Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)

2954. 'I will give the price of the field, accept it from me' means redemption as regards the truths of the Church which come from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving the silver' as redeeming by means of truth, dealt with above in 2937, for 'silver' means truth, 1551; from the meaning of 'the field' as the Church, and also the doctrine of truth, dealt with in 368, 2936; and from the meaning of 'accept it from me' as a willing response with those who belong to the Church. That response involves a belief that redemption comes from the Lord alone. As for what redemption is, it is the same as reformation and regeneration, and therefore being delivered from hell and being saved. The redemption, or reformation and salvation, of members of the spiritual Church is effected by means of truth, whereas that of members of the celestial Church is effected by means of good.

[2] The reasons why have been stated in various places already - that spiritual people possess no will at all for what is good, but instead have been provided with an ability to understand what good is. The understanding of what is good is primarily called truth, and indeed the truth of faith, while the willing of it and from this the doing of it is called good. Spiritual persons therefore, by means of an understanding of good, or what amounts to the same, by means of truth, are led on to a will for what is good, or what amounts to the same, to good. They are not led on to any will for what is good from anything that is their own, since all will for what is good has with them been destroyed, 895, 927, 2124. Instead they are led on to a new will which they receive from the Lord, 863, 875, 1023, 1043, 1044; and when they have received this new will they specifically are called the redeemed.