Hebrew in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is a Hebrew?
A HE'BREW
The term is probably derived from the Hebrew verb eber, which means "to pass over," to cross a stream, or from the proper noun Eber, one of the ancestors of Abraham (otherwise unknown). Gen 10:24; Gen 11:13. (Compare our words transalpine, cisalpine, ultramontane, transjordanic.) It was first applied by the Canaanites to Abraham, Gen 14:13, who had immigrated from the east side of the Euphrates (and hence might be called a trans-Euphratian, a stranger come from the other side of the Euphrates), and then to all the descendants of Abraham. The Egyptians, Gen 39:14; Gen 41:12, and the Philistines, 1 Sam 4:6, knew the people by this title, and, as we may infer, all foreigners. But they sometimes use it of themselves, but only when foreigners are thought of. Gen 40:15; Ex 2:7. The favorite name was "Israelites," and after the Captivity the title "Jews" came into vogue, but the title "Hebrews" was still used for the more strict Jews, who preferred the Hebrew language, in distinction from the Hellenists or Greekish Jews. 1. Their Origin. -- Abram was chosen by God in Ur of the Chaldees to be the father of this people, and made recipient of the promise to be the founder of a great nation. Gen 12:1. The Hebrew people were descended directly from him through Isaac and Jacob, and are frequently called the "seed of Abraham," Ps 105:6; John 8:37, or "children of Abraham," Gal 3:7, or "children of Israel," Ex 1:13. 2. Their Government. -- (1.) For the first three generations it was a patriarchal form. Jacob and his sons then followed Joseph into Egypt, where for 400 years the Hebrews were subject to the Pharaohs, and, after the first generation, in a state of bondage, which became excessively oppressive, Ex 1:11-14. God finally raised up a deliverer to them in the person of Moses, in whose lifetime the (2) theocracy, or theocratic form of government, was established. Israel was compacted into a nation in the wilderness. Here it first learned its strength; here it received the two tables of the Law and the moral, political, social, and religious institutions peculiar to it: and here it was reassured of the familiar relation of God to it: "I will . . be your God, and ye shall be my people." Lev 26:12; Ex 6:7. The characteristic feature of this form of government is found in God's intimate relation with the affairs of the nation and his special superintendence of them. And although the nation subsequently had its judges and kings, yet God in a peculiar sense presided over its destinies. He guided the nation by the pillar of cloud and fire; he gave them the manna, and the victory over Amalek, Ex 17:14; he gave the Law, Ex 20:1; he led them across the Jordan and into Canaan, Josh 3:7. and appointed Joshua successor of Moses, Josh 1:3; he instructed them how to fight against Jericho and Ai, Josh 8:1; he gave victory to Deborah, Jud 4:14; he called Saul, 1 Sam 10:1, and deposed him, 1 Sam 16:1, etc. God thus presided in a very personal manner over the national affairs of the Hebrews. 3. Their Religion. -- God was the immediate author, by special revelation, of the Hebrew religion. Revealing himself particularly to Abraham and Jacob, he deferred the full revelation of it for the period of Moses. This religion consisted in the worship of God, Deut 6:4, as one and as holy. Ex 15:11; Ps 89:35. The Israelitish nation was thus made the receptacle for two distinct conceptions which were not shared in by any of the surrounding nations, who broke the deity up into fragments and attributed the most flagrant vices as well as human passions to their gods (as the Greeks and Romans). Their religion also taught them that God is the Creator of all things, Gen 1:1; all-wise, Prov 15:3; everywhere present, Ps 139:7; almighty, Ps 115:3; eternal. Ps 90:2. He is also represented as love, Ex 34:6; Isa 63:16, etc., though not as fully as afterward by Christ and his apostles. Their religion taught the spiritual worship of God, without the aid of images of metal, wood, and stone, Ex 20:4. Idolatry was condemned and the practice of it punished, as in the case of the golden calf, Ex 32:35. It further included in its code the moral law and the duty of man to his fellow, Ex 20:12-17. It was, however, not the final or perfect religion, but provisional and temporary. Heb 8:7; Dan 10:1; 1 Pet 1:11-12. it commanded a vast number of merely external and ceremonial rites which were at once typical and symbolical. The religion of Christ did away with the temple, the sacrifices, etc., and established spiritual ordinances. Thus looking at the Hebrew religion, we find it, in contrast with the heathen religions, free from falsehood and conserving great eternal truths, which have become the heritage of all modern civilized nations, but, in contrast with the religion of Christ, temporary, imperfect, a typical and prophetical preparation for Christianity. 1. Their political history may be divided into seven periods: (1) From Abraham to Moses. This embraces the patriarchal period and the sojourn in Egypt. Abraham's descendants increase in numbers in the land of Canaan till Jacob in his old age goes with his sons to Egypt. Here they spend 400 years, first under the favor, and then under the oppressive tyranny, of the Pharaohs. (2) From Moses to Saul. The marvellous deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, the founding of the theocracy at Mount Sinai, and the life in the wilderness. After wandering 40 years in the wilderness, the people cross over the Jordan into the land of their fathers. Moses dies after seeing it from Mount Pisgah, but without having trodden it. Joshua is appointed the successor of Moses, and becomes their military captain. The most of the land is taken after hard fighting, and apportioned between the twelve tribes. Fourteen judges follow Joshua, among them a woman -- Deborah. Lawlessness reigned to a greater or less extent, and might was right, Jud 17:6. The last and the greatest of the judges was Samuel, whose life marks the transition to the third period. See Judges. (3) From Saul to the Division of the Kingdom (about 120 years). -- This period includes the greatest prosperity Israel ever attained, under the reigns of David and Solomon. Her territory was extended, foreign nations acknowledged her glory, 1 Kgs 5:1; 1 Kgs 10:1, and literature and the sciences were cultivated, 1 Kgs 4:33. The reign of Solomon (40 years) marks the highest prosperity, but also the beginning of the decline. See Saul, David, Solomon, the Temple. (4) From the Division of the Kingdom (975) to the Close of the Canon (about 500 years). -- This period is marked by the decline of the nation, and embraces the Exile and the Return. At Solomon's death the kingdom was divided between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and the history of each would be a monotonous account of falling away and recovery from idolatry if it were not for the periodical appearance of great prophets. The two kingdoms come into conflict with the surrounding nations and grow weaker and weaker, till the upper kingdom is destroyed and the people led away captive in b.c. 721; the lower kingdom, b.c. 588. Subsequently, a part of the nation returns under Zerubbabel and other leaders, Ezr 2:2. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah give an account of the Return and of the subsequent restoration of the temple. (5) From the Return to the Advent of Christ. -- Although many Jews were carried captive into Babylon, many, of their own accord and contrary to the counsel and warning of Jeremiah, went down into Egypt. There they built in Leontopolis a temple, in which the ritual of the Law was observed, and which would act as a damper upon the enthusiasm after the services in Jerusalem. In Alexandria the Jews "were in such numbers as to be known as 'The Tribe.' They were a separate community under their own chief, entitled ethnarch or alabarch, and represented more than a third of Alexandria, with a council corresponding to that which ultimately ruled at Jerusalem." -- Stanley. By their scholars the translation of the O.T. into Greek called the Septuagint Avas made, being begun under the patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus, b.c. 285. The school of philosophers of which Philo is the chief exercised a great influence on Gentile as well as Jewish thought. It answered the useful purpose of mediating between Platonism and Christianity, and thus was a bridge from one to the other. After the Return, b.c. 538, the Jews remained under the yoke of Persia; but when Alexander the Great subverted that monarchy, he granted them many favors. Their prosperity was of short duration. The death of the world-conqueror, b.c. 323, led to the disruption of his empire into four kingdoms, but led likewise to a wrangle which involved all lands. "In this world's debate," says Stanley, "Palestine was the principal stage across which 'the kings of the south' -- the Alexandrian Ptolemies -- and 'the kings of the north' -- the Seleucidte from Antioch -- passed to and fro, with their court-intrigues and incessant armies, their Indian elephants, their Grecian cavalry, their Oriental pomp. It was for the larger part of the century and half that succeeded Alexander's death a province of the Graeco-Egyptian kingdom." In the early part of the third century b.c. the Jews threw off the Egyptian allegiance and put themselves under Antiochus the Great, king of Syria; but Antiochus Epiphanes, his youngest son, persecuted them, proscribing their religion and profaning their temple, erecting an altar in the temple to the Olympian Jupiter, and ordering divine honors to be paid to the idol. But the Jews were monotheists of a positive type. The outrage was not to be silently borne, nor were they to be forced to do what their conscience forbade. War broke out. The romantic period of Jewish history begins. The Jews ranged themselves for the inevitable conflict. On the one side were the infamous priests Jason and Menelaus, their followers the Hellenists, who were renegade Jews backed by Antiochus. On the other side were the great mass of the people, stung into madness by the cruelties of their king, but most of all settled in their determination not to submit to pagan rites. They were led by the Maccabsean family, who were high priests as well as princes, and after a thirty years' struggle they gained their independence. Under John Hyrcanus, of this family, peace was made with Syria, b.c. 133. In b.c. 107, Aristobulus, his son, assumed the royal title. See Maccabees. But the Jews at last fell, like the rest of the civilized world, under the Roman power. Pompey took Jerusalem in b.c. 63; Antipater, the father of Herod, was made procurator of Judaea in b.c. 47. He was murdered shortly after, and Herod at length became king of Judaea, b.c. 37. For the history of the Jews from this date to the destruction of Jerusalem see the biographies of the successive monarchs. (6) From the Advent of Christ to the Destruction of Jerusalem. -- The Gospels inform us as to the Jews' hatred and rejection of the Messiah. And so they prepared their downfall. Matt 23:37. The long-suffering of God was abused; his offers of mercy were often rejected, and at last the time for their final overthrow came. Josephus tells the story. The city of Jerusalem, whither they had gathered, was besieged by Titus, and after much suffering, borne with fanatical courage, taken. The temple was burnt, the whole city demolished. The prophecy of Christ was literally fulfilled. Matt 23:34-39; Luke 21:20-24. See Jerusalem. (7) From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time. -- The Jews were no longer a nation, but their religion remained unchanged, and retained a hostile attitude to Christianity. The people that prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah crucified the true Messiah, and wait in vain for a new Messiah. After the capture of Jerusalem the Jews were sold in large numbers into slavery, and scattered all over the Roman world. Many returned to the ruins of the Holy City. The emperor Claudius admitted them to citizenship, but they were very differently treated by successive emperors. In a.d. 135, under the emperor Hadrian, a fanatical impostor, Bar-cochba, announced himself in Palestine as the Messiah. An immense multitude hastened to his standard of revolt. The Romans, however, completely vanquished them. Jerusalem was again completely destroyed, and became a Roman colony under the name of AElia Capitolina. The Jews were forbidden to enter it. The emperor Julian (a.d. 331-363), from hostility to Christianity, endeavored to rebuild the temple, but in vain. Since the downfall of the Western Roman Empire (a.d. 476) the Jews have had very varying fortunes under different masters, and much cruel persecution. They have spread themselves over all the earth, but have always remained separate and distinct. This remarkable fact is a plain indication of the hand of God. who will yet do great things for and with them. They are a standing proof of divine prophecy and a living argument for the truth of Christianity. For an account of their literary activity, see Talmud. The Jews by their talents and industry exert great influence among Christian nations. They have long been the great bankers of the world. The Rothschild family with its immense wealth has controlled the money-market. The Jews have furnished great scholars and statesmen. Neander, the Church historian, and Stahl, the jurist, were converted Jews: the great musician, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Lord Beaconsfield, Gambetta, Castelar, are of Jewish extraction. They have distinguished themselves in all the occupations except agriculture and manufactures. They are divided into orthodox, and liberal or reform Jews, who differ from each other as the Pharisees and Sadducees of old. The former prevail in Russia, Poland, and the East; the latter in Germany and America. Many of the Jews to-day are deists, or even atheists. The modern epoch is marked by the name of Moses Mendelssohn (died 1786), whose German translation of the Pentateuch was the groundwork of reform. The infidel Jews exert a pernicious influence on the German political press. The poet Heine was a Jew. In America they enjoy full liberty, which until recently had been denied them in Europe. They are also increasing of late in Jerusalem, where they are strictly orthodox, issue newspapers in the Hebrew language, and bewail every Friday at the foundation of the temple-wall the sins of their forefathers. The number of Jews in the world is estimated at 9,000,000, of whom 50,000 live in New York city, where they accumulate great wealth. The last word of Christ and the apostle concerning this wonderful people -- which, like the burning bush, are never consumed -- is a word of promise and hope that their blindness will be removed, and that after the fulness of the Gentiles has come in "all Israel will be saved." Rom 11:26. Hebrew of the Hebrews, Phil 3:6, denotes that the individual so called had both a Hebrew father and mother -- was one whose Hebrew extraction was perfect.

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Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'hebrew' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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