The Israelites weren’t originally called “the Israelites” in the first place. It started with a man named Jacob before he wrestled with God and prevailed.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Genesis 32:28
In some research, the figure that Jacob wrestled with was not just an angel of God but a man which he said he was God Himself.
In the story of Moses, the figure he saw was written as the “angel of God” like that of the burning bush that was not burnt in mount Horeb.
But the text was similar to what Joshua saw at the entrance of the promised land Canaan before they crushed down the walls of Jericho: a man with a drown sword.
The man then introduced himself as The Commander of the Army of the Lord.
(click to see details of the Bible trivia about this man)
Do you see the point here?
This man was Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Other theories suggest that the wrestle was only a vision of Jacob. But who knows? What do you think about this trivia? See for yourself and read from the scripture below.
The Scripture in the book of Genesis about Jacob wrestled with God until daybreak.
Jacob Wrestles With God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
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