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.
32:28. But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?
32:29. Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.
32:30. And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.
Phanuel.... This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing of God.
32:31. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.
32:32. Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob’s thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.