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.

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

6225. 'And Israel strengthened himself' means new powers received through spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'strengthening oneself' as receiving new powers; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. The reason the new powers come through spiritual good is that in what has just been said Jacob is called Jacob but now he is called Israel; for this is what is said,

[Someone] told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself.

For 'Israel' is spiritual good from the natural, whereas 'Jacob' is the truth of the natural, and the truth of the natural, which is the truth of faith there, receives its strength through spiritual good, which is the good of charity. Also, 'Israel' is the internal aspect of the Church and 'Jacob' its external aspect, 4286, 4292, 4570. The external aspect of the Church derives its strength and receives its powers from nowhere else than its internal. The internal aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the good of charity, which is the good of faith, also the good of truth, and spiritual good as well, which are 'Israel'. But the external aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the truth of faith. They are not yet plainly governed by good; yet the truth they are governed by holds good within it, and this is 'Jacob'.