El Elohe Israel
“God, the God of Israel (the mighty God of the one who strives with God)”
Summary
The name Jacob gave to the altar he built near Shechem upon his return to Canaan, meaning 'God, the God of Israel,' acknowledging Jehovah as his own God after his transformative encounter at Peniel.
☩The Altar's Significance
Jacob built this altar on the piece of cultivated land he purchased from the sons of Hamor outside Shechem. He named it El-Elohe-Israel—'God, the God of Israel'—connecting it with the new name God had given him at Peniel. The compound name designates God as the mighty One who can do whatever seems good to Him, and who had particularly demonstrated His power in Jacob's recent experience by overcoming Esau's deep-rooted enmity. This was the most alarming danger Jacob had ever faced, and God's deliverance moved him to erect this memorial acknowledging that Jehovah, who was Abraham's God, was also his own God. The spot was already sacred ground, for here Abraham had first rested in Canaan and built an altar when God appeared to him.
Related Verses1 mention
Genesis· 1 verse
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "El-elohe-Israel," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.George Morrish, "Eleloheisrael," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "El-Elohe-Israel," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).