Genesis 32:28 And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men… I. The very twofold name of Jacob and of Israel is but the symbol of the blending of contradictions in Jacob's character. A strange paradox — the hero of faith, and the quick, sharp-witted schemer. II. The character of Jacob is a form which is to be found among the Gentiles no less than among the Jews. There are in our days prudential vices, marring what would otherwise be worthy of all praise. And that which makes them most formidable is that they are the cleaving, besetting temptations of the religious temperament. 1. Untruthfulness — the want of perfect sincerity and frankness. 2. Thinking much of ease and comfort, and shrinking from hardship and danger. III. The religious temperament, with all its faults, may pass into the the matured holiness of him who is not religious only, but godly. How the work is to be clone "thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter," when thou too hast wrestled with the angel and hast become a prince with God. (Dean Plumptre.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. |
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