Israel's Triumph
by Arno Froese
The name "Israel" begins with a man named Jacob who was the grandson of Abraham, the father of faith. Scripture reveals that Abraham received a direct promise from God. When we do a character study of Abraham, we notice that he was obedient to God because he believed God. Furthermore, he acted deceitfully based on his beliefs. When he was called to leave his country and his people to go to a strange and unknown land, he did so immediately.
Abraham and his wife Sara were old when they received God's promise. Hebrews 11:8 says: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went" (verse 8). Notice the words "by faith" and "he obeyed."
This faith was passed on to Jacob's son and his grandson: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise" (verse 9). Verse 10 explains why Abraham had such a deep, convincing faith: "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." He wasn't looking for a city on earth, not even in the Promised Land; but he was a man who walked with God, whose footsteps were directed by God because God was his ultimate motive and goal. It's no wonder that people followed him. Of Sara, his wife, we read: "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised" (verse 11).
Abraham acted immediately upon the Word of God. Genesis 22:2 says: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering..." The Word of God is clear: Abraham was commanded to take the son he loved, his only son, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering, the only offering that was consumed wholly by fire unto God.
Abraham had waited 25 years for this son, and for all practical purposes, it had been biologically impossible for him and Sara to have children. Most people would expect Abraham to discuss God's command with his wife. Surely the couple could have used additional advice from the elders and leaders of Abraham's household. Abraham was a rich man with many servants, so calling a meeting to discuss something this serious would have been a natural step.
Abraham was an old man; perhaps he had mistaken God's instructions. But none of these "what if's" are recorded in Scripture. The next verse says: "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him" (Genesis 22:3).
Abraham obeyed God by faith: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac..." (Hebrews 11:17).
Abraham triumphed in faith; so did Isaac and Jacob. Israel's triumph, therefore, is based upon faith in the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Jacob – The Deceiver
The name "Jacob" can be translated as "deceiver" or "supplanter." On the other hand, the name "Israel" means "power with God."
The difference between Abraham and Jacob is that Abraham received the promise directly from God, whereas Jacob received the promise through his father Isaac by means of deception.
The story is recorded in Genesis 27. Jacob's mother, Rebekah, conceived this deceptive plan because she favored Jacob over his twin brother, Esau. There are a number of reasons for that, but they are not relative to our discussion. We do know that Jacob objected to the plan: "My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver" (Genesis 27:12).
I recently received a letter from a person who objected to my interpretation of the name Jacob as meaning "deceiver" or "supplanter." So I researched the matter further and found that in verse 36, for example, Esau defines the name Jacob: "Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times." Scripture settles the debate over the meaning of the name.
When we read Jacob's story in the Bible, we quickly notice that he was a man of action and self-sufficiency. He knew how to go about getting what he wanted.
Before we go any further, we must answer an important question: What would have happened had Rebekah not conceived this plan of deception? The answer is found in Genesis 25:23: "...and the elder shall serve the younger." In other words, Jacob had the blessing before he was even born. God would have seen to the fulfillment of that blessing without the plan of deception.
After the deception took place, Jacob fled for his life. He went to his Uncle Laban. Jacob's determination is obvious from his willingness to serve his uncle for 14 years for the woman he loved, Rachel.
Jacob became a very rich man. Chapter 30 concludes with these words describing his success: "And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses" (verse 43).
Return To Canaan
Finally, Jacob planned to return home to the land of Canaan. He encountered a problem on the way because just as he had to secretly flee from Canaan, now he had to escape from Laban. Laban accused Jacob of stealing his idols. In response to Laban's accusation, Jacob said: "With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live..." (Genesis 31:32). It was Rachel who had stolen the idols from her father. Scripture doesn't offer any reason as to why she stole the idols, but she didn't live very long afterwards. Rachel gave birth to Benjamin, their second son, after they had entered Canaan, and she died in Bethlehem.
Here Comes Esau
Jacob received some bad news on his way to Canaan. Esau was coming to meet him with 400 chosen men. A new problem begins to unfold. The deceiver is about to come face to face with the deceived. Jacob was greatly distressed. Now all of the riches he had accumulated could not help him. But Jacob did everything in his power to appease Esau. He even divided his riches into two groups, hoping to save one if something went wrong with the other. But the burden of his sin was not removed. Finally, Jacob was separated not only from his 11 sons, his riches and his wives, but he was left alone (Genesis 32:24).
Jacob Becomes Israel
What happened next? "...there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day." Jacob apparently realized that this was his one and only chance for survival. He depended on the grace of God and cried out with all his might: "...I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" (verse 26). Here we see Israel's triumph; the secret was in his persistence.
May we, as pardoned sinners, learn to be persistent in our prayer lives, clinging to God's promises and not letting go of the object of our prayers until the Lord answers.
How did God answer Jacob's request for a blessing? He first asked a question: "What is thy name?" That's rather strange. God already knew who Jacob was. But there is more to it when we understand the meaning of Jacob's name as we already mentioned. So Jacob was forced to confess, "I am Jacob, I am the deceiver." This was Jacob's confession. How did God answer? "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" (verse 28).
Jacob, the deceiver, became:
- a prince
- power with God
- power with man
- an achiever
- a winner
- a great man Or was he Jacob the loser?
When we examine Jacob objectively, we find a number of negative attributes:
- He was afraid of Esau.
- Simeon and Levi, two of his sons, became vicious killers.
- His own sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery.
- His sons lied to him. They acted out Jacob's name by not admitting that they had sold Joseph. Instead, they made Jacob believe that a wild animal had killed him.
- His son Reuben committed immorality.
- Jacob was threatened with starvation in the Promised Land.
- Jacob, a loser, confessed before Pharaoh:
"...The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage" (Genesis 47:9).
Two Natures
The two characteristics of a believer in Jesus are perfectly demonstrated in Jacob, the deceiver in the flesh, but the recipient of God's blessing in the Spirit.
Later in history, we read the Apostle Paul's confession: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Romans 7:18).
It is clear that the old nature, our flesh and blood, has no promises. Nevertheless, how much time and energy do we spend pampering our flesh? Why? Because we often misplace our priorities. Our lives should be targeted towards the eternal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, our lives in the flesh require the things of the world. We eat and drink, sleep and work; we must pay our bills and save for retirement. We buy and sell just as anyone else. Those activities are not sinful in and of themselves, but they only serve the perishable and the temporal — not the eternal. The same Paul who confessed that there was no good thing in him wrote to the Corinthians revealing a spiritual mystery: "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2nd Corinthians 4:18).
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