The Hebrews have a thousand-year and very detailed history, which began in Palestine in the second millennium BC. After the Roman domination, they dispersed throughout the world (1st century AD), only to rejoin part of the current state of Israel.
“Hebrews” is another term for the biblical people of Israel. In the books of Samuel, this probably refers to a specific part of the population who had little power and few rights and lived outside the Canaanite cities, in the hill country, and on the fringes of the cultivated land. Early Israel belonged to those Hebrews, but not all Hebrews belonged to Israel.
After the Babylonian captivity, the word “Hebrew” became a name of honor and a Jewish self-designation. Specifically and in contrast to Israelites, Hebrews refer to Jewish people who lived in the Diaspora and strictly preserved the traditions of their ancestors.
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History of the Hebrews People
The Hebrews people, who have called themselves the “People of Israel and the nation of God” since the exodus from Egypt, are much older than the modern definition of people. After conquering Canaan in the 13th century BC, the Hebrews established their kingdom. Archaeologists and historians now assume that the people of Israel developed in Canaan from many tiny nationalities.
With the fall of the Egyptian Empire, there was no longer a central power. Only the kings, characterized by their belief in a single god, gained greater control and expanded their sphere of influence.
Representation of Hebrews in the Bible
Similarities between the Hebrew and Muslim Religion
Both religions see themselves as God-chosen faith communities and must follow detailed rules to please their God. In the beginning, Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was a Hebrewres trader. However, Hebrewrews tribes around Medina did not want to join the new religion – which Mohammed expected of them.
In the so-called trench warfare before Medina (0627 AD), the tribes under the leadership of Mohammed were victorious. The Hebrews who did not convert to Islam were slaughtered. The Muslims conquered the Arabian Peninsula and migrated further to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Judah and the kings
The Bible tells how the southern kingdom called Judah survived in Babylonian exile. The returnees founded the empire again. They preserved their culture in captivity by studying their scriptures. They also retained their language, Hebrew, alongside the respective official languages, Persian and Aramaic.
The line of David, the dynasty of the south around the capital Jerusalem, now became the sole ruler over the Hebrew people. Since then, every king has had to prove to the people that he (or she) came from the line of David to legitimize himself.
Hebrews and Christians
The relationship between Judaism and Christianity became highly fateful to both religions. The beginning was promising: people lived together peacefully until the Middle Ages. But then, more and more Hebrews became victims of Christian attacks. In the beginning, the Jew Yeshua, better known in Europe as Jesus of Nazareth, desired a reform of Judaism. His charisma, human nature, and the comprehensibility of his messages quickly attracted many followers.
His success was a thorn in the side of Judah’s religious elite at the time, the Sadducees and Pharisees. As the number of His followers, called the Nazarenes, grew, rumors spread that He was the desired Savior, and the Romans had Him crucified.
Even after the death of Jesus, the Nazarenes were just one religious group among many. They were part of the Jewish people. However, they soon threw the two iron rules of Judaism – no conversion and no proselytizing – overboard.
In the new Christian Roman Empire of the 4th century, people had a divided relationship with the Hebrews. St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, basically despised the Jews. Nevertheless, one of his principles saved the lives of many Jews in the centuries that followed.
Luther’s Statements and the Consequences
Between 1536 and 1546, the reformer Martin Luther agitated against the Hebrews. His sermons and writings were unprecedented, and he called for the destruction of everything Jewish. At first, he was a friend of the Jews, and he thought that his new Reformation doctrine would persuade the Hebrews to join his church. He published “Of the Jews and their lies” and recommended not having pity on them but destroying them.
Nevertheless, Protestant Christianity was not universally anti-Hebrew. Although the French reformer Calvin and others shared Luther’s views, they had no intention of putting them into practice.
With the Enlightenment in Europe and the Haskalah movement among the Hebrews, many relationships between essential thinkers of both religions developed. The rigid borders became more flexible.
Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans
The returnees to the now-Persian province of Yehud were the first to be called Jews. The following 400 years passed alternately with wars of conquest and periods of calm, with the foreign rule of the Persians and the Greeks under Alexander the Great. After that, the Egyptian heirs of Alexander and the Syrian-Greek Seleucids shaped the country and people. In 141 BC, after a successful rebellion against the Seleucids, the Jews established an independent state under the Hasmonean dynasty.
The following foreign rulers were the Romans, who came around 63 BC. They granted the Hebrews relative independence but intervened when necessary. The Romans reacted drastically when the Jews repeatedly called for uprisings and rebellions throughout the Mediterranean.
The State of Israel becomes a reality.
In the 19th century, an old idea flared up under a new name. Many now believed that the Jews were one nation. This concept was new and exciting, as it was associated with the hope of a country of their own. It quickly became apparent that “nation” was just a new term for an old hope.
For 1800 years, the Jews have desired the land that was once the land of the people of Israel. So-called Zionism emerged as a movement that divided the Hebrew world. Should Zion be more than a dream? Now that things were going relatively well for the scattered Jews?
But the interim phase of peace was quickly over. Around six million Hebrews died in just a few years due to the mass murders of the National Socialists. Finally, in May 1948, Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel.
Hebrews lived and still live in all countries of the world. They have different traditions, rules, and ways of life. But they have shared memories, shared stories, and a common language. They form their special people: the “People of Israel” (“Am Israel”).
Why was Abraham called a Hebrew?
It needs to be clarified why Abraham was called a Hebrew and is commonly believed to mean descended from his Eber or Heber ancestors. But we do know from Genesis 11:17-26 that there were five generations between Heber and Abraham. So many others before Abraham could have been called Hebrews. Genesis 10:21 says that Shem was the Heber children’s father.
The word is “from beyond,” “to pass over” – as if a person is crossing a river or going from one region to another. Abraham was asked to leave his country and his relatives and go to the land of Canaan ( Gen. 14:13 ). This made him a stranger in a foreign land, living in tents ( Hebrews 11:9 ). This became a characteristic term for Abraham, which is why the inhabitants of the land also came to him, the stranger, and told him about the capture of Lot.
Joseph says of himself in Egypt that he was stolen from the land of the Hebrews ( Genesis 40:15 ). The descendants of Ishmael and Esau were not strangers in the promised land but dwelt wherever they wished.
The term “Hebrews” does not appear in the Old Testament after 1 Samuel, except in Jeremiah 34:9,14 and Jonah 1:9.
The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English. I’d like you to see it on Amazon.
Conclusion
Hebrews call us into outer space of God’s guarantee to Abraham — a promise to win all humanity into the sacred room of the welcome world. It declares the delight of God’s will to mix all outer space into the circle of our welcome heavenliness.
