Bible Book: Genesis
In Genesis 32-33 we look at the well-known story of Jacob wrestling with God who blesses him and renames him Israel. Afterward Jacob and his twin brother Esau meet and reconcile after a twenty-year estrangement. Esau then returns to his home in Seir while Jacob returns to Canaan and settles at Shechem.
Fleeing to his mother’s family in Paddan-aram from his brother Esau who had sworn to kill him when their father Isaac died, Jacob stopped overnight at Luz. There he dreamed of a ladder going up to Heaven. From the top of the stairway, God reiterated to Jacob His promise to his grandfather Abraham that through their descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed. The next morning, Jacob renamed that place Bethel – the house of God.