Jacob’s name was
changed to Israel (Yashar’el or Yisra’el), which has the following meaning: to
strive with El, to overcome with El, and to rule with El. He who rules with El.
Who strives, overcomes
and rules with El?
It is Jacob and his future
offspring that will strive with El, then overcome with El and then rule with
El.
It is a people that
will rule with El.
Israel
is a people not a land or a religion.
Jacob is the Israelite
patriarch.
We need to understand,
a land can be called Israel but not all people in that land are Israelites.
Let’s read scripture,
so scripture can tell us the story of the Israel.
Read Genesis 32:24-26 that
leads up to verse 27
where Jacob’s name is been changed.
Genesis 32:27-28 And He said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. And He said,
your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have
struggled (strive) with Elohim and with men, and have prevailed (overcome).
Genesis 32:29-30 And Jacob asked and said, please reveal Your name. And He said, why is it
that you ask about My name? And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name
of the place Peni'El*, because I saw Elohim face
to face, and my life is delivered.
*Peni’El means Face of El.
Read below of Jacob’s
birth struggle, the strength to overcome through weeping and pleading until he
was blessed and ruled with Elohim.
Hosea 12:3-6 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he strove
with (Aleph/Tav) Elohim. Yes, he strove with the Messenger and overcame; he wept
and pleaded to Him. He found us at Bethel, and He spoke with us there, even Yahuah,
the Elohim of Hosts. Yahuah is His memorial. For this reason, you return to
your Elohim; keep kindness and judgment, and call on your Elohim always.
Now we understand why
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and his offspring would go through the same walk.
Remember, Israel is a
people not a land or a religion.
Before they were in
the promised land they were known as the children of Israel (Jacob’s
offspring). Below are 2 scripture verses confirming the people were known as
Israelites.
Exodus 9:7
Then Pharaoh sent, and see, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was
dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
Exodus 15:22 And Moses brought Yisra’el from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out
into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and
found no water.
Next the Israelites
get to the border of the promised land. What was this promised land known as
before they entered? It was not Israel – read below Exodus 16:35.
And the sons of Israel
ate the manna forty years, until their coming into an inhabited land. They ate
the manna until their coming to the border of the land of Canaan.
So, the people were
Israel and the land they were about to go in was Canaan (the promised land).
Let us skip the part
when Israel entered the land, how the 12 tribes settled in their different
parts in the land, David’s and Solomon’s reign, pass the break-up of the two
houses of Israel (Northern and Southern), to the sins of Israel, then the
warnings from the prophets to turn away from sin, to finally both houses been
scattered out of the promised land.
While the Israelites
lived and ruled in the promised land, the land was known as Israel.
This is what Yahuah says in Ezekiel 11:17 I shall gather you from the peoples,
and assemble you out of the lands, in those where you were scattered, and I
shall give to you the land of Israel.
At some time in the
future the Israelites will be returned to this land (the promised land).
But in the meantime,
the promised land would be occupied by other nations as we read in 2 Kings 17:24 And the
king of Assyria brought men in from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and
from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and made them live in the cities of Samaria instead
of the sons of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
Please read 2 Kings 17:25-33 to
understand the other nations living in the promised land and not following the
ways of Yahuah. Due to their fear of the lions, the people developed a mixture
of pagan worship with some of Yahuah's biblical statutes, which is a religious
trend that continued through time and even today. This is still happening
today; it has not changed as from when they were scattered out of the land and
the other nations entered the land.
Ezekiel 11:17 says Yahuah will bring them back into the land. When will this happen?
This is when it will
happen!
Deuteronomy 4:29-30 And if you shall seek Yahuah your Elohim from there, then you shall find
Him, if you seek Him with your whole heart, and with all your soul, in your
distress, when all these things have found you, in the latter days**, then you shall return to Yahuah
your Elohim, and shall listen to His voice.
**This prophecy for the latter days (end-time) is
the blessed promise that Yisra’el shall return to Elohim and obey His voice!
Read also Ezekiel 36:16-38,
Amos 9:14-15 and Zechariah 10:1-12.
Deuteronomy 30:1-3 “And it shall be, when all these words come upon you, the blessing and
the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to your heart
among all the gentiles where Yahuah your Elohim drives you, and shall turn back
to Yahuah your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you
today, with all your heart and with all your being, you and your children, then
Yahuah your Elohim shall turn back your captivity, and shall have compassionon
you, and He shall turn back and gather you from all the peoples where Yahuah
your Elohim has scattered you.
Now who is presently
in the land known today as the state of Israel? This we find in scripture –
read this chapter carefully as this prophesy has not been fulfilled.
Ezekiel 35:1-15 And the Word of Yahuah was tome, saying, Son
of man, set your face against Mount Seir (land of Edom), and prophesy against
it. And say to it, so says Master Yahuah: Behold, I
am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch My hand against you, and I will
make you a ruin and a waste. I will lay your cities waste, and you shall be a
ruin. And they shall know that I am Yahuah. Because there was to you never-ending
hatred, and you poured out the sons of Israel to the hands of the sword in the
time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end. Therefore, As I
live, declares Master Yahuah, surely for blood I appoint you, and blood shall
pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, so blood shall pursue you. And I
will make Mount Seir a ruin and a waste, and cut off from it the one passing
through, and the one returning. And I will fill his mountains with his slain.
In your hills and in your valleys, and in all your torrents, the slain by the
sword shall fall in them. I will make you ruins forever, and your cities shall
not be inhabited. And you shall know that I am Yahuah. Because you have said, these
two nations (Israel and Judah) and these two lands (Northern and Southern) will
be mine, and we shall possess it (yet Yahuah was there), Therefore, As I live,
declares Master Yahuah, I will act by your anger, and by envy which you have done
out of your hatred against them, and I will be known among them when I have
judged you. And you shall know that I am Yahuah. I have heard all your revilings
(scorns or blasphemies) which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying,
Desolation! They are given to us for food! And you magnified with your mouth
against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard .So says Master
Yahuah: As all the earth rejoices, I will make you a ruin. As you rejoiced at
the inheritance of the house of Israel because they were a ruin, so I will do
to you. You shall be a ruin, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it! And they
shall know that I am Yahuah.
Israel the people
today cannot only be spiritual but they do actually still exist, although they have
lost their identity as they are scattered to the four corners of the earth and
mixed with the nations. Today many people are waking up and starting to realize
the falsehood they have been taught, turning back to Yahuah as prophesied in
Ezekiel and Deuteronomy (and many other scripture verses in various old and New
Testament books).
We need to understand that
if we believe the people of Israel still exists today then we must know that
Jacob’s brother Esau (Edom) is also still around, they are twins and the one
still hates the other one. Ezekiel
35 speaks about what Edom is up too. Edom is in the land.
A reminder, Israel is a people not a land or a
religion.
