SPECIAL TOPIC: “HEBREWS”

SPECIAL TOPIC: HEBREW PEOPLE

This term (BDB 720 I, KB 782) is used only 34 times in all the OT. Its etymology is uncertain, but here are the theories.

It comes from the name Eber (BDB 720 II), an ancient ancestor of Abraham mentioned in Gen. 10:21.
It comes from the name of a group of Semites migrating across the ANE from the northeast to the south-southwest, during the second millennium B.C. This group were called Habiru (ABD, vol. 3, pp. 6-10). This large number of displaced people groups included
1. the Hyksos, who were rulers of Egypt (i.e., 15th and 16th dynasties), possibly during Joseph's time
2. the family of Abraham migrating to Canaan
The Hebrew root from which the ADJECTIVE/NOUN comes seems to mean "one who passes through" or "one who passes over" (BDB 716-719). It would denote foreigners, some wealthy but mostly poor servants.
The term is mostly used in the mouth of non-Israelites to refer to the family of Abraham and his seed.
1. Gen. 14:13 ‒ a messenger to Abraham
2. Gen. 39:14,17; 40:15; 41:12; 43:32 ‒ Egyptians referring to Joseph and his family (also note Exod. 1:15; 5:3; 7:16)
3. 1 Sam. 4:6,9; 13:3,7,19; 14:16,21; 29:3 ‒ the Philistines' way of referring to the United Monarchy of Saul
4. Jer. 34:9,14 ‒ in a Neo-Babylonian context, Jeremiah uses this term with King Zedekiah about Israelite/Judean slaves and servants following Deut. 15:12
5. Jonah 1:9 ‒ Jonah uses this term to describe himself to Gentile sailors
6. Acts 6:1 ‒ used of a distinction in the early church between hebrew speaking believers and Greek speaking believers
7. The Apostle Paul refers to himself as a member of Abraham's family in 2 Cor. 11:22; Phil. 3:5
8. it came to denote a specific language apeaker by Jews in Palestine (called a Jewish Aramaic)
  (1) Neh. 13:24 ‒"the langauge of Judah"
  (2) Isa. 19:18 ‒ "the language of Canaan"
  (3) John 5:2; 19:13,17,20; Acts 21:40; 22:2; 26:14; Rev. 2:11; 16:16 ‒ "Hebrew dialect"

This term is synonymous with "Jew," which comes from the tribal name "Judah." Judah was the last of the divided kingdom to survive exile and most of the returnees were from Judah. The small piece of land around Jerusalem to which they returned under Cyrus II's decree, was called Judah. Just a note, the term Judah also included

the tribe of Simeon
the tribe of Benjamin
and most of the tribe of Levi