changed because he had encountered the Lord and that encounter had transformed him. He needed to be given a new name to reflect this, and only God knew what that name should be. Only God knows the full wonder of what he has made us in Christ. You will no longer be called supplanter, but Israel – literally ‘prince’, prince with God. This was the outcome of his successful wrestling with the Lord. He had prevailed against all the difficulties and all the resistance; he had obtained the blessing. A prince has favour with the king and can enter the royal throne room. Such a person has power with God and man.Tell me your name, he says. He knows it is God – we see this by how he names the place after this – he just wants the assurance that it is the Lord he has been struggling with in this mysterious experience. He is denied his request and asked, ‘Why are you asking?’ Some say Jacob wanted to know some deep thing, too deep for him. But it is far more likely that it means you have no need to ask, because you already know. Yes it was part of his struggle to know who he struggled with, but he had overcome. God blessed him there with the blessing he had been seeking. His life would be preserved, whatever took place with Esau. Once he is allowed to prevail and is given a new name, he realises he has seen the Lord. He calls the place Peniel, meaning the face of God. Jacob is in no doubt that it is the Lord himself that he has been wrestling with. What an uplift to him! He is so assured, so warmed; he realised he was in the hand of God. But before he gets to this comfort he has to go through a profound struggle. That was the way for him.