Genesis 35:9-15: a reflection

9God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel.” He named him Israel. 11God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. 12The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your offspring after you I will give the land.” 13God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. 14Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. 15Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him “Bethel”.

Returning to Bethel, Jacob meets God again, and God confirms the new name given him after his wrestling: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. Jacob, whose name meant something like heel-grabber or supplanter, and who had lived up to it, grasping, scheming, deceiving, is given a new name and a new identity by God. No longer merely the supplanter, he is Israel, one who has struggled with God and been blessed. God renames him, and in renaming him, redefines who he is.

Notice what God does: he gives Jacob a new identity, not based on his past but on God's purpose for him. Jacob's old name carried the weight of his character and his history, the deceiver, the grasper. God does not leave him defined by that; he gives a new name, marking a new identity, one shaped by his encounter with God rather than by his failures. Who Jacob is, from now on, is defined by God's naming, not by his past.

That is a picture of what God does for those he claims. We come to God defined by our past, our failures, our old patterns and names, the labels we and others have put on us. And God gives us a new identity, defining us not by what we were but by what he makes us: no longer defined by our sin, but named his own, his beloved, his child. If you feel bound by your past, by the old name your failures have earned you, remember that God renamed Jacob. In Christ, you are not defined by your past but by what God has made you. Receive the new identity he gives, and live as the person he has named you, not the one your past would call you.

Lord, you met Jacob and gave him a new name, Israel, no longer defining him by his past as the deceiver and grasper, but by his encounter with you. Thank you that you do the same for those you claim. I come to you defined by my past, my failures, the old names my sin has earned me; but you give me a new identity, naming me your own, your child, defined not by what I was but by what you make me. When I feel bound by my past, remind me that you renamed Jacob, and that in Christ I am not who my failures would call me. Help me receive the new identity you give, and live as the one you have named.