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 different sources. In $26a$ it is a stratagem resorted to by a wrestler unable to gain the advantage by ordinary means (like the trick of Ulysses in Il. xxiii. 725 ff.); in $26b$ it is an accident which happens to Jacob in the course of the struggle. It has even been suggested that in the original legend the subj. of $26a$ was Jacob—that it was he who disabled his antagonist in the manner described (Ho. Gu. Che.: see Müller, AE, 163$1$; Luther, ZATW, xxi. 65 ff.; Meyer, INS, 57). It is possible (though certainly not probable) that this was the view of the document (J or E) to which $26a$ belongs, and that it underlies Hos. 12$5$.

27. Let me go, for the dawn is breaking] Comp. Plautus, Amphitr. 532 f., where Jupiter says: "Cur me tenes? Tempus est: exire ex urbe priusquam lucescat volo." It is a survival of the wide-spread belief in spirits of the night which must vanish at dawn (Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. i.); and as such, a proof of the extreme antiquity of the legend.—But the request reveals to Jacob the superhuman character of his adversary, and he resolves to hold him fast till he has extorted a blessing from him.—28, 29. Here the blessing is imparted in the form of a new name conferred on Jacob in memory of this crowning struggle of his life.—thou hast striven with God] Yisrā'ēl, probably = 'God strives' (v.i.), is interpreted as 'Striver with God'; cf. a similar transformation of ('Baal contends') in Ju. 6$32$. Such a name is a true 'blessing,' as a pledge of victory and success to the nation which bears it.—and with men] This can hardly refer merely to the contests with Laban and Esau; it points rather to the existence of a fuller body of legend, in which Jacob figured as the hero of many combats, culminating

G, S , V emarcuit, T$O$ ('gave way'),—all conjectural.—29. ] A name of the same type as, , etc., with some such meaning as 'God strives' or 'Let God strive'; originally (it has been suggested) a war-cry which passed into a proper name (see Steuernagel, Einw. 61). The vb., however, only occurs in connexion with this incident (Ho. 12$4. 5$, where read ), and in the personal name ; and its real meaning is uncertain. If it be the Heb. equivalent of Ar. šariya, Dri. argues that it must mean 'persist' or 'persevere' rather than 'strive' (DB, ii. 530), which hardly yields a suitable idea. Some take it as a by-form of, either in a denominative sense ('rule,' from , prince), or in its assumed primary significance 'shine forth' (Ass. šarâru: see Vollers, ARW, ix. 184). Some doubt has even been thrown on the traditional Heb. pronunciation by the form Ysir'r, found on an inscr. of Merneptah (Steindorff, ZATW, xvi. 330 ff.), with which we may compare