Those who reject the derivation of Hebrew from 'Eber, prefer tracing 41Z.1) to the verb 1;l1, to pass over, or the noun 113), the region or counhy be rand. By those who favour the former etymology, Hebrew' is regarded as equivalent to the man who passed over ;' by those who favour the latter, it is taken to mcan the man from the region be yond ;' and under both suppositions it is held to be applied by the Canaanites to Abraham as having crossed the Euphrates or come from the region beyond the Euphrates to Canaan. Of these ety mologies the former is now generally abandoned ; it is felt that the supposition that the crossing of the Euphmtes was such an mmaralleled achievement as to fix on him who accomplished it a name that should descend to his posterity, and become a na tional appellation, is somewhat too violent to be maintained ; and besides, as the verb nay signifies, to pass from this side to that, not from that side to this, it would not be the term applied by the people of Canaan to designate the act of one who had come from the other side of the Euphrates to them. The other etymology has more in its favour. It is that sanctioned by the Greek trans lators (LXX. 6 impdrris, A q. irepaisns); it is in accordance with the usage of the phrase which was employed to designate the region beyond the Euphrates (Josh. xxiv. 2, 3 ; 2 Sam. x. ; Chron. xix. 16) ; and it is not improbable that Abraham, coming among the Canaanites from beyond the Euphrates, might be designated by them the man from the region beyond,' just as we might call an American a tmnsatlantic.' But though Bleek very confidently pronounces this view ohne zweifel das richtige' (Einleit. ins A. T., p. 72), it is open to some serious, we think fatal objections.
1. There is no instance of MP by itself denoting the region beyond the Euphrates, or any other river ; the phrase invariably used is "IrCil MY.* 2. If 41Zr was the proper designation of those who lived on the other side of the Euphrates, we should find that name applied to such as continued I to dwell there, not to a race descended from one who had left that region never to return. 3. Though Abraham, as having been originally a transfluvian, might be so called by the Canaanites, it is improbable that they should have extended this name to his posterity, to whom it in no sense ap plied. No one would think of continuing the term transatlantic ' to persons born in Britain, on the ground that a remote ancestor had come from across the Atlantic to settle in this country ? As to the sanction which this etymology derives from the LXX., no great weight can be attached to that when we remember how often these translators have erred in this way ; and also that they have given ippatous as the rendering of 123., 'Q in Num.
xxiv. 24 ; Plus vice simplici hallucinati sunt in terpretes Grwci eorum ut nobis stand= caden dumve non sit autoritate' (Carpzov, Crit. Sac. V. 7:, p. 171). We may add that the authority of the LXX. and Aquila on such a point is urged with a bad grace by those who treat with contempt the etymologies of the Hebrew text as resting on mere Jewish tmdition ; if a Jewish tradition of the time of Moses is subject to suspicion, a fortiori is one of the age of Ptolemy Lagi and of Alexandrian origin. Ewald pronounces this derivation ' quite uncertain' (ganz unsicher).
Parkhurst, whose works present occasionally suggestions worth consideration, has advanced the opinion that 4-11,17 is a derivation from the verb 111/ in the sense of passing through, or from Face to filmy (comp. Gen. xviii. 5 ; Exod. xxxii. 27 ; Ezek. xxxv. 7 • 2 Chron. xxx. 10, etc.) ; so that its meaning would be a sojourner, or passerthiough, as distinct from a settler in the land. This un doubtedly exactly describes the condition of Abra ham and his immediate descendants, and might very natumlly be assumed by them as a designa tion ; for, as the apostle says, they confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth ' (Iieb. xi 13). In this case the statement in Gen. x. 21, Num. xxiv. 24, must be understood as referring to the posterity of 'Eber generally, and not to the Hebrews specially or exclusively. The most serious objection to Parkhurst's suggestion arises from the form of the word 4-123.). A word from -12V, to convey the meaning of transitor, or one passing through, we should expect to find in the form nnir, or On the whole the derivation of 'Bri (Hebrew*om 'Eber seems to have most in its favour and least against it. (See on this side Augustin, de Civit. Dei, vi. ; Buxtorf, Diss.
p. 27 ; Bochart, Phaleg. 24; Hottinger, Thes.
P. 4; Leusden, Phil. Heb. Diss. xxi.; Morinus, de Ling. Primav. p. 64 ; Pfeiffer, Din: Scrifit. Loa., OPY. p. 49; Carpzov, Crit. Sac. p. 165; Bezel, Gesch. der Nebr. SySr., sec. 4; Ewald, Ansffihr Lehrbuch, d. Heb. Gram., p. x9, 5th echt.; Gexhichte des V. Israel, p. 334; Havernick, Introd. to the O. T., p. 225 ; Baumgartem, Theo,. COM =ext. SUM Pent. in loc. On the other side see Theodoret, Quasi. in Gen. 26; Chrysost. Hom. 35 in Gen.; Seklen, de Diir Syris, p. t3 ; Walton, Prolegg., p. 15, ff., in Dathe's edit p. 68 ; Gussetius, Comment. Ling. Hob. Diss. Promm. p. 7; Michaelis, Syicileg. Geogr. Heb. Ext., P. ii. p. 66; Gesenius, Gesell. der Neb. p. xi, Grammar, sec. 2 ; Winer, Reallex. s.v. Hebrder; Smith's Dia, of the Bible, s. v.)—W. L. A.