Sunday, November 11 2012
A Biography Of Jacob: When Jacob Became Israel

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

Studies in this complete series of A Biography Of Jacob:1. The Second Twin2. The Birthright3. The Blessing4. Stairway To Heaven5. The Jacobites Of Syria6. Speckled And Spotted7. The Flight To Canaan8. When Jacob Became Israel9. Peace With Esau10. The Return To Canaan11. A Coat Of Many Colors12. Israel In Egypt13. Blessings And Prophecies14. Homeward Bound

After twenty years of very prosperous refuge with his uncle Laban in Syria (see The Jacobites Of Syria and Speckled And Spotted), Jacob fled from Laban (see The Flight To Canaan) as suddenly as he had run away from his brother Esau back in the land of Canaan (see The Second Twin, The Birthright, The Blessing and Stairway To Heaven). After a final confrontation with Laban, after Laban caught up with Jacob's slow-moving flocks and herds, the two men agreed to never see each other again; either one who crossed their marker would be committing an act of war between them.

"31:51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; 31:52 This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. 31:53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us.

And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac [see A Biography Of Abraham: Isaac]. 31:54 Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.

31:55 And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place." (Genesis 31:51-55 KJV)

Jacob then continued south-westward toward the southernmost part of the land of Canaan, where Jacob's grandfather Abraham had settled after his arrival from Iraq (see A Biography Of Abraham: From Ur To Canaan) and where Jacob's father Isaac had lived his entire life (see A Biography Of Abraham: Isaac). While on the way, "the angels of God met him," just as they had done when he had left twenty years before (see A Biography Of Jacob: Stairway To Heaven).

"32:1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 32:2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim." (Genesis 32:1-2 KJV)

Jacob had not seen his brother Esau for twenty years. The last time that they had been together was when Esau was seeking to kill Jacob over being bested for Esau's birthright and blessing. Jacob's plan seemed to be to appease Esau by paying him more than he had lost. Jacob seemed to be suggesting that he would give it all to Esau, just so that Esau wouldn't kill him: "I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight." Jacob was offering a ransom for his life.

"32:3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 32:4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 32:5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight." (Genesis 32:3-5 KJV)

When the messengers returned, they told Jacob that Esau was coming to him, with four hundred men. Esau too had prospered.

"32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him." (Genesis 32:6 KJV)

Unlike his grandfather, righteous Abraham (see A Biography Of Abraham: The Battles Of Sodom), Jacob was a runner, not a defender of his family or himself. Jacob merely divided and hid his family, in the hope that Esau wouldn't find and kill them all. He nevertheless did a right thing by praying to the LORD to save him: "Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children."

"32:7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; 32:8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

32:9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 32:11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 32:12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." (Genesis 32:7-12 KJV)

Jacob then sent his property ahead as a ransom to Esau, beginning with "Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals."

"32:13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 32:14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 32:15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. 32:16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

32:17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 32:18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

32:19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. 32:20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me." (Genesis 32:13-20 KJV)

With his property given away (he "sent over that he had") and his family scattered defenseless in the woods (the area of the Jabbok River where the encounter happened is shown in the photograph above), Jacob waited, alone, for morning.

"32:21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

32:22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 32:23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had." (Genesis 32:21-23 KJV)

That night, "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." Jacob had spent his entire life "wrestling" with men, first his brother Esau, then his uncle Jacob, hence the meaning of the name that the LORD gave to Jacob that night: "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."

"32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

32:25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

32:26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name?

And he said, Jacob.

32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

32:29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.

And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?

And he blessed him there." (Genesis 32:24-29 KJV)

Who was the "man" that wrestled with Jacob, and who gave Jacob the new name, Israel? "Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God [see Who Is The LORD?] face to face."

"32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 32:31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32:32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank." (Genesis 32:30-32 KJV)

Jacob continued to also be known as Jacob, but "Israel" grew in meaning when Jacob became settled in the land. The first recorded incident when Jacob used "Israel" for himself was after his encounter with Esau (the subject of the next study in this series), when he had arrived back in the land of Canaan: "he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel" - which means the LORD is the Mighty One of Israel.

"33:18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. 33:19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. 33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel." (Genesis 33:18-20 KJV)

Fact Finder: What is Israel's family connection to "Arabs"? What else does the Holy Bible tell us about Arabs, in history and prophecy?
See What Does The Bible Say About Arabs?