The Name of the God of Jacob

“The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee” (Psalm 20:1). “Why does He call Himself ‘the God of Jacob’? I think there are a number of suggestive thoughts. Perhaps the first is that He is the God that the poor sinner needs, for Jacob was a poor crooked stick from the time he first came into this world right on through the years. The name Jacob means ‘the grafter’ or ‘the cheat,’ literally, ‘the heel catcher.’ A man who would trip another by catching his heel. It is like the flesh in every one of us; what heel catchers we are! But God is known as ‘the God of Jacob’ because He wants you and me to know that He is the God who is interested in poor sinners. And then again I think the thought of ‘the God of Jacob’ suggests the God of the individual. God singles people out. ‘I am that man’s God,’ and He singled you and me out. We can look up into His face and say, ‘You are my God.’ And then there is this thought that He is the God of patience, and what patience He had with Jacob! He took that crooked man and chastened, educated, and taught him by discipline until at last when an old man he became a quiet, patient, godly worshiper. We read that Jacob, when he was dying, ‘worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff’ (Heb. 11:21). It took him a long time to reach that place, but he attained it at last. What patience God has had with some of us!”

​(H.A. Ironside commentary on Psalms).

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