Who are the sons of Jacob (Malachi 3:6)?

Jacob being named ISRAEL led to his descendants being called the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. They are however frequently addressed as 'JACOB,' or 'house of Jacob,' as if they had not preserved the higher character involved in the name of 'Israel,' but must be addressed by the natural name of their forefather, Jacob. Gen. 25 — Gen. 49.

Then Isaac had two sons, but God set aside the older and designated Jacob as His choice to be the immediate father of the nation Israel, and gave him the name Israel. Twelve sons were born to Jacob and these were destined to be the heads of the twelve tribes of which the nation was formed.

This refers to the time of the Exodus, when the term Israel embraced the whole of the descendants of Jacob. It would be equally poor reasoning and unwarrantable inference to contend from Hosea 11:1 that the children Israel were Christianized when in bitter bondage in Egypt, before ever the law was given, as to contend from Hosea 1:10 that Israel in contradistinction to Judah was Christianized because of the expression, “Sons of the living God.”

Name given to Jacob after 'a man' had wrestled with him, to whom he clung when he was by him crippled. It signifies 'a prince of God:' and it was said, "as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." It thus indicated the way of blessing with regard to the nation in which God's government in the earth was to be established. The twelve sons of Jacob became the heads of the twelve tribes, and they and their descendants were called the children of Israel, or simply Israel. At the division of the kingdom, the ten tribes were called 'Israel,' and the two tribes 'Judah,' though this distinction is not at all times rigidly adhered to: thus the princes and kings of Judah are called princes of Israel, and kings of Israel. 2 Chr. 12:5-6; 2 Chr. 21:2; 2 Chr. 28:19. So those who returned from exile, though they were in the main of the two tribes, are called people of Israel, or Israel. In the prophets also, though the ten tribes are not called Judah, the two tribes are at times called Israel. The ten tribes in the prophets are often spoken of as EPHRAIM, which was the chief of the ten. Though Israel was reckoned as ten tribes, it is most probable that the portion of Simeon, being situated on the extreme south, was united to Judah, as well as the territory of Dan in the S.W., though the people of Simeon may have scattered themselves among the other tribes, and those of Dan have gone north and joined their tribe there.

At the beginning of this chapter, the names of the sons of Jacob, called Israel, are mentioned — not in order — with the aim, I think, of presenting them to us as being all, without distinction, objects of God's purposes in grace. Thus we find first of all Leah's children, then Rachel's children mentioned between Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Bilhah, and lastly Gad and Asher, the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid.

We are then told the names of the sons of Jacob (vv. 22-26) — not called Israel in this case, for his sons are to be known simply as of the same sin-infected stock as their father. In spite of this inherited sinful nature, God had ordained that the twelve tribes of the nation Israel were to come from these twelve men. They were not chosen because they were any better than others, but only as a sample of all mankind, an object lesson to teach us all, not only what is our actual sinful condition, but our need of a Savior. No doubt each one of these brothers pictures a distinct feature of the ruin of mankind, and also of God's grace in providing salvation, as Genesis 49:2-27 indicates.

In Genesis 49 we pass from the private scene between Jacob and his son Joseph and we have the closing moments of Jacob's life to which all his sons were summoned, though here again we shall find that Joseph has a pre-eminent place. The twelve sons of Jacob were the nucleus of the nation of Israel, and thus, under the guidance of God, Jacob uses their different characteristics to give a prophetic outline of the moral history of the nation, and God's purpose for the blessing of Israel through Christ, more especially setting forth the condition of the nation "in the last days" that precede their entrance into blessing under the reign of Christ.

"And these [are] the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons; Jacob's first-born, Reuben; and the sons of Reuben, Enoch and Phallu and Hezron and Carmi; and the sons of Simeon, Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Saul son of a Canaanitish woman. And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath and Merari; and the sons of Judah, Er and Onan and Shelah, and Pherez and Zarah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Pherez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar, Tola and Puah, and Job and Shimron; and the sons of Zebulun, Sered and Elon and Jahleel. These [are] the sons of Leah whom she bore to Jacob in Padan-Aram, and his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and daughters [were] thirty-three.

The first three sons of Jacob had manifested themselves to be murderers and incestuous. Their only guarantee for entering into Canaan lies in the promise given to Abraham and in the free election of grace. Here we find these three guilty sons at the head of the list: 6 sons of Leah. 2 sons of Rachel, to whom are joined, so to say, the 2 sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, and the 2 sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant.

In blessing his sons, Jacob first addresses the sons of Leah, putting Zebulun before Issachar. Then follow the sons of the maids, of whom Naphtali is the one mentioned last. Both sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid, are given a place between the two sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. Finally, we have Joseph and Benjamin — the two. sons of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob loved more than Leah and for whom he served his father-in-law Laban a further seven years.