Here it is:
Where does the name "ISRAEL come from? What does it mean?
(the answer is intresting if you know)
Gumby
A question for bible scholars.....It's a REAL hard one!
by gumby 51 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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mouthy
" God Strives"????
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Scully
Wasn't Jacob given that name as a "blessing" after he had grappled with an angel (or God) all night?
Gen 32:24-30
Finally Jacob was left by himself. Then a man began to grapple with him until the dawn ascended. When he got to see that he had not prevailed over him, then he touched the socket of his thigh joint; and the socket of Jacob's thigh joint got out of place during his grappling with him. After that he said "Let me go, for the dawn has ascended." To this he said: "I am not going to let you go until you first bless me." So he said to him: "What is your name?" to which he said: "Jacob." Then he said: "Your name will no longer be called Jacob but Israel, for you have contended with God and with men so that you at last prevailed." In turn Jacob inquired and said: "Tell me, please, your name." However, he said: "Why is it that you inquire for my name?" With that he blessed him there. Hence Jacob called the name of the place Pe-nu'el, because, to quote him, "I have seen God face to face and yet my soul was delivered."
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Dansk
EL is the name of the Canaanite God, the worship of whom the Hebrews made their own. All names like Ishmael, Michael and Israel are theophoric in form - that is to say, the suffix element ( -ilu or -el ) represents a divine name, in this case the paramount god El. So, the Jews worshipped a pagan God - and still do today (don't tell them!).
Ian
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Deputy Dog
EL is the name of the Canaanite God
Where did the Canaanites get EL from?
D Dog
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Narkissos
The big question is the meaning of the root-verb srh, and it is debated among scholars. Here are some classic proposals:
1. El rules (Noth).
2. El shines (Bauer).
3. El is strong (Lipinski).
1 and 3 are more or less compatible with the use of srh in the etiological narrative of Genesis 32, which does not mean they are historically right.
One later interpretation deserving mention is Philo's: 'ish ra'a el, "the man who sees God". Linguistically desperate, but theologically interesting.
The oldest evidence for the name afaik flatly contradicts Bible "history": Pharaoh Merneptah's victory over "Israel" in the last quarter of the 13th century BC, commemorated on a stela ("Israel is annihilated, its seed is no more") and reliefs in Amon's temple in Karnak, showing that "Israel" was already a native or long-settled people (or coalition?) in Cisjordania. Then we have Deborah's song in Judges 5, indicating a pretty different set of peoples than the later "12 tribes". Apart from such fragmentary prehistory, the verifiable history of Israel really begins with Omri, father of Ahab, king of Samaria, who builds a powerful kingdom of "Israel" in alliance with Tyre: Jerusalem is no part of it...
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zen nudist
hebrew does not use vowels, so El is actually Aleph Lamed, where Aleph is not quite an Ah but more of a choking gutteral noise... making El sound like someone with dry heaves.... leading to my theory that he was first worshipped the morning after the invention of beer
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Farkel
"Israel" loosely translated means "likes really big hooters."
Trust me!
Farkel
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shotgun
Dah...Gumby...It comes from the NWT.
Is...Ra...EL
I thought it was a combination of the Isis, Ra and EL..three gods
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gumby
Is...Ra...EL
I thought it was a combination of the Isis, Ra and EL..three gods
Hey...we have a winner! And the Grand Prize goes to Shotgun......the bastard!!!!!!!!
Intresting isn't it? Why would god give Jacob a name that was derived from pagan gods?
The name comes from 3 different deities
Isis, the goddess revered throughout the ancient world.
Ra, the Egyptian sun god
El, which has already been discussed.
Everbody flunked except for Dansk.....who had part of the answer. Farkel was next to the closest.
Gumby