Commentary for Genesis 32:3
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר רָאָ֔ם מַחֲנֵ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים זֶ֑ה וַיִּקְרָ֛א שֵֽׁם־הַמָּק֥וֹם הַה֖וּא מַֽחֲנָֽיִם׃ (פ)
And Jacob said when he saw them: ‘This is God’s camp.’ And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Rashi on Genesis
מחנים means two camps — the one consisting of the angels ministering outside the Holy Land who had come with him thus far, the other, of those ministering in the Land of Israel who had come to meet him (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayishlach 3).
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Sforno on Genesis
מחנה אלוקים זה. Now that the angels have seen fit to join me there can be no doubt that mine is a godly camp. Just as Yaakov had called the place where he had had the dream of the ladder Bet El, so he now referred to his camp as machaneh elokim. In either instance the reason was that he had been found worthy of a divine revelation.
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Radak on Genesis
ויאמר...כאשר ראם, Yaakov’s reaction to these angels (inhuman garb) was similar to that of Avraham, his grandfather, in Genesis 18,20, when the latter is described as running to welcome them as soon as he saw them.
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