Hebrews
As Hebrews (Heb. עִבְרִי ʿ ivri ) are in the Hebrew Bible, early members of the Israelites, and later their descendants, the Jews called, .
Occurrences of the word
The term is used in the Bible 33 times. In Gen 14:13 Abraham EU is so named. Otherwise almost always use the word stranger against Israelites or those of strangers. With the foreign label is always a disdain or contempt, expressed with the proper name of humility.
2,6.7.11.13 Commonly the term appears in the Joseph story (Gen 39,14.17 EU; 40.15 EU; 41.12 EU; 43.32 EU), the tradition of the exodus from Egypt (Ex 1,15.16.19 EU EU; 3.18 EU; 5.3 EU; 7.16 EU; 9,1.13 EU; 21.2 EU; Deut 15,12 EU) and the battles with the Philistines on (1 Sam 4,6.9 EU; 13, 3.7 * .19 EU; 14,11.21 EU; 29.3 EU).
In Jer 34,9.14 EU similar to Ex 21.2 EU and Deut 15.12 EU is " Hebrew " is an attribute of עֶבֶד "workers, slaves." Not secured the occurrence of the word in Jonah 1.9 EU, whose Greek version of the Septuagint " servant of Yahweh " ( עֶבֶד יהוה ) is read.
Origin and Meaning
Neither the etymology nor the precise meaning of the phrase in the Bible are secured. Some dictionaries give the word with the name of the patriarch Eber ( עֵבֶר, Gen 10:24-25 EU; 11.14 to 17 EU), in the phrase " the sons of Eber " ( בְּנֵי - עֵבֶר, Gen 10, 21 EU) suggests an ethnicity, in conjunction.
For some probably postexilic citations (Gen 14:13 EU; Jona 1.9 EU and perhaps Deut 15,12 EU) use of " Hebrews " as a synonym for " Israelite " was adopted. Some commentators refer For Ex 21.2 EU 21.2 EU Jer and perhaps Deut 15,12 EU the word to slaves on time or debt slaves, expressing their legal status.
Many exegetes and orientalists assume a connection between the biblical sequence of consonants HBR and the word ʿ Apiru / Habiru, even if they hold a direct derivation unlikely. As ʿ Apiru ( Akkadian ) or ʿ pr ( w ) ( Egyptian) referred to some texts of the Late Bronze Age, from Amarna, Ugarit, Canaan and Egypt various groups of people who were standing outside the social order and go out of necessity in relationships of dependency as a mercenary or a worker or a life as a bandits led. Primarily, the term is considered derogatory term of social status.
Many Bible historians assume that ʿ Apiru elements have been merged in the course of archaeological unverifiable conquest of Canaan in the later Israel. Some consider it possible that a gradual shift to ethnic significance took place: How can the use of the word " Hebrew " in the Book of Exodus ( eg Ex 2,11.13 EU) keep a reminder that the ancestors of Israel as ʿ Apiru were. Ronald De Vaux interpreted both prints ʿ Apiru and " Hebrews " as an ethnic term for groups that had penetrated into the cultural landscape of the desert.
In the Hellenistic period, " Hebrews ", from the Palestinian Aramaic ( עבראיא, ʿ ebrāyā ) was translated into Greek as Ἑβραῖοι, sometimes used as an ethnic designation for Israelites or Jews. Naturalized in the later tradition is derived from the rabbinical Judaism designation " Hebrew language " ( לשׁון עברית ) for the language of the Bible and much of the rabbinic literature.