1:1).</b> The names of the Israelites were most appropriate for them. You find, in fact, that the Holy One, blessed be He, assigned their names to them. He gave Abraham a son, and He said to him: <i>And thou shalt call his name Isaac</i> (Gen. 17:19). The <i>yod</i> in his name equals ten, the <i>tzaddi</i>, ninety, the <i>het</i>, eight, and the <i>kuf</i>, one hundred, totaling two hundred and eight in all. But the Israelites were forced to remain in Egypt only two hundred and ten years<sup class="footnote-marker">8</sup><i class="footnote">Two years were added because he had asked the baker to intervene in his behalf, thus indicating a lack of faith that God would deliver him. It took two years for the baker to do so.</i> even though the Holy One, blessed be He, had told Abraham: <i>And shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years</i> (ibid. 15:13).
<i>He said to him: “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger to thee”</i> (ibid.)—from (the time) you will have seed. The Holy One, blessed be He, began to count from the day of his birth.<sup class="footnote-marker">9</sup><i class="footnote">The counting of the 400 years began with the birth of Isaac.</i> And as to the eight days (before) circumcision, since he was the first to be circumcized, it is said: <i>And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old</i> (ibid. 21:5)—hence the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him his name.
As to Jacob, the Holy One, named him also, as it is said: <i>And his name was called Jacob</i> (ibid. 25:26). The four letters in Jacob’s name in Hebrew correspond to the four crowns through which his descendants adored the Holy One, blessed be He. The <i>yod</i> corresponds to the Ten Commandments, the <i>ayin</i> (seventy) corresponds to the seventy elders, the <i>kuf</i> (one hundred) to the Temple, which was one hundred cubits high, that his descendants erected for the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said: <i>And he measured the house, a hundred cubits</i> (Ezek. 41:13), and the <i>bet</i> (two) corresponds to the two tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandants. They were redeemed from Egypt by Jacob’s merit, as it is said: <i>And He established it unto Jacob for a statute</i> (Ps. 105:10). Were it not for Jacob, Abraham would not have been redeemed from the furnace, as it is said: <i>Therefore, thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob</i> (Isa. 29:22). However, as for Esau, his father and mother named him, as it is said: <i>And they called his name Esau</i> (Gen. 25:25). About him, Scripture states: <i>His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name abroad</i> (Job 18:7).