Genesis 32:29

29. Tell me… thy name In the loftiest attainments of soul-struggle with God this is the profoundest prayer that can be uttered . It is a rising above human desires, a ceasing even to ask for blessings, and a yearning to know the sacred name. It is equivalent to, Reveal to me thy nature; or, as in Exodus 33:18, “Show me thy glory . ” Such was Manoah’s prayer .

Judges 13:17. But he learned that he might not ask too deeply after the Wonderful, פלא .

He blessed him there In what particular form or manner, besides the giving him the new name, we are not told . But Jacob’s prayer for a blessing was answered. At the same time an implied rebuke was administered for his asking after the angel’s name. When shocks of divine power are felt, sufficient to prove the personal presence of Omnipotence, it is presumptuous for feeble man to essay to “find out the Almighty to perfection.”