ISRAEL, the national designation of the Jews. The Hebrew name means "God strives" or "rules" (see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4). It was borne by their ancestor, Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes. For some centuries the term was ap plied to the northern kingdom, as distinct from Judah, although the feeling of national unity extended it so as to include both.
See JACOB, HEBREW LANGUAGE, HEBREW RELIGION ; JEWS: History; and PALESTINE.