Hebrews?

Have you ever wondered where the name Hebrew came from? When did the Israelites start being known as Hebrews? And why? Recently these question came to my mind.

Strong's Concordance defines Hebrew as being related to Eber, who was a descendant of Noah's son Shem and an ancestor of Abram. That's an interesting connection, but why not say "the Shemite" if you're going to refer to a relative. The NKJV Concordance simply called it a term used in referring to Jews.

The Chronological Study Bible and The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible along with an article in the Biblical Location of the Lost Ten Tribes gave me a better explanation of the term.

The first one to be called a Hebrew is Abraham, while he is still known as Abram. We see this reference in Genesis 14. Prior to this Abraham is just Abram, the man God called to leave the home he knew, taking his family and way of life to the mysterious land God promised him. So what happened to change how Abram was known?

Well, during that time there were a group of wanderers that were called Habiru, also known as Hapiru and Apiru. (Just a side note: the root word here comes from a word meaning to cross over.) These people left their homelands, for whatever reason, and wandered about other lands, finding no place to rest and settle. Some of these groups were large and fought as an army. And, as is with all groups, some of these people caused trouble wherever they went.

Let's do a quick review of Abraham's story and see if he falls under the definition of Habiru.

Abram and Lot left their homeland to travel to this promised location. They never settled anywhere because they went where the grass was green and their flocks could feed. But after leaving Egypt Abram decides they need to part company in order to keep the peace between their workers. So Lot chooses the land where the grass is green enough that it resembles the Garden of Eden and Egypt, and Abram goes into Canaan. So now there's two related groups with very large flocks roaming the countryside in two directions.

And when Lot is captured, an escapee goes to the other wandering relative, Abram, to bring his army of 318 men to rescue the captives. And he does. Unfortunately for Lot, he is returned home to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.

I don't know about you, but the definition of Habiru sure seems to fit Abraham. I can see where people would have looked at him as being a Habiru. And it's so similar in spelling to Hebrew, they look like they might have been pronounced similarly. Although, the article linked above states the words are pronounced differently. In spite of this, it totally makes sense to me.

Of course, the reference stuck. Descendants of Abraham still call themselves Hebrews. And, Israel calls their language Hebrew.

But I have one more tidbit of information. Hebrew isn't the only descriptive word given to the Israelites. According to the referenced site mentioned above, many Hebrews, or Israelites, migrated to the north into Europe. The Romans saw these people as uncivilized and called them Barbari or Iberi. From those names came the term barbarian. Who knew? All this time I thought barbarians were a rough, unkempt, murderous people. Actually, the definitions found in dictionary.com include uncivilized and savage. But it also includes philistine, and someone living outside the Roman Empire or a Christian country.

Isn't word history interesting? This has given me a greater understanding of how others viewed the father of many nations when he first came on the scene. And, it fills in the gaps, so to speak.