peace
Comming(sic) to terms with God is a struggle which can have violent physical and mental side effects due to something called the nocebo effect.
nocebo. never heard of it until now. so i looked it up. here, at
straight dope i found a pretty good explanation.
Thus "Childern(sic) of Israel" can justifiably refer to those people who like Jacob have successfully come through this struggle, perhaps even those people still going through that struggle.
very interesting indeed. i will find one example to show:
2:40 O children of Israel, remember My blessings that I had blessed you with, and fulfill your pledge to Me that I fulfill My pledge to you, and reverence Me Only.
so by what i gather from your logic, this can not only be read to mean descendants of jacob in particular, but can also mean 'o descendants of those who have previously struggled with the concept of God' or 'o people who are currently struggling with the concept of God'.
so what did i do with this? i went to the Quran translation i am in the process of editing, and i searched for 'children of israel' and then read those passages bearing this in mind. for the most part, it fit in rather well, until i got to some parts that i felt were specifically speaking to the genetic descendants of israel, like this one:
17:4 And We decreed to the Children of Israel in the Book, that you will make corruption twice on earth, and that you will become very high and mighty.
and
17:104 And We said after him to the children of Israel: "Dwell the land, then, when the time of the last promise comes, We will bring you all together as a mixed crowd.
as they seem to be speaking directly to the genetic descendants of israel.
all in all, interesting insights indeed.
on a side note, thanks for saying 'no offense' in your signature.
