There are four meanings for the word Israel in the Bible.

The word Israel can pertain to the person named Israel.

Jacob’s name was changed from Jacob to Israel.

The word Israel can pertain to the nation of Israel or the twelve tribes of Israel.

The word Israel can pertain to Ephraim and Manasseh.

When Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob said, “Let my name be on them.”

Genesis 48:16, “ The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

4.The word Israel can pertain to the northern ten tribes of Israel. Because of Solomon’s sins, the Lord separated Judah from the other tribes. The ten tribes were called Israel.

The meaning of the word Israel is determined by the context in which the word is used.

The ten tribes of Israel went into captivity before Judah.

The ten tribes migrated to Europe.

Manasseh and Ephraim were Joseph’s two sons and when Jacob blessed them he said, “Let my name be on them.”, which would be his name,Israel.

Manasseh became the United States; a great nation. Ephraim became the British Empire; a multitude of nations.

Genesis 48:19, “And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

Ephraim, the British Empire and Manasseh, the United States inherited their blessings from their father, Joseph.

Genesis 49:22-26

22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:”

23 “The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:”

24 “But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)”

25 “Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:”

26 “The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.”

The word Israel means the United States and the British Empire in many scriptures in the bible.

The media, many churches, and the public in general call the small nation in the Middle East where Jerusalem is located Israel.

This is the nation of Judah.

The Jews of the tribe of Judah are only one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

The nation they call Israel should be called Judah of the House of Israel.

Because of Solomon’s sins the Lord separated the tribe of Judah from the other tribes of Israel.

The tribe of Benjamin and part of the tribe of Levi went with the tribe of Judah.

The other tribes went into captivity and lost their identity.

Only the tribe of Judah know they are part of the House of Israel.