ISRAEL 6Nitr, for 5,..1 rntr, contender or wrestler with God, Gen. xxxii. 28 ; Hos. xii. 4), the name received from God by the patriarch Jacob on the occasion of the mysterious interview on Peniel. Jacob having made preparation for meeting his brother Esau on his return from Padan-Aram, sent his people on across the brook Jabbok, while he remained behind to spend the night alone, probably in earnest prayer for divine protection and help. Here during the night a being appeared to him in the form of a man, with whom the patriarch wrestled until the dawn. Unable to overcome him, the stranger touched the hollow of his thigh, that is, the place of the thigh joint, the effect of which was to incapacitate him for continuing the struggle. Jacob then recog nised in his opponent a superior being, the angel of Jehovah, and found that he had been in his ignorance struggling with God. This changed his course ; he then betook himself to prayers and tears, and by these he prevailed (Hos. xii. 4) ; his former antagonist yielded the blessing which Jacob implored, and to signalise his success and per petuate the lesson the scene was designed to teach, he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel, for thou bast wrestled 01,*) with God and with man, and bast prevailed.' It is the opinion of many who accept this narrative as his torical, that the scene narrated took place in a vision (Hengstenberg, Schroder, Umbreit, Mil man, etc.) But this view is plainly untenable; the wrestling with the angel is no more a vision than is the passing over Jabbok, the dawning of the morn ing, or the halting of Jacob ; the intention of the writer is evidently to place the whole on the same level, and we must either accept the scene of the wrestling as a fact, or reject it wholly as a myth. To those who would eliminate the supernatural from the Bible histories entirely, it will of course appear as the latter. But if the supernatural be admitted, if it be believed that God was wont to appear in human form to his servants, there seems no diffi culty in believing the whole transaction to have taken place as it is narrated. Where the super natural is admitted at all, it is absurd to cavil about a greater or a less in the degree of mystery attaching to any reported case of its manifestation ; and in the case before us it is not more incredible that the angel of Jehovah should have wrestled with Jacob than that he should. have partaken of food with Abraham, or have allowed his feet to be washed when he entered that patriarch's tent (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 334 ; Kurz, Hist. oy Old Cov., i. 333). - Besides, what is gained by the hypothesis of a vision ? If it was a true vision, and not a mere idle dream, God must have given it; so that all that came before the patriarch's mind was a representation vouchsafed by God himself.
But if it were unworthy of God to wrestle with his creature, was it worthy of him to represent him self as doing so ? If it lowers our conception oi God to suppose him actually doing any given thing, does it mend the matter to say that he virtually did that thing ? To most minds, we pre sume, this will increase the difficulty rather than alleviate it ; as is generally the case when expe dients are resorted to to avoid the plain obvious meaning of Scripture. As to the meaning and intent of the scene, the suggestion of Kurz seems most probable, that God designed by the whole transaction to teach Jacob that it WAS not by human astuteness or power that he was to prevail, but by submission, dependence, and prayer. As, with the thigh the seat of his natural strength, in which he had contended, was paralysed, and he has now to betake himself to entreaty and prayer, so on the last day of his former life all confidence in bis own strength which he had hitherto cherished, all trust in his natural cunning and cleverness, is cast away. He acknowledges that he is overcome, and only appeals to the grace and promise of God (Gen. xxxii. 11, 13). . . . We do not find the reason of the victory of Jacob over Jehovah in the continuance of his bodily wrestling as a symbol of spiritual wrestling, but, on the contrary, we regard this very bodily wrestling as representing the per versity which had characterised his former life' (Bk. cited p. 330.
2. The designation of the people descended from Jacob (Gen. xlviii. 20 ; Exod. V. 2; Num. xxi. ; Josh. iv. 22; Rom. ix. 6, etc.) For this we have sometimes the fuller expression B'ney Yisrael, Children of Israel ; " nn, .b'eyth Y., House of ; " 'Adath Y., or "' Snp, Q'hal Y., Congregation nf ; "" 4U1L," , Shibhtey Y., Tribes. of I. Israel came to be the common historical designation of the nation. For the his tory of the lsraelitish people before the division of kingdoms, see ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, MOSES, WANDERING, JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON.
3. A name of honour for the truly pious among the people, the elect of God (Ps. lxxiii. 1; Is. xlix. 3 ; Hosea viii. 2; Rom. ix. 6, xi. 26).
4. The designation of the ten tribes which sepa rated from Judah and formed THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL (2 Sam ii. 9 ; Kings xii. I, etc.) 5. After the captivity this name is applied to the whole nation as settled again in Palestine (Ezra ii. 7o; x. 5 ; Neh. xii. 47, etc.) ; and it re mains the designation by which the Jews still prefer being known.—W. L. A.