Gen. 35:9-12
Then the Mighty One appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram and blessed him.
And the Mighty One said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So, He called his name Israel.
The Mighty One further said to him:
“I am El Shadai. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and an Assembly of nations will proceed from you, and kings will come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants, after you, I give this land.”
YHWH’s Messager had previously told Jacob that his name would be changed to Israel because he had strength “with the Mighty One and with men and overcame”. Gen. 32:28-29.
The prophet Hosea understood that the One Jacob wrestled was the Messenger. Hos. 12:4. Jacob believed he had wrestled with YHWH, and not simply an angel. Gen. 32:30. This parallels Moses’ encounter with this Messenger in Exodus 33:11, 20, 23:
And YHWH spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend…
And He said, “You cannot see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
You will see my back: but my face will not be seen.
On one hand, Moses spoke with YHWH face to face the same way two friends would talk. Two friends converse facing each other. On the other hand, YHWH told Moses that he cannot see His face and that He would only see His back instead. All this comes shortly after YHWH promised to send His Messenger. Exo. 33:2. We can therefore understand that the One with whom Moses spoke face to face was this very Messenger. This Messenger is later named Yeshua. Jdg. 2:1-6.
The Messenger Yeshua (aka the Word of YHWH) told Jacob that his name would be called Israel (1 Ki. 18:31) because he had the strength to wrestle with Him and because he overcame with Him. The name Israel, therefore, means to rule with strength and overcome with Yeshua. With Him, we believe that we will overcome this world.
1 Jo. 5:4-5
because everyone have been born of the Mighty One overcomes the word. And this is the overcoming that has overcome the word: our faith.
Who is the one who overcomes the word but he who believes that Yeshua is the Son of the Mighty One.
Through faith in Yeshua, seven faithful generations are given a promise about overcoming. Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21. This fulfills the saying, “An Assembly of nations will proceed from you.” Gen. 35:11.
They will overcome because they will not love their lives more than Yeshua and the Word He taught. Rev. 12:11. Because they overcome, they will rule with Him. Rev. 20:4. This fulfills the saying, “And kings will come from your body”. Gen. 35:11.
With Yeshua and His Word, those who are Israel of the last remaining generation will inherit the world to come. Rev. 21:7. This fulfills the saying, “To your descendants after you I will give this land”. Gen. 35:12
More to consider on the Messenger whom Jacob wrestled with:
Gen. 31:3, 11, 13b
Comparing these passages, we can notice something interesting. The initial verse says that YHWH spoke with Jacob telling him to return to the land of his relatives. When Jacob recounted the event to his wives, he said that it was YHWH’s Messenger who instructed him to do so.
While it is possible that Jacob could have been referring to a different incident, or that YHWH indirectly spoke to Jacob through a generic angel during a dream, it is just as possible that this Messenger was no ordinary angel. Sprinkled throughout Scripture, we can see a Messenger called YHWH. The passage quoted above could be another one of these cases.
[Some other instances of a Messenger (translated as Angel in most English versions) being called YHWH or Elohim include Gen. 18: 2(cf. 19:1 & 18:22), 3, 13, 16, 20, 22 (cf. 18:2 &19:1), 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33; Gen.19:24 (cf. 19:15); Gen. 24:27 (cf. 24:7, 40), 48 (ibid); Exo. 3:7 (cf. 3:2); Exo. 13:21 (cf. 14:19); Exo. 33:11 (cf. 33:20); Exo. 34:5, 6 (cf. 34:10-13 & Jdg. 2:1-3); Jdg. 13:22 (cf. 13:21); Hos. 12:4 (cf. Gen. 32:10); Zec. 3:2 (cf. 3:1, 3).]
John 1:18 says that no human has ever seen Elohim. Paul says the same thing in 1 Timothy 6:16. 1 John 4:12 also testifies to this. Yeshua clarified that no one, apart from Himself, has ever seen Elohim.
Joh. 6:46
This means that Moses, Ahron and his two sons, and the seventy elders did not see Elohim, as Exodus 24:9-11 reports. Instead, they must have dined with His Messenger. In fact, the prophet Hoshua also referred to the Messenger as Elohim.
Hos. 12:3, 4
While YHWH has many spiritual messengers, as He is called YHWH of hosts, He has a specific Messenger who is above the rest. This is the One seated at His right hand at His heavenly Throne.
Psa. 110:1
[See also Mar. 16:19; Eph. 1:20-22; Heb. 12:2; 1 Pe. 3:22.]
This is the “Messenger of Elohim” (Gen. 31:11) who delivers YHWH’s Words to mankind. He also became a human and lived YHWH’s Words perfectly. While He was tempted like the rest of us, He did not sin. This is why He can be called the Word of YHWH. Gen. 15:1; 1 Ki. 19:9; Isa. 38:4; Mal. 1:1; etc. See also Joh. 1:1, 14; & Rev. 19:13.