HEBREWS (he'bruz), (Heb.7;2",ib-ree' ; plural 1V-1;V, ib-reent' ; Gr. 'El3pctios, heb-rah'yes), a desig nation of the people of Israel.
(1) Its Derivation. (1) Some ascribe the origin of the word to Ay-ber' (Hcb. 1;1''); Eher, the ancestor (Gen. x :21) ; see also the use of Eber as a national name (Num. xxiv :24). (2) Others trace the name to the Hebrew otv-bar' , to ',ass over), so that a Hebrew would niean the "man from the region beyond," and supposed to have been applied to Abraham, as having crossed the Euphrates to the westward. This last derivation is generally admitted. It seems to imply nothing more than that Abraham was an immigrant into Canaan—not a native.
(2) Scripture Application. This name is never applied in Scripture to the Israelites except when the speaker is a foreigner (Gen. xxxix:14, t7; xli:i2; Exod. i:16; ii :6; I Sam. iv:6, 9, cte.), or when the Israelites speak of themselves to 01le of another nation (Gen. x1:15; Exod. i:19; Jonah i :9, etc.), or when they are contrasted with other peoples (Gen. xliii :32; Exod. i:3, 7, 15; Dent. XV:12; I Sam. xiii:3, 7).
(3) Tribes Embraced. The appellation He brews may, indeed. originally have embraced more tribes than the Israelites, as it appears from Genesis (x :2I, 25) that the descendants of Jok tan had some claim to it. Nevertheless. it was soon. appropriated to the Israelites as their dis tinctive name as a nalion in the earlier periods taincd some hints as to the condition of mind or other occasion in the readers which called it forth. It would not be impossible, perhaps, to
account for the lack of one or t wo of these essen tial features of a letter, but the absence of ail of them is not easily conceivable, in case it was meant to be addressed to a single congregation or even a circle of congregations.
As a homily, its structure and content are easily explained. It characterizes itself as "a word of exhortation" (xiii :22). It begins with a clearly drawn contrast of the old revelation of God to the fathers through the prophets, with the new revelation of God to the times of the writer through his Son (i:1). This immediately lead, to the pointing out of the highly exalted character and office of the Son. He existed in eternity and took part in the creation of the universe (i: 2), and was the very image and effulgence of God. but (appearing as man) made purifi.ation for sin, and was once more exalted (i:3). He of their history, and (after giving place, in the intervening centuries. to that of Israel, and. sub sequently to the deportation of the ten tribes. to that of Jews) was at length revived not long be fore the Christian era—when, however. it also served to distinguish the Jews of Palestine from the Hellenist jeWS—and passed over, together with that of Icws, to the classical writers.