Who are the Hebrews?
The word "Hebrew" first appears in Scripture attached to one man, Abraham, and it travels from him to a whole nation, to an apostle who called himself "a Hebrew of Hebrews," and finally to a letter in the New Testament. So the answer runs on two tracks: who these people are by descent, and what the name itself was meant to say about them.
The Name and Its Meaning
Commentators trace the word back to a root that means crossing over — and they notice exactly when Scripture starts using it.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe root of the word is "to pass over," as when one passes over a river, or from one region to another. Abraham was told to leave his country and his relatives and to go into the land of Canaan, and the word Hebrew is not used until Abraham had left his country and was in the land of Canaan. Genesis 14:13. When he was there he was a "sojourner," in a strange country, living in tents. Hebrews 11:9. The name was therefore characteristic, and the people of the land could go to Abraham the "sojourner" and tell him that Lot had been taken prisoner.
Who Carries the Name
Many people descended from Shem, and many from Eber, yet Scripture keeps the title inside a narrow line. Commentators differ on where the word came from — some connect it directly to the ancestor Eber, while this writer finds that explanation too wide:
Morrish Bible DictionaryIt is generally supposed to be derived from his ancestor Eber or Heber; but it will be seen from Genesis 11:17-26 that there were five generations between Eber and Abraham, so by this derivation many others might have been called Hebrews… In Scripture the name is not applied to any except Abraham and his descendants, and only to those who descended through Isaac and Jacob, leaving out the children of Ishmael and Esau. So there must be some other reason for the name and for it being restricted in this way.
The God of the Hebrews
In Egypt the name belongs to a nation of slaves, and God attaches His own name to theirs when He confronts Pharaoh.
C E StuartMoses, commissioned again, presented himself before Pharaoh. "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, 'Let my people go, that they may serve me'" (9:1). The God of the Hebrews was persistent. He would take no denial. The slaves of Pharaoh, of Israel's race, had One who took up their cause.
Hebrews and Greek-Speaking Jews
By the time of the New Testament the word marks a division inside the Jewish people themselves. In Acts 6 the complaint is not Jew against Gentile but Jew against Jew. (Older translations print "Grecians"; the ESV has "Hellenists.")
The Christian's FriendBy "Grecians" are meant Greek-speaking Jews, or, to use the technical term, Hellenists, in contrast to the Jews who spoke Hebrew. So in Acts 6:1, the Hellenists (those whose ordinary language was Greek) complained against their brothers who used Hebrew, because they thought there was favouritism in "the daily distribution." There was always a tendency among the Hebrew-speaking Jews to look down on their brothers who did not know, or did not use, the sacred tongue.
A Hebrew of Hebrews
Paul lists the title among his credentials in Philippians 3, and one writer reads it as more than pedigree:
Leslie M. GrantFourth, "a Hebrew of Hebrews." This name marks the pilgrim character of the Jews, and in practical reality Paul was of the most separated Hebrew character, glorying in his separation from Gentiles.
The Letter Called "Hebrews"
The New Testament letter takes its name from the people it was written to, and the contents show both who they were and why they needed it.
Hamilton SmithThe Epistle to the Hebrews is addressed to believers in the Lord Jesus from among the Jews. The contents of the Epistle clearly show that it was written to establish these believers in the truth of Christianity with all its privileges and blessings, and so to deliver them from the Jewish system they had been connected with by natural birth.
Their situation was concrete. They had believed, and their own countrymen turned on them:
Arend RemmersThe Hebrews were Jews in Palestine who had been converted through the preaching of the apostles. The first chapters of Acts describe how thousands of Jews came to believe. But soon afterwards persecutions started through their unbelieving, hardened countrymen (Acts 8:1-3; 11:19; 12:1-3; compare 1 Thessalonians 2:14).
Why It Still Reaches Us
If the letter was written to a first-century group, does it belong to anyone else? One writer answers by asking who received it:
J. N. DarbyI have learned who it did apply to — to Christians, and though specially addressed to Jewish Christians (for such there were, Christians zealous for the law and going to the temple, and offering sacrifices) and suited to their case; yet it is available for all Christians, in the doctrines by which it works on these Jewish Christians, though not in the circumstances they were found in, for we are not in them; though we may be in very similar ones, when the professing church has turned Jewish in its ways.
Summary
- Crossing. The root of "Hebrew" means to pass over, and the name is first used of Abraham only after he had crossed out of his own country into Canaan.
- Sojourning. Once in the land he was still a sojourner living in tents — so the name described a character, not just an address.
- Narrowing. Scripture keeps the title to Abraham's line through Isaac and Jacob, leaving out Ishmael and Esau; commentators differ over whether it comes from the ancestor Eber.
- Claiming. In Egypt the crossers are slaves, and God ties His own name to theirs — "the LORD, the God of the Hebrews" — and will take no refusal from Pharaoh.
- Continuing. The letter to the Hebrews is written to Jews who had believed in Jesus and were being persecuted, to free them from the system they were born into — and its doctrine still holds for every Christian.