Indeed, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; He wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,
He found him in Bethel - This may mean either that “God found Jacob,” or that “Jacob found God;” which are indeed one and the same thing, since we find God, when He has first found us. God “found,” i. e., made Himself known to Jacob twice in this place; first, when he was going toward Haran, when he saw the vision of the ladder and the angels of God ascending and descending, “and the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham and the God of Isaac;” and Jacob first called the place “Bethel;” secondly, on his return, when God spake with him, giving him the name of Israel. Both revelations of God to Jacob are probably included in the words, “He found him in Bethel,” since, on both occasions, God did “find him,” and come to him, and he “found” God. In Bethel, where God found Jacob, Israel deserted Him, setting up the worship of the calves; yea, he deserted God the more there, because of God’s mercy to his forefather, desecrating to false worship the place which had been consecrated by the revelation of the true God; and choosing it the rather, because it had been so consecrated.