Children of Israel

The Children of Israel (Hebrew: בני ישראל Bnai Yisrael or Bnei Yisrael or Bnei Yisroel or Bene Israel;) (Arabic: بني إسرائيل) is a Biblical term for the Israelites. It is also an alternate way of referring to the people known as Hebrews, Jewish or Bnai Israel. It means Sons or Children of Israel in Hebrew. In the Torah they are the twelve sons of Jacob who was renamed Israel in Genesis. They are also known as the Twelve Tribes.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Arabic - Biblical - Israelite - Hebrews - Jew - Torah - Jacob - Genesis - Twelve Tribes

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The phrase "Children of Israel" refers to the offspring of the Biblical patriarch Jacob, who was renamed "Israel" after he triumphed in a mysterious night-time struggle with an angel: "...Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel (Yisra'el). you have become great (sar ) before God and man. You have won." (Genesis 32:29) http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=32. Therefore, the name "Israel" denotes "one who has struggled with God" and triumphed.

Related Topics:
Jacob - Angel

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Jacob/Israel had twelve sons who became the progenitors of the biblical Twelve tribes of Israel. Subsequently when their descendants multiplied during the exile in ancient Egypt the Bible (Exodus) refers to them as the Children of Israel.

Related Topics:
Twelve tribes of Israel - Ancient Egypt - Exodus

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In the midrash, a rabbinic Jewish genre of Biblical interpretation, Jacob has the status of the greatest of the three patriarchs, since only he produced a righteous family. Abraham had both Isaac and Ishmael, but the latter was expelled from Abraham's tent due to the negative influence he was having on Isaac. Isaac in turn had Jacob and Esau, the latter being a hunter and sold his birthright to his brother. It is only Jacob/Israel who has sons who, after all their internal struggles, emerge as a united family all loyal "Sons of Israel".

Related Topics:
Midrash - Abraham - Isaac - Ishmael - Jacob - Esau

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