There are many various, but related, meanings of the word Israel within the Bible. Here is the story …
The word Israel
The word Israel in Hebrew is יִשְׂרָאֵל. It is formed from its root which has a meaning which most scholars think conveys the concept of struggling, wrestling or fighting (whether literally or metaphorically). It is combined with the suffix אֵל (‘el) meaning God. The term El for God is present in other titles like Elohim and El-Shaddai (Genesis 17:1). When Israel was rendered in Greek within the Septuagint and within the New Testament it was spelt as Ἰσραήλ. It got here into Latin as Israel, and that was also utilized in English where the spelling of Israel is present in the John Wycliffe translation of 1382, and in addition as Israel in William Tyndale’s New Testament from 1526. It has been used ever since.Today the name Israel continues to be used as a primary name especially, although not exclusively, by Jewish people. The name Israel can also be sometimes transliterated from Hebrew as Yisra’el, Yisroel, Israil, and it’s spelt as Ysrael in Spanish-speaking countries.
Israel within the Bible
The proper noun ‘Israel’ is used over 2,000 times within the Bible. It is included in 34 out of the 39 books within the Old Testament, and in 13 of the 27 New Testament books. However, it doesn’t at all times mean the identical thing. It is utilized in several different but related and sometimes overlapping ways. Basically, the term was first applied as a reputation to an individual, then to his family, then to a nation, then to territories they settled in, and later to concepts, because the semantic meaning developed and expanded over time.
Jacob alias Israel
The first use of Israel within the Bible is as one other name for Jacob. Jacob was the younger of dual sons Esau and Jacob, born to Isaac and Rebecca. Isaac in turn was the second son of Abraham by Sarah, but was born after Ishmael, but before Abraham’s other sons by Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2).In Genesis 32, the story is told of Jacob wrestling with an unnamed man. The man asked Jacob what his name was, and he answered that it was Jacob (Genesis 32:27). It was then that the person said, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (Genesis 32:28 KJV).It is a little bit of a mysterious story. Jacob thought that he had wrestled God himself, since “Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God nose to nose, and yet my life was spared’” (Genesis 32:30). In later tradition, Hosea identified the person as an angel (Hosea 12:4).
People have debated whether he wrestled with a person, with an angel or with God, or if it was metaphorical. The recent name is mentioned again slightly later: “And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel”(Genesis 35:10 KJV). From this point Jacob is referred to as each Jacob and Israel, and each names continued for use interchangeably. We also find other biblical characters with two names. Jacob’s son Joseph was also called Zaphnathpaaneah in Egypt (Genesis 41:45). Gideon was also called Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32). Daniel was also referred to as Belteshazzar (Daniel 1:6-7). Then within the New Testament we now have Dorcas also referred to as Tabitha (Acts 9:36 – 42) and Simon also referred to as Peter.
Israel the family
Jacob, alias Israel, had many children. His name Israel got here for use just like the family name or surname. He had a dozen sons who’re named. Daughters are also mentioned (Genesis 34:9; 37:34-35; 46:5-7; 46:15), but Dinah is the just one who is known as (Genesis 30:21). The descendants of Israel by his twelve sons became referred to as the Israelites, or the ‘children of Israel’ or the ‘people of Israel’ or simply Israel. After Jacob died, the name of Israel not meant just Jacob, however the meaning was prolonged to mean his descendants, and the nation which grew from them.
Israel the nation
Jacob, and his family settled in Goshen in Egypt, due to a famine (Genesis 47). When Jacob’s family settled in Egypt they were called Israel in order that it says, “And Israel dwelt within the land of Egypt, within the country of Goshen; and so they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly” (Genesis 47:27 KJV). Within the book of Exodus, the word Israel normally refers back to the Israelites. In the books of Exodus and Joshua, the term ‘children of Israel’ is used.
Territory of Israel
Later when the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel settled and formed their very own country, that land was called Israel. For a couple of centuries, the territory of Israel was ruled by the Judges, as detailed within the book of Judges, the meaning of Israel prolonged to mean the land inhabited by the nation of Israel, and it is named the ‘territory of Israel’ (Judges 19:29 RSV). The book of Judges ends with: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what was right in his own eyes’ (Judges 21:25).
Kingdom of Israel
After the Judges, the territory of Israel became a kingdom. The first kings were Saul, David and Solomon. The term ‘kingdom of Israel’ is first utilized in 1 Samuel 15:28. The use of Israel to mean the dominion of Israel is present in 1 and a pair of Samuel and in 1 Kings. Under King David and King Solomon, territories were conquered beyond the tribal lands of Israel. So, the Kingdom of Israel referred to all of the territory ruled by the King of Israel. The Kingdom of Israel was greater than the territory of Israel, since it included the territory of Israel plus conquered subject peoples who weren’t Israelites.
Israel the Northern Kingdom
After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel split into two. Here it gets confusing because Rehoboam remained king of the southern kingdom of Judah, however the northern tribes established a recent kingdom under King Jeroboam which kept the name of Israel. From this time the term Israel referred to the northern kingdom, in order that in Jeremiah we read: “I’ll restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel” (Jeremiah 33:7 ESV). In the books of Amos and Hosea, references to Israel are often to the northern kingdom of Israel. Hosea was the last prophet before the northern kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria about 722 BC. At this time, many Israelites from the northern kingdom moved to the Kingdom of Judah.
House of Israel
Many of the inhabitants of Judah were taken into exile during three deportations starting in about 597 BC. During this time, these exiles were also referred to as the ‘house of Israel’, which is a phrase used again and again, especially within the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to consult with the exiled community. This doesn’t imply all of them got here from the northern kingdom, but once the land was lost, the term Israel was used to mean the nation.
Israel within the New Testament
In the New Testament the term ‘Israel’ appears in Greek just over 60 times. By the time of the New Testament, Israel continues to be used to mean variously the person of Jacob, the people of Israel, and the historic land of Israel. The meaning is dependent upon context.When the holy family was in exile in Egypt, Joseph was told in a dream to go “to the land of Israel” (Matthew 2:20-21). At this time land was not technically called Israel then, because in Roman times the world was divided into the Roman provinces of Judaea, Samaria and Galilee. In the New Testament, the usage of the word ‘Israel’ had come to be synonymous with the Jewish people, and the land of Israel refers to where they lived.
The Israel of God
In the New Testament one other meaning of Israel emerges, although only in some cases. St Paul extends the usage of the word ‘Israel’ to mean all of the people of God, whether of Jewish or Gentile origin. He wrote to the church at Galatia, “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule – to the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). His idea was that circumcision is now spiritual, and the concept of the spiritual Israel now includes Gentile believers.
This is expanded by Paul in Romans 2:29; 4:12; 9:6-8 and Philippians 3:3. Paul teaches about Israel in Romans 11 where he uses the analogy of Israel as an olive tree which they’d been grafted onto (Romans 11, 17-25).
Such are the multiple meanings of Israel that Paul is capable of play on words and write, “For not all who’re descended from Israel are Israel” (Romans 9:6 NIV), with two meanings of Israel in the identical sentence, the primary to mean Jacob and the second to mean the people of God. In other places St Paul sometimes uses the interesting phrase “commonwealth of Israel”. He wrote to the Christians at Ephesus that they “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God on this planet” (Ephesians 2:11-13), and goes onto describe how God has now reconciled Jews and Gentiles as one people of God. He describes Jews and Gentiles as being one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
Importance of context
There are many meanings of the word Israel within the Bible, that are defined in line with context. In the Jewish Scriptures it was a person, then a family, then a nation, then a kingdom, then a part of the divided kingdom. Later within the New Testament the word Israel retains these meanings but moreover is usually utilized by St Paul as a spiritual concept for all of the people of God. Sometimes the text or the interpretation may make clear it with phrases just like the “land of Israel” or the “people of Israel” but not at all times, and sometimes it isn’t so clear when a verse is read in isolation. There is at all times the danger of reading the biblical text anachronistically, by inferring a meaning from a later use of the term, which didn’t apply in earlier texts. On the opposite hand, while you read a verse and understand how the word Israel was utilized in that context, it may well help to untangle the meaning of some confusing passages.
