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Abarim Publications'
Biblical Name Vault
Hub
Name Vault
On Names in the Bible
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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Israel
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Israel 
Israel is the name given to Jacob after his fight with the Angel of God.
The meaning of the name Israel is not clear, although Israel is most likely a compilation of the verb  (sara 2287) and the noun  (El 93a), the common abbreviation of Elohim.
The meaning of the verb (sara 2287) is uncertain and explained in many ways, chiefly because it is limited to contexts which discuss the struggle of Jacob with the Angel of the Lord, insinuating that where our language uses the common verb 'struggle,' the Hebrew uses a word that is specifically reserved for a certain action: the action of struggling with God.
BDB reports for (sara 2287) the Arabic cognate of persist, persevere, and relates it to the word  (sora 2245a), rows, which only Isaiah uses, in 28:25. More interesting even is the word  (misra 2288a), a unique word that probably means rule or dominion, and which Isaiah uses in the highly Messianic passage of 8:6, "...and the government is on His shoulder." Nobody knows what the root of this word is but linguists have arrived at the conclusion that it must be identical to , the word that gave rise to the name Israel.
It gets even better when we look at the verb  (sarar 2295), rule, reign, act as prince. Derivative  (sar 2295) means prince, and (sarah 2295b) means princess and is (near) equal to the both the name of Jacob's grandmother Sarah and the root-word of Israel.
We can not say with certainty what the name Israel is supposed to mean, although it seems to reflect a certain inability of the Almighty God, namely the not being able to defeat a man like Jacob. We can be sure that God doesn't lack the physical strength to eradicate any human being, so we must conclude that the destruction of Jacob would go against the very nature of God. Perhaps the name Israel denotes God's continuous effort to keep Jacob going, even though Jacob continuous to fight God.
The name Israel means God Strives (NOBSE), or El Persisteth, Persevereth (BDB). BDB offers an alternative meaning of Let El Persist.
Also see Israel's nicknames: Jeshurun and Zion.
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