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John Trapp Complete Commentary

Genesis 32:30

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Ver. 30. I have seen God face to face.] Christ would not tell Jacob his name, to lift up his mind above what he saw of him, and to insinuate that his name was "Wonderful," his essence incomprehensible. Jdg 13:17-18 And whereas Jacob said here, he had "seen God face to face": he means only, praesens praesentem, as Moses spake with God "mouth to mouth". Num 12:8 He saw not God's majesty and essence; for he is a God "that hides himself," Isa 8:17 and "dwells in the light unapproachable". 1Ti 6:16 But he saw him more apparently and manifestly than ever he had done before. We can see but his "back parts" Exo 33:23 and live; we need see no more, that we may live. God that fills all, saith Nazianzen, though he lighten the mind, yet flies before the beams thereof; still leaving it, as it is able, in sight to follow him; draws it by degrees to higher things; but ever interposeth between it and his incomparable essence, as many vails as were over the tabernacle. Some created shape, some glimpse of glory, Jacob saw; whereby God was pleased, for the present, to testify his more immediate presence; but not himself.

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See also Genesis 32:30 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

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  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 32 JACOB'S FEAR OF ESAU AND PRAYER AT PENIEL _ 1. The vision at Mahanaim (Genesis 32:1)_ 2. The message to Esau (Genesis 32:3) 3. Esau's coming and Jacob's fear (Genesis 32:6) 4. Jacob's p...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THE WRESTLING OF JACOB. The narrative, for which Hosea 12:3 should be compared. is distributed between J and E by recent critics. Gunkel attributes Genesis 32:23_ a_, Genesis 32:25_ a_,...

  • B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary

    JACOB CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE PENIEL. The word Peniel means "the face of God." Jacob, conscious of the divine blessing, thought that he had looked upon the divine face,. mistake on his part we s...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Peniel_ R.V. marg. _The face of God_. In the Sam. version, Syr., and Lat., it is called "Penuel," as in Genesis 32:32. Popular tradition explained the etymology of the name of the place by the story...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

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  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

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  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

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  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

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  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

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  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

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  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

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  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

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  • KJV Original Language Details

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  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

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  • Summarized Bible Commentary

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  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

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  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

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  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

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  • The Pulpit Commentaries

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  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

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  • When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties, Norman L. Geisler and Thomas Howe, 1960

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