The Angel then asked, "What is thy name?" When Ja'cob gave his name the Angel told him that he should no longer be called Ja'cob, but his name should be changed to Is'ra-el, which means "prince." The Angel explained the change by saying, "For as a prince hast the power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." From this point on in the Bible Ja'cob is known as Is'ra-el, and his descendants were called Is'ra-el-ites.
After blessing Ja'cob the stranger disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. Ja'cob then declared that he had seen God face to face, and had been assured that his life would be saved. A new triumph had come into the life of Ja'cob. He had "tricked" his brother E'sau, and for this reason had long lived in fear of his brother's anger. He has now been "tricked" himself by the Angel Je-hov'ah, but has learned to trust not on his own strength, but in the LORD. Nevermore is he to be called Ja'cob, "the supplanter," but from now on shall be known as Is'ra-el, the prince of God.
As Ja'cob left the place where he had wrestled with the Angel he saw his brother E'sau coming to meet him with a band of four hundred armed men. Knowing that God would take care of him, yet still humble, he walked forward to meet E'sau. First, he bowed his body almost to the ground, then moved a little nearer, and bowed again. Seven times he bowed to his brother, and then E'sau rushed up to meet him with open arms. The brothers kissed one another, and were so happy to be friends once more that they wept for joy. Ja'cob's wives and children were then brought forward to meet E'sau, who rejoiced in the blessings which had come to his brother during the twenty years that they had been separated.
Ja'cob then insisted that E'sau keep the gifts which had been sent to him as a peace-offering. At first E'sau refused, but finally agreed to keep them as a token of their renewed friendship. E'sau offered to send some of his servants to help Ja'cob and his family in caring for his many sheep and cattle, or in getting ready for their journey to the heart of Ca'naan. Ja'cob declined the offering with thanks, and the two brothers separated, never to meet again until they stood together at the grave of their father.
After camping for several days at a place afterwards known as Suc'coth, near the river Jab'bok, Ja'cob and his company journeyed westward across the river Jor'dan, settling at last in the hill country near the town of She'chem. Here he paid one hundred pieces of silver for a plot of land owned by a man named Ha'mor, Here, too, he built an altar which he named "The Altar of The Mighty One" in honor of the LORD. It was on this very spot that A'bra-ham had built the first altar in the land of Ca'naan one hundred and eighty-five years before.
