Jacob And Esau Analysis

The way that the all-powerful Lord wants to come to us and meet us blow by blow in wrestling together, showing that he is willing to work together into a mutual negotiation even though he has the capacities to do whatever he wants in the first place shows how God wants an active relationship with us. The way that God embodies the form of a man in order to engage in this relationship embodies the way Jesus Christ was fully God yet fully human. Jesus took away the guilt of the world in a way that we don’t have to bring a gift of 550 animals to a distant threat in order to appease wrath anymore. Jesus bridged the gap of the relationship between God and humanity, making sacrifice unnecessary just like how God bridged the gap of the relationship between Jacob and Esau in a way that made Jacob’s 550 animals unnecessary. The sign of how the Lord reassured Jacob of his worries with his brother came in the form of a significant name change. The name Jacob means its original Hebrew meaning, “he grasps the heel,” which was figurative for “he deceives.” When the Lord changed Jacobs name to Israel, which means “he struggles with God,” he was making the point that Jacob should be more invested in his interactions with the Lord instead of trying to win against man. A change in name signifies a change in identity.
The act of renaming places is another cultural practice that is uncommon to do in today’s culture. Is this name just a nickname that is only known by Jacob, or can anyone make any place’s name official. For example, I refer to one of the hills on the edge of Dordt’s campus as “Makeout Point,” but I wouldn’t be able to get away with saying that I renamed a place or a