WEEKLY ARTICLE

Questions and Answers: Did Jacob Have Two Names?

Weekly Article by the Rev. Matt Kennedy

The Church of the Good Shepherd

June 9th, 2006

Here's a question I recieved this week from Joey Osgood and his mom Chris.

Joey and I have been reading Genesis and found it a little confusing with Jacob and Israel names being used sometimes in the same sentence He is one and the same person, right? Why would it be written that way? 45:25-28   47:28,29   46:28,29   46:2

Yes, you're absolutely correct. Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, is also called "Israel."

The name “Israel” means “he who struggles with God”. Jacob was given the name Israel by God himself. You can read the account in Genesis 32:22-32.

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and overcome.”

Jacob was given the name after wrestling with, or struggling, with a man all night long.

The man, it turns out, was God.

Now, God could easily have defeated Jacob. But he was wrestling with Jacob to make a point. Jacob might rebel and fight against God's will and purpose in his life, but in the end, God's will, will be done. Jacob would overcome, not by his own might or power, but by the grace (undeserved gift) of God alone.

Jacob, as you may know, was not the most faithful of men. In fact, he was something of a cheat and a scoundrel. He cheated and bribed his brother Esau out of his inheritance and his place of leadership in the family as the first-born son. Esau, of course, was no saint either and not very smart to have been cheated and bribed in the first place. But, nevertheless, Jacob was always scheming and plotting, trying to find ways to get ahead in the world on his own, apart from God. He struggled against God all his life.

And he bore the consequences. The story of Jacobs life is a tale of heartbreak and toil. The discord with his brother made it necessary for him to flea for his life to a foreign land where he fell in love with the daughter of a distant relative named Laban. Laban forced Jacob to work for 14 years as an indentured servant before marrying not only Rachel, the woman he loved, but by Laban's own trickery, Leah, Rachel's sister as well. Jacob had to flea from Laban back toward his homeland after, again, through guile and deceit, their relationship broke down. Toward the end of his life, Jacob's youngest son, Joseph was thrown into a well and sold by his own brothers to slave traders, who, in turn, sold him to some Egyptians. Jacob, deceived by his own sons, thought Joseph had been killed by wild beasts and pined away for him, living in a state of mourning for more than twenty years, until he found out the truth and was reunited with Joseph just before he died.

How much misery Jacob could have avoided had he only lived an obedient and faithful life!

Nevertheless, though he struggled with God and with men, by God's grace he "overcame". God gave mercy and grace to Jacob and blessed him.

Jacob was blessed and chosen by the Lord to be the father of 12 sons who became the fathers of the twelve Hebrew tribes subsequently called: the people of Israel.

This teaches us a very important lesson. Like Jacob, all of us are sinners and rebels against God. But nevertheless, God, in his infinite grace, has sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on our behalf. God has blessed us not because we deserve it but rather despite what we deserve. This is called grace.

It is up to us then, while we still have time because he will not hold back his hand forever, to quit our wrestling, to repent and surrender our lives to him, or, having already done so, to repent renew our commitment to our loving and gracious Savior.

As believers, we can choose to live lives characterized by disobedience and sin. But doing so will also mean a life of misery and turmoil. How much more peaceful and content we will be if we lean on the Lord and follow his ways. His path is the path of wisdom and peace.

"Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm." (Proverbs 1:30-33)

Home  Sermons Contact Us  Links Last Week's Article