Genesis 17:15 and 16

 

"And Elohim said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.  And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."

 

 

A covenant was also established with Abraham wife Sarah that she would be the mother of nations, and Kings would come from her. Her name was changed to Sarah to reflect this honor.  One’s name is changed when their relationship with the Creator is altered. For Abram name was changed to Abraham because his relationship also was altered with the Creator.

 

 

 

Covenant with Jacob (Israel)

 

When Jacob and Esau were in the womb of their mother they wrestled in her womb and the Creator came to her and told her there were two nations in her womb and that the elder will serve the younger. Names were considered to be meaningful in some ways, Jacob name means ("supplanted") because when he was born he was holding on to Esau's heel, as if attempting to overtake him.  In that act, from Jacob, it had already been spoken in existence by the Creator when he told Sarah the elder will serve the younger.  So this was a spiritual act taking place destined by the Creator.

 

Genesis 25:23

 

"And the Creator said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger and when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb and the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau and after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob."

 

 

In Genesis 25:29-34, when the elder brother, Esau, sold his birthright to the younger brother, Jacob, for some bread and lentil stew, the birthright along with Elohim covenant went to Jacob who was renamed Israel by Elohim (God).  Some people would look at this as deception from Jacob, but remember the Creator told there mother "the elder shall serve the younger?"  So this would make it destined for Jacob to have the birthright along with the covenant of his oldest brother.  A lot would argue that's not right though, but the Creator has his reasons of why he does what he does because the Creator states in Isaiah 55: 8-9 " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, say YHWH. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."  So he has his reasons of why he wanted Jacob to have the birthright which led him to receive the covenant.

 

Genesis 27:28 and 29

 

"Therefore Elohim (God) gave thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

 

This is the blessing inheritance bestowed on Jacob by his father Isaac and it clearly states that Jacob is to be lord (master) over his brethren Esau, just as the Creator stated to Sarah when the two brothers were in her womb wrestling.

 

Genesis 28:3-4 Finishes Jacobs blessing, blessing Jacob and his descendants to inherit the land, which Elohim (God) gave to Abraham (Jacobs grandfather).  This signifies the Covenant being passed down from one generation to the next just as the Creator promised Abraham in Genesis 12:7.  In Genesis 28:13 and 15 the Creator appears to Jacob reminding him that he is his Elohim and his covenant stands with him.

 

 

• Jacobs Name Changed to Israel

 

Genesis 32:24-28

 

When Jacob wrestled with the angel he demanded the angel to bless him in order to stop wrestling him the angel pronounced a blessing upon him by changing his name to Isra-EL: which can mean "He who prevails with God," or "May God prevail," depending on the context.

 

• Twelve sons of Israel

 

To read the blessings that was bestowed upon each brother read Genesis 49:1-28

 

Reuben

Simeon

Judah

Zebulun

Dan

Gad

Asher

Naphtali

Joseph- Ephraim (youngest) and Manasseh (oldest)

Benjamin

 

These 12 sons make up the 12 tribes of Israel that were in Egypt, which are the HEBREW ISRAELITES.

 

 

It is important to understand that the legal inheritance of Jacob should have went to Reuben, the first born son of Jacob's first wife, Leah. However, Reuben slept with Jacobs’s concubine, Bilhah (Genesis 35:22). So this caused Reuben’s first born rights to be passed down to Joseph, the first son of Jacob's second wife, Rachel (1 Chronicles 1:1,2).  Before Jacob died, he declared Joseph two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to be his own sons (Genesis 48:5), Jacob then blessed Ephraim and Manasseh by giving Ephraim the youngest the greater blessing and giving his oldest brother Manasseh a great blessing Genesis 48:16-20.  Furthermore Jacob (Israel) blessed his son Judah in Genesis 48:8-12 affirming Judah's brothers shall praise him and shall bow down before Judah and that THE SCEPTER SHALL NOT DEPART FROM JUDAH NOR A LAWGIVER FROM BETWEEN HIS FEET UNTIL SHILOH COME; AND UNTO HIM SHALL THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE BE.   This prophecy was fulfilled in 1 Kings 11:29-40, this is when the prophet Ahijah, the Shilonite, came to deliver the message from the Most High to Jeroboam, the Ephrathite, letting him know that he will rend the kingdom out of Solomons hand and will give 10 tribes to Jeroboam because Solomon displeased the Most High by worshipping the gods of his foreign wives.  The Most High kept his word and only left one tribe (the tribe of Judah) with Solomon’s son Rehoboam, Genesis 1 King 11:9-13.  From that point forward, the house of Judah also known as the house of David, and the house of Israel/Ephraim were separated from each other.

 

 

So now that we have a clear understanding of the covenant that was established with the 3 patriarchs we can now understand why the Creator only REINFORCED the covenant with the Children of Israel on Mt. Sinai.  The enslavement of the Israelites minds, being in Egypt 400 years, under ruler ship of Egyptians, worshiping their gods and becoming a custom to the Egyptian life style, led them to follow the ways of an Egyptian life style and not the Covenant that was already established with them through their forefathers ABRAHAM, ISAAC and JACOB (ISRAEL).  In Deuteronomy 7:7-8 clearly states why he chose the children of Israel:

 

"YHWH did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because YHWH loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Yahowah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen (slave men), from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."

 

Isaiah 45:17 says "Israel shall be saved in YHWH (Lord) with and everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end."