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)

5773. 'And they rent their clothes' means mourning. This is clear from the meaning of 'rending one's clothes' as mourning over lost truth, dealt with in 4763, in this case over truths of their own which they could no longer lay claim to, since they offered to become slaves both in front of the one who was over Joseph's house, verse 9, and in front of Joseph himself, verse 16, which meant that they had no freedom of their own, and accordingly no truths of their own.

[2] As regards mourning over truths of their own, which mourning is meant by them rending their clothes and offering to become slaves, it should be recognized that with people who are being regenerated a reversal takes place. That is to say, first they are led by means of truth to good, but after that they are led from good to truth. When this reversal takes place, or when the state is altered and becomes the reverse of what existed previously, there is mourning. For they are subjected to temptations, by means of which things properly their own are weakened and broken down, and good is introduced. Together with that good a new will is introduced, and with this a new freedom, and so something new of their own. This is represented by the return of Joseph's brothers in despair to Joseph and their offer to become slaves; by the retention of them for quite a long time in that state; and by Joseph's not revealing to them who he really was until that temptation was over. For once temptation is completed the Lord sheds light and brings comfort with it.