By Rabbi Yosef Shemtov:
In this week’s parasha we see the famous incredible story of Yaakov fighting with an angel of Esav. We explain this as fighting, but for sure it can’t be a physical fight because angels don’t have a physical body, even if they appear like human beings. The commentaries explain this is a spiritual battle between the power of kedusha (holiness) with the power of Tuma (rebellion against GOD), and this battle will continue until the coming of Mashiah.
Yaakov represents the nation of beni Israel who serves the Almighty, and Esav represents other nations who don’t care about the Almighty.
The battle between Yaakov and the angel is meant to remind Yaakov that there will always be distractions and challenges in this world for serving HaShem. And the angel’s job is to prevent us from serving HaShem. Our job is to overcome those challenges.
After Yaakov won that battle, he asked the Angel what his name is, and the angel answered why are you asking for my name? He was really saying that his name depends on the way he will disturb the Jews.
Why did Yaakov want to know his name? The answer is that Yaakov wanted to know in the future what tactics the angel would use against Jews to mislead them because name means essence. Yaakov wanted to know this angel’s essence in order to be able to tell his children how to protect themselves.
But the angel refused to say his name because he has different missions in different times.