Monday, January 13, 2020

From Jacob to Israel

[1] 
Monday, January 13, 2020

Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in Canaan.  Jacob built an altar there and named the place El-bethel (which means “God of Bethel”), because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau.  Soon after this, Rebekah’s old nurse, Deborah, died.  She was buried beneath the oak tree in the valley below Bethel.  Ever since, the tree has been called Allon-bacuth (which means “oak of weeping”).  Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel.  God blessed him, saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer.  From now on your name will be Israel.”  So God renamed him Israel.  Genesis 35:6-10

What’s in a name; That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet is a line from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in which Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love in Shakespeare's lyrical tale of "star-cross'd" lovers.  They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families.  …Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name and not the Montague family.  Romeo, out of his passion for Juliet, rejects his family name and vows, as Juliet asks, to "deny (his) father" and instead be "new baptized" as Juliet's lover.  This one short line encapsulates the central struggle and tragedy of the play, and is one of Shakespeare's most famous quotes.[2]
In the case of Jacob, to Shakespeare’s tragedy we could add mutiny, as that describes the casting aside of one’s given name and family.  However, the two sagas end so differently.  Romeo and Juliet commit suicide and are lost.  Jacob, on the other hand, is accosted by God and responds well.  In the end he is elevated to Israel.  The name change is more than a sweet-smelling temporary rose; it is a proof and continuation of God’s promises and love.
The name Jacob means heel-grabber or deceiver.  It goes back to the point of Jacob’s birth, when, as a second-born twin, he is seen exiting the womb grabbing his brother’s heel, a prophecy of his greedy, deceiving ways which plays-out bigger than Shakespeare dreamed.  It divides the family and seemingly destroys the future God had promised.  But in the middle chapters of Genesis we see God working in Jacob’s life to bring him back into the fold.  From manipulator to integrity-bound and driven, the heel-grabber becomes the one who bows in the direction of God’s will, and humble confession to the father and brother he deceived.  He who once tried to supplant now worships!  Jacob the deceiver has become Israel, the right hand of God’s strength.
For You Today
In a culture where deception and untruth are the norm from media to the halls of Congress and in everyday life, God could use a few more Jacobs He could rename Israel.  Truth be told, it’s a simple process; trust in God and tell the truth, no matter who is listening.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO


[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com & Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[2] From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2), eNotes.com

No comments:

Post a Comment