In the Bible at Genesis 32:28 it says that God changed Jacobs name to Israel, why?
Does the changed name have a meaning, and how did that affect his children, who were later called Israelites?
What does the word Israel mean?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by barb1
- Topics:
- god, bible, israel, genesis, jacob, meaning, word, name, gods
Details:
Answers (2)
When you want to know what a word in the bible means, you look up the first usage. It is usually a definition by the context. For example, the first word in the bible is 'beginning'. That is the only word that could have been first. If religious men had written the bible they would have put God's name first, but God puts His word above His name. And it took several thousand years for some man to notice that had been done. So when people say that the bible is just another book written by goofy men, you can use that to expose their ignorance.
The first usage of "Israel" is
Gen 32:28 - And he said, H559 Thy name H8034 shall be called H559 no more Jacob, H3290 but Israel: H3478 for as a prince hast thou power H8280 with God H430 and with men, H582 and hast prevailed. H3201
This is found at www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=israel&t=KJV&ss=1#s=s_primary_0_1
The numbers are called "Strong word numbers" because they are assigned in Strong's Concordance. There are many brands of concordance. Everybody uses Strong's because it is so thorough, but a lot of people use Young's because it is much easier to use, and many use the little concordance they find in the back of their bible. An exhaustive concordance lists every word in the bible, where it is used, what it means, and all the ways it is translated.
(Isʹra·el) [Contender (Perseverer) With God; or, God Contends] - The name God gave to Jacob when he was about 97 years old. It was during the night that Jacob crossed the torrent valley of Jabbok on his way to meet his brother Esau that he began struggling with what turned out to be an angel. Because of Jacob’s perseverance in the struggle, his name was changed to Israel as a token of God’s blessing. In commemoration of these events, Jacob named the place Peniel or Penuel. (Ge 32:22-31; Later, at Bethel the change in name was confirmed by God, and from then on to the end of his life Jacob was frequently called Israel. (Ge 35:10, 15; 50:2; 1Ch 1:34) Many of the more than 2,500 occurrences of the name Israel, however, are in reference to Jacob’s descendants as a nation.—Ex 5:1, 2 " Published in the Insight Book published by Jehovah's Witnesses