Genesis 32:24

And Jacob … alone It is natural to suppose that Jacob remained behind to think and to pray at this crisis of his life. He was given over to anxious fears; the darkness and loneliness intensified them. The thought that God had left him, or was opposed to him, overwhelmed him.

there wrestled a man The brevity of the account leaves it unexplained, who the man is, how he appeared, and how the contest began.

The word for "wrestled," yêâbêk, is very possibly intended to be a play on the name of the river Jabbok as if it meant "twisting." In Genesis 32:28, and in Hosea 12:4, a different word, "to strive," is used for the "wrestling" of Jacob. It is this scene of "wrestling" which has become, in the language of spiritual experience, the classical symbol for "agonizing" in prayer.