Israel

n.

1. Bible.
   1. Jacob.
   2. The descendants of Jacob.
2. Judaism. The Hebrew people, past, present, and future, regarded as the chosen people of God by virtue of the covenant of Jacob.

[Middle English, from Old English, from Latin, from Greek Israēl, from Hebrew yiśrā’ēl, God has striven, God has saved : yiśrā, he has striven, saved + ’ēl, God.]

An ancient kingdom of Palestine founded by Saul c. 1025 B.C. After 933 it split into the Northern Kingdom, or kingdom of Israel, and the kingdom of Judah to the south. Israel was overthrown by the Assyrians in 721.

 

For more information on tribes of Israel, visit Britannica.com.

The name given to Jacob after he wrestled with an angel until dawn (Gen. 32:29). Jacob, alone at the ford of Jabbok, discovered that the antagonist with whom he had struggled all night was no man but an angel, who begged to be released at daybreak. Jacob insisted on first receiving a blessing, and the angel then renamed him Yisra'el (Israel) "for you have striven [sarita] with beings Divine and human." Later, Jacob's twelve sons were known as BenéYisra'el, the "Children of Israel," or more simply, as Israelites. The Land of Canaan also became known as Erets Yisra'el, the Land of Israel (See Israel. Land of).

After the death of King Solomon, when the ten tribes under Jeroboam seceded and formed their own state (the northern kingdom), that state became known as Israel (see Israel, Kingdom of) while the southern kingdom populated by the remaining two tribes was called Judah (see TRIBES. THE TWELVE).

In May 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the new Jewish state, there was much discussion as to what name it should receive. One obvious suggestion was "Judah," but in the end it was decided to call it "Israel." All citizens of Israel are called Israelis, regardless of their religion.

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The term is applied in the Bible as:

(a) an alternate name for the biblical patriarch Jacob, given to him after his struggle with the angel where the name is explained as meaning "for you have struggled with God" (Gen 32:28).

(b) the collective name for the twelve tribes who traced their ancestry back to Jacob (Gen 32:32; 49:16, 28; Ex 1:9). It designated the Jewish people until the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam.

(c) the Northern Kingdom which rebelled against Solomon's son Rehoboam and chose Jeroboam I as king, to be distinguished from the Southern Kingdom (of Judah), which remained loyal to the house of David (II Kgs chap. 12).

Concordance
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Israel (ĭz'rēəl, ĭz'rāəl) [as understood by Hebrews,=he strives with God], according to the book of Genesis, name given to Jacob as eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, the chosen people of God. In the story, Jacob finds himself struggling with a being who, by the end of the narrative, is sometimes taken to be revealed as God. The story highlights the theme of Jacob's conflict and alienation from people (Isaac, Laban, and Esau) and God. The struggle marks a critical stage in the psychological development of Jacob.

The 12 tribes of Israel were named for 10 sons of Jacob (Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, and Benjamin) and the two sons of Jacob's son Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh); the 13th tribe, Levi (the third of Jacob's sons), was set apart and had no one portion of land of its own. A break in the Hebrew kingdom was precipitated by Rehoboam, a son of Solomon. An independent southern kingdom, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as well as a portion of the Levites, was called Judah; the northern kingdom, which consisted of the rest of what had been the larger Hebrew nation, was called Israel.

The name given to Jacob after he wrestled with God. Israel is also the name of the northern kingdom of the Israelites, when their nation was split in two after the death of King Solomon. (See under “World Geography.”)

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