Wrestled with an Angel
Published in
1 min readMay 8, 2018
Israel (Jacob) the ‘troublemaker’.
Genesis 32:22–32, also referenced in Hosea 12:4, is an account over the renaming of Jacob as Israel.
The name Israel is given to Jacob after he has wrestled with an angel and prevailed.
It is etymologized as a composition of אֵל el “God” and the root שָׂרָה śarah “to rule, contend, have power, prevail over”.
The “angel” in question is referred to as “man” (אִישׁ) in Genesis, while Hosea references an “angel” (מַלְאָךְ), but the episode is also often referenced as Jacob’s “wrestling with God”.
– Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
