32:19. In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him.
32:20. And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.
32:21. So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.
32:22. And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.
32:23. And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,
32:24. He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till morning.
A man, etc… This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee 12.4. He is called God, ver. 28 and 30, because he represented the person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered (ver. 28,) that he might learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau, nor any other man, should have power to hurt him.-It was also spiritual, as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging and at last obtaining the angel's blessing.
32:25. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.
32:26. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
32:27. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.