| Genesis 32:28
| But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?
| Israel. This name was more honourable, and that by which his posterity were afterwards known; being called Israelites, and not Jacobites. God ratifies the title, Genesis 35:10. It means a prince of God, (St. Jerome, q. Heb.; Calmet) or one standing upright, and contending victoriously with God, rectus Dei, yisrael. (Haydock) --- Many have expounded it, a man seeing God; aiss-rae-al. (Philo, etc.)
|