A new name

And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; - Genesis 35.10-11

Names were a big deal with the cultures of what we now all the Middle East. In fact, they still are to today. Names were meant to reflect family or culture or desired character or hopes or dreams or aspirations or even physical characteristics. The Bible focuses a lot on names and sometimes names were changed to reflect as person as they God older or as God caused changes in their lives.

Jacob was one of them. Jacob was an awful name. It means trickster or sneaky. It means ones who does not accept authority. And Jacob’s name reflected his character.

But the day came when Jacob encountered God. He wrestled with God in prayer and when God blessed him God told Jacob ‘ You have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won. That’s why your name will be Israel.’ Jacob means all we looked at above. Israel is an in kind of a hard name to translate clearly. It means contender or prevailer with God. It could mean a prince of God.

But no matter what it reflects a change in Jacob. As Jacob all he thought about was himself and doing whatever it took to get for him. He was his only focus.

But as Israel he was focused on so much more. He encountered God and dealt with Him. He begged God for a blessing. Apparently he figured out that he could not be truly blessed on his own. To be truly successful he needed God’s blessing.

And he got it.

 Jacob did not prevail over God – he prevailed with God. He became the Prince of God as he prevailed with Him. Jacob was no longer Jacob’s man – he was God’s man.