SPECIAL TOPIC: ISRAEL (the name)
- Surprisingly the name's meaning is uncertain (BDB 975, KB 442). Here are some scholarly opinions.
- El Persists
- Let El Persist (JUSSIVE)
- El Preserves
- Let El Contend
- El Strives
- He who strives with God (word play Gen. 32:28)
- Reliable (IDB, vol. 2, p. 765)
- Successful
- Happy
- Ruling with God
- Usages in the OT
- Jacob's name (supplanter, heel grabber, BDB 784, KB 872, cf. Gen. 25:26) is changed after wrestling
with the spiritual personage at the river Jabbok (cf. Gen. 32:22-32; Exod. 32:13). Often the meanings
of Hebrew names are sound plays, not etymologies (cf. Gen. 32:28). "Israel" becomes his assigned
name (e.g., Gen. 35:10).
- It came to be used as a collective name for all of Jacob's twelve sons (e.g., Gen. 32:32; 49:16; Exod. 1:7;
4:22; 28:11; Deut. 3:18; 10:6).
- It came to designate the nation formed by the twelve tribes before the exodus (cf. Gen. 47:27;
Exod. 4:22; 5:2) and after (cf. Deut. 1:1; 18:6; 33:10).
- After the united monarchy of Saul, David, and Solomon the tribes split under Rehoboam
(cf. 1 Kings 12) in 922 B.C.
- the distinction starts even before the official split (e.g., II Sam. 3:10; 5:5; 20:1; 24:9; 1 Kgs. 1:35; 4:20)
- designates the northern tribes until the fall of Samaria to Assyria in 722 B.C.(cf. 2 Kings 17).
- Used of Judah in a few places (e.g., Isaiah 1; Micah 1:15-16).
- After the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles it became again the collective name for all of Jacob's descendants
living in Palestine (e.g., Isa. 17:7,9; Jer. 2:4; 50:17,19).
- Used of laity in contradistinction from priests (cf. 1 Chr. 9:2; Ezra 10:25; Neh. 11:3).
- Usages in the NT
- Used in connection to Genesis 12; 15; 22
- Used of the Jewish nation of the time from the Maccabees to the fall of Jerusalem (i.e., Matt. 2:20,21; 8:10;
9:33; 10:6,23; 15:24; 27:42; Mark 15:32; Luke 1:80; 2:25,34; 4:25,27; 7:9; 24:21; John 1:31,40; 3:10)
- The God of the Patriarchs (i.e., Matt. 16:31; Acts 13:7) and their descendants (i.e., Matt. 12:28; Luke 1:16; 22:30; Acts 2:22,36; 3:12; 4:10
- Used in tht title of Jewish leaders (i.e., Acts 4:8; 5:21)
- Paul uses it of "a faithful remnant" of true believers in Rom. 9:6; 11:25-26
- Steve Gregg, in his YouTube video, "Romans 9-11," asserts that it does not refer to a future promised restoration of the
Jews to a homeland (also view his video on "The Modern State of Israel").
- Most of Abraham's descendants were not faithful followers. The Mosaic Covenant is a performance-based, conditional
covenant. Its promises applied only to a faithful follower, not a racial/ethnic group
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE REMNANT
SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT
SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH'S ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN
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