Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel - ושראל Yisrael, from שר sar, a prince, or שרה sarah, he ruled as a prince, and אל el, God; or rather from איש ish, a man, (the א aleph being dropped), and ראה raah, he saw, אל el, God; and this corresponds with the name which Jacob imposed on the place, calling it פניאל peniel, the faces of God, or of Elohim, which faces being manifested to him caused him to say, Genesis 32:30, ראיתי אלהים פנים אל פנים raithi Elohim panim el panim, i.e., "I have seen the Elohim faces to faces, (i.e., fully and completely, without any medium), ותנצל נפשי vattinnatsel napshi, and my soul is redeemed." We may learn from this that the redemption of the soul will be the blessed consequence of wrestling by prayer and supplication with God: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." From this time Jacob became a new man; but it was not till after a severe struggle that he got his name, his heart, and his character changed. After this he was no more Jacob the supplanter, but Israel - the man who prevails with God, and sees him face to face.

And hast prevailed - More literally, Thou hast had power with God, and with man thou shalt also prevail. עם אלהים Im Elohim, with the strong God; עם אנשים im anashim, with weak, feeble man. There is a beautiful opposition here between the two words: Seeing thou hast been powerful with the Almighty, surely thou shalt prevail over perishing mortals; as thou hast prevailed with God, thou shalt also prevail with men: God calling the things that were not as though they had already taken place, because the prevalency of this people, the Israelites, by means of the Messiah, who should proceed from them, was already determined in the Divine counsel. He has never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain. He who wrestles must prevail.

Thy name.

Genesis 17:5,15 Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made you...

Genesis 33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it EleloheIsrael.

Genesis 35:10 And God said to him, Your name is Jacob: your name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be your name...

Numbers 13:16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.

2 Samuel 12:25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

2 Kings 17:34 To this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances...

Isaiah 62:2-4 And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name...

Isaiah 65:15 And you shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay you, and call his servants by another name:

John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, You are Simon the son of Jona: you shall be called Cephas...

Revelation 2:17 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna...

Israel. i.e., a prince of God. as a prince. Or, according to the LXX., Vulgate, Houbigant, Dathe, and Rosenmuller, 'because thou hast power with God, thou shalt also prevail with men.' There is a beautiful antithesis between the two terms, with [Elohim,] Elohim, god, the Almighty, with [anashim,] anashim, weak, feeble men, as the word imports; seeing thou hast had power with the Almighty, surely thou shalt prevail over perishing mortals.

power.

Genesis 32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Hosea 12:3-5 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God...

with men.

Genesis 25:31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day your birthright.

Genesis 27:33-36 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that has taken venison, and brought it me...

Genesis 31:24,36-55 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad...

Genesis 33:4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

1 Samuel 26:25 Then Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David: you shall both do great things, and also shall still prevail...

Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Of the Name of God
Exod. iii. 13, 14.--"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." We are now about this question, What God is. But who can answer it? Or, if answered, who can understand it? It should astonish us in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Meditations for the Morning.
1. Almighty God can, in the resurrection, as easily raise up thy body out of the grave, from the sleep of death, as he hath this morning wakened thee in thy bed, out of the sleep of nature. At the dawning of which resurrection day, Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints; and every one of the bodies of the thousands of his saints, being fashioned like unto his glorious body, shall shine as bright as the sun (2 Thess. i. 10; Jude, ver. 14; Phil. iii. 21; Luke ix. 31;) all the angels shining …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety