God's New Name for Jacob

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Leader Guide ESV, Unit 3, Session 3
Summary and Goal
In the past few sessions, we have followed Jacob as he tricked his father and brother, fled from his home, and traveled to Paddan-aram to find a wife. Even amidst more deception by Jacob and others, God was faithful to His promise to be with Jacob and bless him.
In this session, we will see that God did more than just provide Jacob with a family and possessions; He was also faithful to be at work in Jacob. God was changing the patriarch—slowly but surely—as He positioned him for the task he had been given.
We will see that in the same way, God is faithful to keep His promises to us and that we too are to respond to His gracious provision of salvation through demonstrating new life in Christ.
Session Outline
Jacob’s old name reflects his flawed character (Gen. 32:24-27).
++Jacob’s new name reflects the grace God has shown him (Gen. 32:28-32; Rev. 3:12).
++Jacob’s new name reflects the task God has given him (Gen. 35:9-15).
Session in a Sentence
God is at work changing His people so that we may fulfill what He has called us to do.
Christ Connection
God’s renaming of individuals in the Old Testament reflects both privilege and responsibility. As Christians, we bear the name of Christ. We receive both the privilege of salvation and the responsibility of mission.
Missional Application
Because we have been given the new name of Christians, we live in a manner worthy of the name we have received so that others may praise God for His transforming power.
Group Time
Introduction
Page 121 of the DDG.
If God was writing Scripture about you, think about what that story would look like from the point of view of the omniscient God of creation. Is Jacob truly that much worse than we our, if the very thoughts and intents of our hearts were to be revealed on written page by God? Yet...
God repeatedly reminded Jacob of the promises He had made to his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac—promises that had been passed on to him. But despite these repeated promises and experiencing God’s faithful provision, Jacob was still a flawed man, a schemer and a deceiver. Instead of resting in the promises of God, he took matters into his own hands time and time again. But along with the promises God had given Jacob, He was also at work transforming Jacob’s character.
Interact: Ask group members the following question.
Why does one’s character matter so much to God?
(a person’s character ought to reflect the character of the Creator; God’s promises of blessing the world are fulfilled primarily and ideally through people of godly character; the good news of the gospel ought to have a positive effect on one’s character or else the world will see no benefit to faith in Jesus)
Jacob failed to rest in God’s promises. In the very same way, we have our own struggles of faith.
· Jacob took advantage of his brother for the birthright and deceived his father for the family blessing.
· God had promised to give Jacob a family, but he ended up taking on four wives.
· God had also promised Jacob the land and told him to go back home (Gen. 31:3)—where there lived a brother who wanted to kill him years earlier. What would he do? Would he take matters into his own hands again? Or would he trust God to do what He had promised time and time again?
· Jacob’s struggles with faith mirror our own struggles toward Christlikeness. We too constantly grasp to control the situations we face, especially those that make us anxious or fearful.
What are ways we seek to control our situations without God in the equation?
Definition of ungodliness: living throughout the bulk of our week without much of even a thought for God. Jerry Bridges, “Respectable Sins”
We speak of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God who deeply cares for us and intimately knows each one of us. Yet like Jacob, at least at times, we seem to live as though that reality weren’t true. We too turn inward, trusting in ourselves to make things happen instead of waiting on God.
God did more than just provide Jacob with a family and possessions; He was also faithful to be at work in Jacob. God was changing the patriarch—slowly but surely—as He positioned him for the task he had been given. We will see that in the same way, God is faithful to keep His promises to us and that we too are to respond to His gracious provision of salvation through demonstrating new life in Christ.

Point 1: Jacob’s old name reflects his flawed character (Gen. 32:24-27).

Say: In Genesis 31, God told Jacob it was time to go back to the promised land, so Jacob sent messengers ahead of his family to speak with his brother, Esau, hoping to find favor with him. When the messengers returned, they reported that Esau was coming to meet Jacob—with four hundred men. So Jacob formed a plan to appease his brother and save his family. He sent them ahead of himself in waves until he was all alone, but he wouldn’t be alone for long.
Genesis 32:24-27 (DDG p. 122).
24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
DDG (p. 122)
Verse 24[25] establishes that Jacob was the only one remaining behind,437 contributing to the mystery of the unidentified assailant. The opponent is blandly identified only as “a man” (ʾîs). There is no explanation provided for the attack. The word “wrestled” (wayyēʾābēk) is a play on “Jabbok” (yabbōk, vv. 24, 26[25, 27]). As a play also on Jacob’s name (yaʿăqōb), it is a prelude to the name change he receives by virtue of outdueling the “man.” The passage heightens the name “Jacob,” for it conveyed as much as anything the selfish character he exhibited until his transformation at the Jabbok. Mention of the “dawn” also prepares us for the closure of the nightlong struggle, showing that Jacob and the “man” possessed remarkable strength and endurance (cf. v. 26[27]). Moreover, mention of the dawn infuses the narrative with mystery, since the unidentified “man” wishes to remain anonymous. Physical strength characterized Jacob’s life: at birth grasping the heel of Esau (25:26[27]), moving the stone to water Rachel’s sheep (29:10), and working Laban’s herds for twenty years in difficult conditions (31:38–40). Here he vigorously clinches the “man,” who in what appears to be desperation injures the patriarch in a failed attempt to free himself. The irony is that Jacob’s physical weakness will recall the transformation of his moral strength. An apparent victory for Jacob was threatened at the last moment when the “man” wounded Jacob by a blow (nāgaʿ + bĕ) to the hip (yārēk),438 dislocating the joint (v. 25[26]). The intensity of the strike required by the intruder to weaken Jacob cannot be determined from the text. The phraseology (nāgaʿ + bĕ) may indicate a mere “touch” (3:3; Exod 19:12) or an aggressive “strike” designed to harm (26:29; Ps 105:15; Ezek 17:10).439
K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 556–557.
Interact: Ask group members the following question.
How has God humbled you through circumstances to force you to rely more on Him?
God forced Jacob to confront who he was DDG (p. 122).
The Lord dealt a second blow to Jacob that night, through this wrestling match. While this one wasn’t physical like the first, in many ways it was more devastating. It came when the “man” asked Jacob for his name and Jacob responded by saying his name out loud—the second blow.
Commentary: Jacob’s name has many similar meanings: “trickster,” “supplanter,” “heel-grabber,” and “deceiver.” As we have seen, Jacob’s past was littered with the manipulation and trickery of his own family. The fearful situation he was in that evening as he prepared to face his brother was a direct result of his life of deception. Jacob’s name was not happenstance; it reflected his nature and character—the core of who he was.
Gen. 27:36
Genesis 27:36 NASB95
Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
And so, in asking Jacob for his name, the Lord was not seeking information but inviting Jacob to confess his character at last: “I am Jacob. I am a deceiver.” Up to this point, Jacob consistently relied on his namesake character in whatever circumstance he faced.
God was going to do an amazing work with Jacob and Esau the next day, but Jacob needed his own moment of clarity first. So God paved the way for Jacob to meet Esau in complete humility, and it was humility that paved the way to reconciliation.
God required Jacob’s humility for something beyond just a family reunion. God was continuing His march toward blessing all of humankind with a greater reconciliation—one that would come through Jacob but not feature Jacob. God was still at work to make good on His promises to provide the One who would defeat sin and death and bring blessing to the world.
Pack Item 14: God’s Covenants: Use this poster to help group members fill in the blanks in their DDG (p. 122), which help to summarize the storyline through the Book of Genesis that we have covered so far.
What were God’s promises in Genesis, and to whom did God make them? (Fill in the blanks: DDG, p. 122)
Eve: A son to one day crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15)
Noah: Never again to destroy the earth by a flood (Gen. 9:11)
Abraham: Offspring, land, and a blessing for the whole world (Gen. 12–17)
Isaac: Offspring, land, and a blessing for the whole world (Gen. 26)
Jacob needed to learn that God’s promises do not come about by our own strength and shrewdness but instead through God’s grace and power, His way, His timing, for His purpose and glory.

Point 2: Jacob’s new name reflects the grace God has shown him (Gen. 32:28-32).

Read Genesis 32:28-32 (DDG p. 123).
28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
DDG p. 123
Jacob’s new name marked a gradual process of change. In God’s wisdom, He gave Jacob the name Israel as an ever-present reminder of this event and God’s continuing work in his life. Jacob was a work in progress. The true source of strength, power, and provision in his life was God. It was time for Jacob to stop fighting against God for blessing in his life and instead fight alongside God as part of His plan to extend His blessing to the world.
Commentary: There are many different interpretations of the name Israel, although most have a similar meaning: “strives with God” or “God fights.” This was a fitting name for Jacob because this was the main lesson he needed to learn that night and to remember the following day as well as the rest of his life: Jacob may have seen himself struggling with other people—Esau, Laban, even his wives—but what Jacob needed to know was that his real struggle was never with another person; it was with God.
While the Lord does not speak His own name to Jacob, He does bless him. Jacob called this wrestling-match site “Peniel,” or “face of God.” The name memorialized seeing God face-to-face and having lived through the experience by the grace of God. God had lowered Himself, becoming as man, and wrestled with His creation to bring about spiritual transformation. In this case, Jacob was changed; he would greet his estranged brother as a changed man, physically maimed but spiritually renewed. But ultimately, the Son of God would lower Himself, becoming a man as one from Jacob’s line, and wrestle with sin and death to bring about redemption for the whole world.
Genesis 11:27–50:26 Command for a Blessing (32:26 [27])

Jacob has his opportunity to obtain the blessing from God that had escaped him until now, for he had only received his father’s blessing and that was given unwittingly. The earlier narratives have implied that Jacob is already the recipient of the Lord’s blessing (30:27, 30; cf. 35:9; 48:3), but it is explicitly stated for the first time that God “blessed him” (v. 29[30]). This experience provides Jacob (and his descendants) the confirmation of God’s blessing.

Why do you think changing Jacob’s name was important?
++How might something similar be reflected in believers today?
Revelation 2:17 NASB95
‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’
Revelation 3:12 NASB95
‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
The new name speaks of identity. Jacob was identified with…well, Jacob. His way, his timing, his fulfillment. When he received a new name, he had a new identity.
As believers, when we wrestle with God and He calls us to himself, we surrender our own identity to that of a child of God. In the end, we will be marked by new names as children of God. We are no longer children of darkness, but children of light (1 Thess. 5:5)
1 Thessalonians 5:5 NASB95
for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;
Explain that Jacob’s new identity reminds us of our new identity in Christ. While we shouldn’t reduce Jacob’s wrestling with God to a mere one-to-one comparison with our own struggles with God, we can certainly see parallels.
· Some people can relate to Jacob’s name change because they too have chosen new names after trusting in Christ. For example, some Muslims will take on Christian names to replace their Islamic-origin names, such as changing Muhammad to David or John. However, as we can see with Jacob, there is something much more important than just a changed name—a changed identity.
· When we trust in the Lord for our redemption, we take on a new identity as a follower of Christ, the one who fights for us. From that moment on, we no longer belong to the patterns of this world or to our own selfish desires and interests. We are no longer traveling a path that leads to death and destruction. Rather, our new identity reflects that we belong to the Giver of life. We belong to the One who took on sin and death and defeated them by bringing life out of death. He brought redemption to the world by rising from the dead. He fought the ultimate battle for us and won the victory we could not win on our own.
Fill in the blanks: DDG (p. 123).
New Identity of the Believer: The believer in Christ is declared righteous on account of Christ’s perfect life and substitutionary death and resurrection. No longer is the person a slave to sin, defined by past failures or present struggles. Anyone who is in Christ is a “new creation” in whom the old, sinful self is passed away and the new, redeemed self is alive and progressing, becoming more and more like Christ.
“New Identity of the Believer”:
When a person places faith in Christ, that person undergoes a fundamental change of identity.
They go from being an enemy under God’s wrath (Eph. 2:1-3) to being welcomed into God’s family as a beloved child (Eph. 2:19).
The believer in Christ is declared righteous on account of Christ’s perfect life and substitutionary death and resurrection. No longer is the person a slave to sin, defined by past failures or present struggles.
The person has been delivered from the realm of darkness and now belongs to the kingdom of light (Col. 1:13).
Anyone who is in Christ is a “new creation” in whom the old, sinful self is passed away and the new, redeemed self is alive and progressing, becoming more and more like Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

Point 3: Jacob’s new name reflects the task God has given him (Gen. 35:9-15).

The day after his wrestling match, Jacob met with Esau as a humbled and changed man, and he was reconciled to the brother he had wronged so many years earlier. God did this. He fought the battle for Jacob, and the victory was a beautiful end to strife and an important beginning to the nation of Israel. Jacob settled in the land of promise, and though he still faced struggles and trials (you will read about these in your daily devotions this week), he faced them with a growing spiritual maturity and a growing responsibility to the people of God. And then one day, God appeared to Jacob once more.
Read Genesis 35:9-15 (DDG p. 124).
9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Instruct: Ask group members to circle all the occurrences of the words “God,” “I,” and “will” in the passage. Encourage them to highlight any phrases that seem familiar based on earlier passages in Genesis.
Referring to the first paragraph in the DDG (p. 124), God renewed and expanded on His covenant promises to Jacob, again marked by his new name “Israel.” God had blessed Jacob before at this very spot (Gen. 28:10-22) and said that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him (28:13-15). But here God promised an assembly of nations and kings would descend from Jacob, presumably a means by which the world would be blessed.
God renewed and expanded upon the covenant promises He had previously given to Jacob, connecting them to his new name. The name “Israel” would continue to reflect the new path of Jacob’s life, a path that would lead him from a self-focused life marked by “Jacob”—“deceiver”—to one that clings to the covenant-keeping God who will bring about His staggering promises through “Israel.”
When God calls us to salvation in Jesus, He also calls us to bury our old nature. God is too loving, too kind, to leave us in these old places. So He wrestles with us—to break us and change us. And in doing so, we experience the same wondrous truth we see in Jacob’s story:
Jacob’s past did not define him, and neither does ours.
For the second time in his life, Jacob set up a stone marker where God had spoken to him at Bethel and anointed that marker with oil. Same action. Same place. But a different man. Jacob as the deceiver, manipulator, and trickster did not build that second stone marker. Instead, Israel did. And the changes in Jacob’s life should encourage us to look for the changes God is making in our lives in Christ through His Spirit.
Commentary: The first marker was constructed by a man looking forward to making the Lord his God. The second marker was constructed by a man looking back, having made the Lord his God. As we have seen, Jacob was far from perfect, but through his weaknesses and struggles, Jacob was drawn nearer to God and molded in His image.
God works the same way in our lives. He takes us where we are and moves us to where He wants us to be. He intends for each day to be marked by change—sometimes incremental, barely noticeable changes and at other times deep-reaching rapid changes. At times we value the change, and at other times we resist it. This change can be painful. But as with Jacob, God is changing us to make us more usable for His mission—for His glory and our good. It’s not about our comfort; it’s about God’s calling.
DDG (p. 124)
Jesus warned us that if we want to be His followers, we must take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23) and die to our old self (Rom. 6:6-8).
When we die to ourselves, we position ourselves to be shaped by God into becoming who we are called to be: God’s image bearers in a world full of rebellion against Him.
When God calls us to Himself, He calls us to follow Him on a journey, one where day by day He makes our old nature more distant and foreign as He also makes our new nature more vibrant and familiar.
And though the journey is often a struggle, because of God, it is always good.
Interact: Read the “Voices from Church History” quote; then ask group members the following question.
Voices from Church History
“Do you know why many of us are not yet truly blessed? We have not yet been truly broken. Men throw broken things away, but God never uses anything until he first breaks it. You’ll never show me anybody who has been or will be mightily used of God who has not been broken. There is no blessedness without brokenness.” 1 –Adrian Rogers (1931-2005)
My Mission
Explain that Jacob’s new God-given identity was both a privilege and responsibility, as is our new identity in Christ.
Commentary: Like Abraham and Isaac before him, God promised Jacob that He would bless him, make him a great nation, give him a land, and always be with him. Those promises were unconditional, and yet, this did not mean that God did not expect anything from Jacob. When God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, He was reminding the patriarch that being in relationship with the Lord is both a privilege and a responsibility. God was blessing Jacob for a reason. He was making him a great nation and giving him a land for a reason. He was with Jacob for a reason. And that reason was to be part of God’s grand redemption narrative—to be part of the line from which Christ Jesus would come.
Similarly, as Christians, our names have been changed. We now bear the name of Christ, and this name change is also a privilege and a responsibility. Our greatest blessing of salvation is not designed to end with us. We are to use our new identity in Christ and the power we receive from His Spirit to be agents of blessing to the world, telling others of God’s forgiveness of sin and transforming power. That is our mission.
DDG (p. 125)
Because we have been given the new name of Christians, we live in a manner worthy of the name we have received so that others may praise God for His transforming power.
· What step of faith do you need to take in the name of Christ?
· How can your group encourage one another to find your identity in Christ and in Christ alone?
· In what area of your life do you need to bear the name of Christ more faithfully to bring glory to His name and tell others about Him?
References
1. Adrian Rogers, “The Blessing of Brokenness,” LightSource, March 8, 2018, https://www.lightsource.com/ministry/love-worth-finding/articles/the-blessing-of-brokenness-12875.html.
2. Africa Study Bible (Oasis International, 2016), 50.
3. T. Desmond Alexander, “Genesis,” in ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), 107, n. 32:24.
4. Robert D. Bergen, “Genesis,” in CSB Study Bible (Nashville: B&H, 2017), 59, n. 32:24-30.
5. Candi Finch, ed., “Genesis,” in The Study Bible for Women, gen. ed. Dorothy Kelley Patterson (Nashville: B&H, 2014), 44.
6. A. Boyd Luter Jr., “Genesis,” in The Apologetics Study Bible (Nashville: B&H, 2007), 58, 35:9-10.
7. T. Desmond Alexander, “Genesis,” in ESV Study Bible, 111, 35:11-12.
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