We have to begin here in order to set the stage because of the way the translators have chosen to render Jacob's name change into English. It is misleading because it hides much of Jacob's character and God's purpose in providing this wrestling match. In so doing, it hides much of the instruction that is available here.
The chapter began with Jacob's preparations for meeting Esau. He arranged the parties into two groups, and he gave Esau about 550 animals. But before that meeting actually took place, God intervened by forcing Jacob into this wrestling match. We know that it was God he was wrestling. It says angel, but Jacob knew better. He said, "I have seen God face to face," and he said, "I lived." We will find confirmation for this in another place as well.
Look how he wrestled with the Angel yet. He wrestled gamely, and with great courage. But I think that we can understand that God exerted just enough strength to keep things under control and to get His point across. It was God who ended the match, because Jacob demands a blessing. The blessing conferred was a change of name that suited Jacob's personality, and a lesson that he had to learn, and the painful putting of his hip out of joint as a constant reminder of that lesson. He limped for the rest of his life, apparently with some measure of discomfort, because we find him later needing a staff to get along with.
Now, how can something like that be a blessing? It was, though, because it was intended by God to keep Jacob humble. What was the lesson here?
Jacob knew that he had not won. "My life is preserved." He knew in his heart of hearts that if the One who was wrestling with him wanted to, He could have made Jacob a grease spot right there, and that would have been the end of it. Jacob did not win, but the translation here makes it look like he won. Nobody wins against God. God's will is done in every case. We do not have enough wisdom, enough experience, enough knowledge to know what is good for us, like God does.
Jacob did well in the wrestling match, and he prevailed only in that he did not give up, and that was admirable. He did not give up, but he did not win. Think of this. Satan, a spirit being of far greater powers than Jacob ever even dreamed of, could not beat God. How is a mere man going to beat God? That is what I am telling you when I said that the translation here is misleading. He prevailed only in that he did not give up, and that is to his credit. Jacob only got as far as God's suffering of him would allow.
We are going to look at the name Israel. It is variously translated in Bibles as "prince with God." That is not too bad of a translation. Or it is translated as "He who strives with God." That one is not good at all. Or it is translated as "He who prevails with God." That one is a bad translation, and yet that is the most common one that you will see in Bibles. Sometimes it is even translated "God prevails." Hey! That is the best one yet. That last one, according to Bullinger, is the one that comes the closest to what the word really means.
The root of the name Israel is two words: El. Everybody knows El means God. The other word is a word that transliterates into English as sar. Do you know what sar means? It means "one who arranges, one who orders, one who commands." It has the usage "prince." A prince is one who orders, who arranges, who commands. Abraham's wife's name Sarah is derived from this, and it means princess. She is a person of authority and power.
This same word sar is translated in modern Bibles "princes." The same verse, in like the King James, might read "officials." (See Genesis 12:15, "The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.")
We are all familiar with the name Potiphar. Potiphar was a captain. That is the word sar, translated captain. Pharaoh's butler had a chief. The word chief is sar. The king's cattle had rulers. The … . . .
