God appeared to Jacob at Bethel, telling him again that his name was to be Israel, which means, a prince. God delights to change our names! My name was once Sinner (1 Timothy 1:15), but now it has been changed to Saint (Romans 1:7), because the Lord saved me. Has He changed your name, dear reader? God had not told His own name when He wrestled with Jacob at Peniel, but when Jacob arrived at Bethel, He did. He said, “I am God Almighty.” We might say, before going further, that God has made Himself known by different names in the different dispensations. A dispensation is a certain period of time in which God has acted in a certain way. For example, the dispensation of law began when the law was given at Mount Sinai, and ended when the Lord Jesus died at Calvary in order to redeem helpless sinners from its curse, for all had broken it. The patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — knew God as “Almighty.” God made Himself known as “Jehovah” to the children of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt. Now we who are saved know God as our “Father,” and when the kingdom of Christ is set up on earth during the millennium, God will be known as the “most High.”
Joy in the Finished Work
Jacob, after listening afresh to God’s wonderful promises of blessing, set up a pillar of stone. He never wanted to forget those promises again, as he had for so long in the past. He then poured a drink offering over it. We all know that offerings had an important place in Old Testament times. They all pointed on to the one perfect sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, and each of the different offerings, such as the burnt offering, the sin offering, and here the drink offering, all tell us of the varied aspects of His work. The drink offering tells us of the joy we find in thinking of His finished work, and the oil poured upon it reminds us that it is by the Spirit of God, who now indwells all believers, that we find this joy (Romans 5:5). Unsaved people do not find any joy in thinking of the work of Calvary because they have never been born again by the Spirit of God.
Blessing in a Coming Day
When Rachel had given birth to Benjamin she died. She called him Benoni, which means the son of my sorrow, but his father called him Benjamin, meaning the son of my right hand. This tells us of the Lord Jesus, who will bring blessing to Israel, and through whom all the promises can be fulfilled. The children of Israel, like Rachel, have been set aside for the time, but in a coming day they will be brought into blessing through Christ — the Son at God’s right hand.
We will just make a few remarks about the thirty-sixth chapter. While Jacob and his family were still strangers and pilgrims, Esau and his family were establishing themselves in Mount Seir, and prospering. So it is today. The boy or girl who desires to be faithful to the Lord may not get along so well in this world as the unsaved. The world will never want a faithful testimony to Christ, for it is still the same as when it crucified Him. It hates those who confess His blessed name boldly (1 John 3:13). Esau and his descendants prospered for a time, but when God brings his earthly people Israel into blessing during the millennium, Esau’s people will be cut off entirely (Obadiah 1:18).
Further Meditation
1. Why did Jacob set up a pillar of stone after he heard the promises of God’s blessing?
2. Joy in the finished work of the Lord Jesus should characterize all of God’s people. Exodus 15 gives one description of that joy. How did the people thank the Lord for their deliverance?
3. You might find the pamphlet Joy by D. F. Rule an encouragement that sparks your thinking on this happy subject.