Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, every man and his household came with Jacob. Exodus 1:1
Our text contains two different names for the same person: Israel, the name that God provided him, and Jacob, the name his parents gave him. And this is not the only verse in which both of his names are used. We could do a study on all the reasons for using both names in those verses. Or we could look at just one of those reasons.
Jacob was the name that this great patriarch was known by in his family, among his neighbours, and by everybody who had any dealings with him. This was the name by which he related to those around him, the name by which he cheated his brother out of the birthright, the name by which he served his uncle Laban and married his daughters. It represented his personality and his relationships with humanity. Like Jacob, you and I have a life that we live in this world in which we live, love, and occupy our little allotment of time. But it’s just one side of who we really are.
The other side of who we are is like Jacob’s other name: Israel. This was his relationship, not with humanity, but with Deity. God had a special place for Israel and for his progeny, a place that continues to this day and into the future. As Israel, he communed with God and served him as his Lord. Like Israel, we have our relationship with our Lord. We worship, we pray and study the Word of God, we fellowship with God’s people and serve them, we witness and do our part in spreading the Gospel.
Do we, like Israel and Jacob, combine our earthly and our divine relationships into a consistent Christian character that is honouring to our God and a blessing to others? – Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/_I_Unvd84cU