Jacob may be hoping that his wealth will give him a way with his estranged brother.
He is afraid of his brother. But he does not prepare for a fight. He prepares to defend himself.
His prayer is more reverential and honest than any other in the story so far. Still, he does not call him "my God", and seems to still think he can manipulate, making a request as though collecting on a debt. In verse 10 he is closest to understanding his relationship to God as he acknowledges that everything he had is from him.
In the night before he meets his brother and confronts his broken relationships and life of deception, he wrestles all night with a stranger.
He had nothing left. He's sent it all to his brother. He's done everything he can do in his own strength and is exhausted. He is still afraid. In his fearful, vulnerable state, he is confronted by God.
The stranger called him Israel - God-wrestler. He has fulfilled his Supplanter name his whole life, but now his name is changed.
All his life, the story tells us of Jacob wrestling against God. This night is a climax to the struggle he’s experienced his entire life. The difference in this incident is that he finally submits. Jacob finally believes that God is God, and that he is not. He will not be manipulated. Only God is the name-giver. Only God can change who he is.
Jacob believes the stranger is God.
In receiving the name, he receives the stranger's authority over him.
Also, in receiving the name and the change in character it represents, Jacob lays down his deception, his greatest strength in how he deals with people and gets by in the world. He is a deceived no longer. He is God's man.
God wanted Jacob to return to Canaan, but not as Jacob. Jacob needed to submit. He needed to give up. That piece of him that always relied on his own strength and cunning needed to die before he could receive God's promises.
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