ISRAEL. - At first the surname of Giacobbe, then the name of the people descended from his 12 sons. God changed Giacobbe (v.) to I. (Gen. 32, 28).
Since this change was made following a victorious “struggle” (śārah = Arabic śarā [Th. Nöldeke, Neue Beiträge zur semit. Sprachwissenschaft, Strasburgo 1910, p. 75], “to fight”) sustained by the patriarch (Gen. 32, 24-32; the conception in Os. 12, 4 ff. is different), the name I. is explained as: “He struggles with God.” But since in theophoric names God is usually the subject, some, departing from Gen. 32, 29, explain it as: “God fights (for him).” It should be noted, however, that the struggle takes place at night and that the mysterious wrestler wishes to be dismissed at the break of dawn, and it is at dawn that the change of name occurs; it is not excluded that Scripture suggests the second meaning of the name: Śārah = Arabic śarā, “to shine” (cf. O. Procksch, Die Genesis, 2a-3a ed., Lipsia 1924, p. 373), that is: “God shines,” which would accord with biblical theophanies and with the frequent association of “God and light” in prophetic literature and biblical hymnody. Eugenio Zolli