In Genesis 14:13 [RSV], Moses writes, “Then one who had escaped came, and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram.”
What is so significant about this verse? It is significant for the following reason: This is the first time the word “Hebrew” is used in Scripture, and it is specifically applied to Abram, the recipient of the covenant of God that through him would come the Promised Seed Who would bless the entire world.
The word “Hebrew” (“Ivri” in the Hebrew language) comes from the word “Eber” (sometimes written as “Ever” and in some versions of the Gospel of Luke is called “Heber”), and it means “the other side.” I believe there are at least three reasons why Abram became the first man called “the Hebrew,” and in the case of Abram, I believe there are literal as well as spiritual reasons he is referred to as “the Hebrew” coming from “the other side.”
The first of these is that Abram was a stranger “from the other side.” Born east of the land of Canaan in Ur of the Chaldees of Mesopotamia, a city and country devoted fully to idolatry, Abram had come “from the other side” of the Jordan River before settling in Canaan.
Secondly, and more importantly, Abraham stood “on the other side” in his opposition to the entire pagan world. His recognition of the One True God, Yahweh, and his adamant refusal to comply with the “modern” ideology of his counterparts of his day, including his own family (Joshua 24:2), set Abram, the great man of faith and man of God, at odds with practically all the rest of humanity and their false worship of idols created by such evil men as Nimrod.
Finally, Abraham was a descendent of Eber. Eber was the great-grandson of Noah's son, Shem, and Eber is given special recognition as a man of worth and honor by Moses, who states in Genesis 10:21 [RSV], “To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.” Shem, as you may recall, had been the recipient of the blessing of the prophecy of Noah following the sin against Noah committed by Ham. Noah, waking up from his drunken stupor, realized that Shem had not dishonored him as did Ham, and Noah said, “Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave” (Genesis 9:26 [RSV]). Just as Abraham and the Messiah were to come through the line of Shem, so, too, was the world to be blessed through "the children of Eber.”
There was obviously something special about this man, Eber, otherwise Moses would not have added the extra commentary he does regarding this man. And how Moses words his commentary shows us that he fully expected his original audience to know what was so special about this man, Eber, and why he and his offspring were specifically mentioned as they were. According to Jewish tradition handed down since before the time of Moses, Eber refused to help in the building of the Tower of Babel as ordered by Nimrod. Consequently, his and his family’s language was not confused when the building of the tower was abandoned through the intervention of Yahweh, and Eber and “the children of Eber” were given the blessing of retaining the original language given to Adam by God in the beginning of time. Therefore, God further honored Eber by designating his called out man, Abram, “the Hebrew,” the one from whom all the world would be blessed, and also naming the original language of the Earth after Eber also, Hebrew.
Even by this early account, Abram and his family were already considered so important that the land where they were living was already known as their land, the land of the Hebrews. Why? Because when Noah divided up the world among his three sons following the Flood, the land portion encompassing Israel originally was allotted to Shem and his descendants. These people were driven out by the descendants of Canaan the son of Ham, and so the land became known as Canaan’s land. So when Abram arrived on the scene and he began to drive these people out, the land was called in Hebrew and known as “Eretz Ha-Ivriim,” meaning “the land of the Hebrews,” the true spiritual “children of Eber.” Eventually, the “children of Eber,” the Hebrews, lived in Egypt as slaves before God interceded and destroyed their captors, creating the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai. When they went to re-conquer the land of the Hebrews, once again they found it occupied by the descendants of Canaan as races of giants, just as in the days of Abram, were found to be living in Canaan’s land. So when push comes to shove, according to what we find in Scripture, the land was originally apportioned to Shem and the “children of Eber,” Shem’s most prominent offspring prior to Abram.
What is so significant about this verse? It is significant for the following reason: This is the first time the word “Hebrew” is used in Scripture, and it is specifically applied to Abram, the recipient of the covenant of God that through him would come the Promised Seed Who would bless the entire world.
The word “Hebrew” (“Ivri” in the Hebrew language) comes from the word “Eber” (sometimes written as “Ever” and in some versions of the Gospel of Luke is called “Heber”), and it means “the other side.” I believe there are at least three reasons why Abram became the first man called “the Hebrew,” and in the case of Abram, I believe there are literal as well as spiritual reasons he is referred to as “the Hebrew” coming from “the other side.”
The first of these is that Abram was a stranger “from the other side.” Born east of the land of Canaan in Ur of the Chaldees of Mesopotamia, a city and country devoted fully to idolatry, Abram had come “from the other side” of the Jordan River before settling in Canaan.
Secondly, and more importantly, Abraham stood “on the other side” in his opposition to the entire pagan world. His recognition of the One True God, Yahweh, and his adamant refusal to comply with the “modern” ideology of his counterparts of his day, including his own family (Joshua 24:2), set Abram, the great man of faith and man of God, at odds with practically all the rest of humanity and their false worship of idols created by such evil men as Nimrod.
Finally, Abraham was a descendent of Eber. Eber was the great-grandson of Noah's son, Shem, and Eber is given special recognition as a man of worth and honor by Moses, who states in Genesis 10:21 [RSV], “To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born.” Shem, as you may recall, had been the recipient of the blessing of the prophecy of Noah following the sin against Noah committed by Ham. Noah, waking up from his drunken stupor, realized that Shem had not dishonored him as did Ham, and Noah said, “Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave” (Genesis 9:26 [RSV]). Just as Abraham and the Messiah were to come through the line of Shem, so, too, was the world to be blessed through "the children of Eber.”
There was obviously something special about this man, Eber, otherwise Moses would not have added the extra commentary he does regarding this man. And how Moses words his commentary shows us that he fully expected his original audience to know what was so special about this man, Eber, and why he and his offspring were specifically mentioned as they were. According to Jewish tradition handed down since before the time of Moses, Eber refused to help in the building of the Tower of Babel as ordered by Nimrod. Consequently, his and his family’s language was not confused when the building of the tower was abandoned through the intervention of Yahweh, and Eber and “the children of Eber” were given the blessing of retaining the original language given to Adam by God in the beginning of time. Therefore, God further honored Eber by designating his called out man, Abram, “the Hebrew,” the one from whom all the world would be blessed, and also naming the original language of the Earth after Eber also, Hebrew.
Even by this early account, Abram and his family were already considered so important that the land where they were living was already known as their land, the land of the Hebrews. Why? Because when Noah divided up the world among his three sons following the Flood, the land portion encompassing Israel originally was allotted to Shem and his descendants. These people were driven out by the descendants of Canaan the son of Ham, and so the land became known as Canaan’s land. So when Abram arrived on the scene and he began to drive these people out, the land was called in Hebrew and known as “Eretz Ha-Ivriim,” meaning “the land of the Hebrews,” the true spiritual “children of Eber.” Eventually, the “children of Eber,” the Hebrews, lived in Egypt as slaves before God interceded and destroyed their captors, creating the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai. When they went to re-conquer the land of the Hebrews, once again they found it occupied by the descendants of Canaan as races of giants, just as in the days of Abram, were found to be living in Canaan’s land. So when push comes to shove, according to what we find in Scripture, the land was originally apportioned to Shem and the “children of Eber,” Shem’s most prominent offspring prior to Abram.
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