"Prince of God."--The name "Israel" means "Prince of God," and is first used in the Scriptures as the surname of Jacob, from whom sprang the Hebrew nation or the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob, returning from Padan-Aram, whither he had fled from the jealous wrath of his brother Esau, came to the ford Jabbok, where "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day." We are left to infer that Jacob believed this "man" to be God; for he "called the name of the place Peniel," saying, "I have seen God face to face." "Let me go," demanded the heavenly visitant. "I will not let thee go," replied Jacob, "except thou bless me." The "Man" then blessed him and changed his name from Jacob to Israel; "for," said he, "as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." [1] Jacob's Blessing Confirmed.--Subsequently the name Israel was confirmed upon Jacob at Bethel, where the Lord appeared to him and blessed him, promising that a nation and a company of nations should be of him, and that kings should come out of his loins. [2] The Father of the Faithful.--But while this was the origin of the name Israel as applied to Jacob, it was not the origin of the race of which he is the titular head. It is written that Jacob's wives, Rachel and Leah, "did build the House of Israel; [3] and build it they did, through their children and the children of their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, whom they had given to their husband as wives. Already, however, had the foundation of that house been laid by Jacob's grandsire, Abraham, the Friend of God, the Father of the Faithful. Jehovah's promises to Jacob and to his father Isaac concerning their posterity, were virtual repetitions of promises made to their great ancestor. "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation; and I will . . . . bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." [4] Definition of "Hebrew."--Abram, for so was he then, called, dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, a city of Mesopotamia, which signifies "between the rivers." The rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates. Abram had to cross the Euphrates in order to reach Canaan, the land that the Lord showed him. Because of this circumstance, he was called by the Canaanites a "Hebrew," meaning "one from beyond the river." The origin of the name is also traced to Heber or Eber, one of the ancestors of Abram. Mesopotamia was the fountain-head of idolatry in Western Asia; and because the Lord wished to raise up a people who would worship him and him only, Abraham was required to separate himself from his idolatrous surroundings. [5]