In this daily Bible reading is the account of Jacob and his family continuing their journey from Haran to Jacob’s home. Jacob’s brother Esau met Jacob and was glad to see Jacob, removing Jacob’s fears of Esau’s revenge. Esau then departed from Jacob and returned to Esau’s home.
Jacob sent his family ahead of him to cross the river, Jabbok, and Jacob spent the night alone. During the night, a man appeared and wrestled with Jacob. They wrestled until morning with neither prevailing over the other. The man was an angel representing God. In the morning, the angel said to Jacob, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
This passage confused me for years, but I think it means the following: When I substitute the word ‘succeeded’ for the word ‘prevailed’ it makes more sense to me. Jacob faced many hardships when he lived with his father-in-law, Laban. Laban tried to cheat Jacob many times. However, Jacob prevailed over Laban with God’s help. Then, Jacob finally acknowledged God to be Jacob’s God. And in so doing, he succeeded with God. God then changed Jacob’s name to Israel, as Jacob was then worthy to be the father of the nation Israel.
