Q
My Sunday School class is studying the book of Isaiah. Yesterday we were in Ch. 43 and you can see right away that God is talking to the Jews, and that he refers to them as both “Jacob” and “Israel”. He does this in both verse 1 and verse 22. Can you give me your thoughts on this? I don’t want to go off on my own understanding, and respect your opinion very much.
A
There are exceptions, but typically God called His people Jacob when they were out of fellowship, and Israel when they were being obedient. When He included both names in the same thought, it meant He was referring to everyone.