Day Eighteen..."Names"

In today's reading, names are very prominent. Names are important for both meaning and heritage. Jacob's new name is Israel. The place of the altar is Bethel..."where God spoke." Then we move into the line of Esau. Esau and Jacob have two different lines of names. This is significant for Jacob's line will produce the twelve tribes of Israel and Esau the Edomites. Have we considered our names meaning and heritage? There is significance in names. Psalm 18 is much longer. There are some phrases repeated for emphasis. This is known as an intensification. An example is "the Lord is my rock" repeated several times. The Lord is a rock and Jesus calms the storms. What a wonderful combination of readings today. We are reminded by Matthew following Jesus requires sacrifice. Is Jesus' teaching not to take care of parents? Not at all. In this encounter, the need to bury the father is not immediate, as the father is not even sick. This is why Jesus' requirement is about "following Him" and not neglecting parents. Our Genesis reading may have been filled with names today but Matthew makes up with a most interesting story about casting demons into pigs.