Previously I wrote on how the nation of Israel received its name, what the name means, and its theological implications.  Jacob was named Israel by the angel who wrestled him, who many believe is the preincarnate Christ.  The name Israel means, he struggles with God.  I then provided a macro view of how the nation of Israel split apart into two different kingdoms, their exile to Babylon, and their return.  The Israelite’s who survived the Babylonian invasion and were exiled off to Iraq, became known as the remnant. (2 Chron. 36:20; Jer. 25:11)

In 539 B.C, a year after Persia’s overthrow of the Babylonian Empire, Cyrus the ruler of Persia, decreed the Israelites who were under Babylonian captivity were free to return to their homeland.  This is all in keeping with the words of the prophet Isaiah who prophesied 200 years before Cyrus’ decree that God himself would raise up Cyrus to bring about God’s purposes of bringing the remnant back to their homeland. (Isa. 44: 28, Isa. 45:1-5)

Genesis 32:28 records Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, having his name changed to Israel.  Why?  The text tells us it is, “because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”  What a prophetic word, with a promise. 

The context of the passage shows us that it was Jacob who wrestled the angel and won, but the message from the angel and name Israel takes on much more theological significance than we may typically think.  To understand this more it will be helpful to take a macro view of the Israelites heritage through the Old Testament.  

Moses and Elijah are two Old Testament heroes of the faith who were worn out by the lack of faith and depravity possessed by God’s chosen people.  In 1 Kings 19:10 Elijah communicates his plight to the Lord of how the Israelites have rejected God’s covenant (Mosaic) and put the prophets to death.  Elijah saw himself as next in line the line of fire and was wondering where hope for Israel was to be found.  God replied that he had reserved seven thousand in Israel. (1 Kings 19:18) 

Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV)

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 13:14-15 (NIV)

The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and north and south, east and west.  All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”

Genesis 15:18-20 (NIV)

 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

For the past week I have been on an apologetics study tour of the Holy Land with 25 high school students. Along with visiting the Dead Sea, Masada, the Sea of Galilee, the Garden of Gethsemane, and many other remarkable sites, we had the special treat of hearing a lecture by filmmaker Joel Kramer. He is the award-winning producer of The Bible vs. Joseph Smith as well as many other films. He is currently working on a PhD in archaeology at Hebrew University.

Here are some highlights from his presentation that I trust you will find as fascinating as I do:

• Jerusalem is the most archaeologically excavated city in the world, but only 1% of the entire city has been excavated. The sites that have been excavated (even though they are a minority of all possible sites) consistently confirm the biblical record.
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I spend three or four afternoons a week this time of year coaching a local high school golf team. The following words emerge from a part of that work and the community of adults who explore Jesus together with me every other week at an area country club. At the core of this piece is the one thing God has been impressing on me most deeply since the day I officiated a funeral this winter for the father of one of my players: that we must keep wrestling with Him.

THE NAME OF GOD'S PEOPLE

The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Genesis 32:28, NIV)

I’ve been working with a player whose short game has no variety.

Did you hear about the Christian School that fired its coach because his team won a game, 100 to 0? Christian school basketball does not often make it in the New York Times. Covenant Christian School, a private Christian school in Texas, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 victory over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by the school’s Headmaster and the School’s Board Chair, Todd Doshier.

Hmmmm. In the same paper, I was shocked to note the outcome of another conflict with a score that is far worse: 1,300 to 13. Imagine a “conflict” in which the deaths are 130 to 1. What would we call that? A massacre? Are we talking about Darfur? The Russian/Chechen conflict? Tiananmen Square in China? No, we are talking about the tragedy of 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead in the most recent version of regime- change military actions. This act includes documented systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure, including film of burning chunks of phosphorous from Israeli missiles in a Palestinian school. Every death is a tragedy, but such a crazy disparity points to something different than war.  Did you know that a UN poll recently found that nearly 90% of Palestinians want peace with Israel? That monitors of Palestinian elections (greatly encouraged by the US) found them fair and the outcome untainted?