4298. 'And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel' means a state of temptations. This is clear from the train of thought, for in former times names were given to places where some special incident took place, and those names served to mean that incident which took place there, and the state associated with it, 340, 2643, 3422. To this place a name was given which meant a state of temptations, because it is a state of temptations that is described here by Jacob's wrestling and contending. In the original language 'Peniel' means 'the face of God', and the fact that 'seeing the face of God' means suffering the severest temptations will be explained in what follows immediately below.

In some casual references “first” has a pretty literal meaning, as the beginning of a group; on a deeper level the “first” represents the entire group. In connection with measurements of time -- days, months, hours etc. -- it means the beginning of a new spiritual state. It is also used in connection with the Lord, who is the “first” of all existence, because everything is a product of His love. “First” is perhaps most commonly used, however, to represent what people love and desire, because what we love and desire is “first” in us, with our thoughts and intellect following. If we love people around us and desire to serve them, our ideas will follow and find ways to do it. It does not, however, work the other way around -- having ideas of how to be good won't mean anything if we lack the desire to be good. Our loves, then, contain the key elements of all that we are.