It’s the second time I’ve encountered this name for Jehovah while reading in Jeremiah. A few weeks ago it didn’t register much on the “chew-o-meter.” This time? It spikes the needle.

Hovering over a a two-word moniker (in the CSB) for God. An alias for the LORD of Hosts, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. A way to refer to the One Jeremiah has just reminded his people is He who

made the earth by His power
established the world by His wisdom,
and spread out the heavens by His understanding.
When He thunders,
the waters in the heavens are tumultuous,
and He causes the clouds
to rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings the wind from his storehouses.

(Jeremiah 51:15-16 CSB)

And what is the Name of the Creator? How might we address the Source of thunder and lightning? In contrasting Him to the lifeless, inert, carved images of Babylon, Jeremiah refers to Him in this manner;

Jacob’s Portion is not like these
because He is the one who formed all things.
Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
the Lord of Armies is His name.

(Jeremiah 51:19 CSB)

Jacob’s Portion. Huh?

Jacob? Like in Jacob the “heel-catcher”? Jacob the supplanter? Jacob the schemer?

That Jacob, who scammed his brother’s birthright (Gen. 25), has a claim on the Creator God? The Almighty is part and parcel of his share? Even though Israel is the LORD Almighty’s inheritance, the LORD Almighty is Jacob’s portion? Yup. (And who said grace was a New Testament thing only?)

Is there a sense in which God has given Himself to His people? Yeah. Promised in Genesis as part of the Old Covenant (17:7-8) and declared three times in Jeremiah as Jeremiah reveals the New Covenant (24:7, 31:33, 32:38), though God says those He redeems will be His people, He also declares, “I will be their God.” Thus, He is our Portion. Huh!

How do you take that in? Try making sense of that wisdom. Jacob, though he became Israel, was still Jacob, still the schemer. He didn’t earn a stake in the Creator. Yet, He was made in the image of the Creator and thus pursued by the Creator and promised of the Creator to be redeemed by the Creator. That God was Jacob’s Portion was not something to boastfully assert but to humbly wonder at.

I am His. I get that. Because of the work of the cross, I have been purchased with the price paid for my sin. But that He is mine? In a sense, it makes no sense apart from a grace which is amazing beyond comprehension.

Jacob’s Portion, not because of Jacob’s prowess, but only because of God’s promise. Jacob’s Share, not because Jacob earned it, but because God determined it. Jacob’s Part, not because God owed Jacob something, but because God unconditionally and eternally gifted Jacob something.

To mess with John Mark McMillan’s words a bit:

So He is our portion and we are His prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

Jacob’s Portion.

My Portion, too? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Only by God’s grace. Only for God’s glory.