1461. This is the real explanation of the wrestling of the Messiah's angel, that is, of the Messiah Himself by means of an angel with Jacob as Jacob, then with his descendants, with whom He likewise wrestled even until by wrestling not anything more could be achieved. For they abandoned the Messiah and worshipped other gods, and thus their own loves, and consequently they were abandoned. For this reason, they await no other Messiah than one who will favor those loves, and will hand over to them world dominion and the world's riches. As for heaven and the heavenly kingdom, they do not care to hope for this from him, their king. [Jacob; Wrestle; Temptation] [See also, for the connection, WE 1462-68, explaining Gen. 32:25-26.] 1469. But Jacob was well aware that it was the angel of the Messiah who was wrestling with him (although we do not read whether he understood that this wrestling symbolized temptation). And he said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me," realizing in that anxious state in which he still was, that an angel had been sent down from heaven, from whom he was urging a blessing. For such a realization dawns quite clearly in the human mind, when the Messiah finds it fitting, and, in fact, so clearly that one feels it in oneself to be the Messiah's will. This can be known to one who