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[331]
When Jacob had made these appointments all the day, and night came
on, he moved on with his company; and, as they were gone over a certain
river called Jabboc, Jacob was left behind; and meeting with an angel,
he wrestled with him, the angel beginning the struggle: but he prevailed
over the angel, who used a voice, and spake to him in words, exhorting
him to be pleased with what had happened to him, and not to suppose that
his victory was a small one, but that he had overcome a divine angel, and
to esteem the victory as a sign of great blessings that should come to
him, and that his offspring should never fall, and that no man should be
too hard for his power. He also commanded him to be called Israel, which
in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that struggled with the divine angel.1
These promises were made at the prayer of Jacob; for when he perceived
him to be the angel of God, he desired he would signify to him what should
befall him hereafter. And when the angel had said what is before related,
he disappeared; but Jacob was pleased with these things, and named the
place Phanuel, which signifies, the face of God. Now when he felt
pain, by this struggling, upon his broad sinew, he abstained from eating
that sinew himself afterward; and for his sake it is still not eaten by
us.
1 Perhaps this may be the proper meaning of the word Israel, by the present and the old Jerusalem analogy of the Hebrew tongue. In the mean time, it is certain that the Hellenists of the first century, in Egypt and elsewhere, interpreted Israel to be a man seeing God, as is evident from the argument fore-cited.
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