Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

David Kolinsky wrote:  “I agree with Jim (eeBh'Ry does not mean ‘those who 
crossed over’ from one particular place to another but rather ‘those who pass 
from place to place, migrants, wanders etc.’”
 
If one looks at Genesis 14: 13, which is where the word H-(BR-Y/“the Hebrew” 
first appears, one sees that Abram must be asserting that he is a “lord” like 
the three princelings with whom he is in league.  Neither Abram nor the 
narrator could possibly, under the circumstances, be saying that Abram’s 
people are "those who pass from place to place, migrants, wanders etc."
 
Starting on the linguistic side, in evaluating the word (BR-Y at Genesis 14: 
13, “Hebrew”, we start with the fact that many ancient languages have a word 
that means “lord” and/or “strong”, which is initial sound + BR.  [In setting 
forth Hebrew words in this post, I will omit any interior yod/Y that seems to 
be functioning as a vowel indicator, since I see all such yods as having been 
added in post-exilic times as updated spelling.]  We start with )BR at 
Genesis 49: 24, which means “strong”.  Note the pattern:  initial sound + BR. 
 Now consider the Akkadian word for “strong”, abaru, which might well have 
been viewed by an early Hebrew as being A-Ba-Ru:  initial sound + BR.  
Finally, we must also consider the Hurrian word for “lord”, which as a 
3-syllable Hurrian word could have the form of e-bi-ri.  To an early Hebrew, 
who saw the half-free Canaanite peasantry in the 14th century BCE as having 
to address their Hurrian princeling overlords as e-bi-ri, this Hurrian word 
may well have seemed like E-Bi-Ri or E-B-R:  initial sound + BR.
 
Now consider the specific context in which the word “Hebrew” first appears in 
the Bible.  B(LY BRYT at Genesis 14: 13 means to be in league with others, 
referring to Abram being in league with certain of his peers.  Abram is in 
league with (i) Mamre the Amorite, (ii) Eshkol, who is Mamre’s fellow Amorite 
princeling/“brother”, and (iii) Aner/(N-R, who is Mamre’s fellow Hurrian 
princeling/“brother”.  Abram for his part is described at Genesis 14: 13 as 
being H-(BR-Y, always translated as “the Hebrew”.
 
Given the context of Genesis 14: 13, Abram at this juncture must be 
forcefully asserting that he is a peer of these princelings in southern 
Canaan.  Rather than being a lowly Canaanite peasant who must look up to the 
Hurrian princelings in Canaan as E-Bi-Ri/“lord”, or being a mere wanderer, 
Abram (though a tent-dweller) is the equal of these princelings, being a 
“lord”/E-B-R himself in his own right.  This is a rare case in which we might 
well expect Abram to adopt a Hurrian word to fit his purpose, to assert that 
he is a “lord”/E-B-R/E-Bi-Ri/ebiri.  We know that Hebrew ayin can represent 
an initial Hurrian vowel E, because (LM at Genesis 14: 1 is the expected 
Hebrew spelling of Elam, based on the Hurrian word for Elam, which is Elami.  
Early Biblical Hebrew defective spelling, which omitted almost all vowels, 
naturally leaves out the vowels A and the I in the Hurrian name Elami, but if 
the initial E is viewed as being an integral part of the word’s root [from a 
Hebrew perspective], then the initial Hurrian E cannot be left out.  So 
Hurrian Elami comes out in Biblical Hebrew as (LM, meaning “Elam”, where 
Hebrew ayin represents Hurrian E.  As such, (BR-Y at Genesis 14: 13 can be 
viewed as being the Hurrian word E-B-R + west Semitic suffix.  E-B-R/e-bi-ri 
means “lord” in Hurrian, and is similar to the Hebrew and Akkadian words for 
“strong”:  )BR and abaru.  [As to the final yod/Y in (BR-Y, it’s a west 
Semitic suffix meaning “people”.  Likewise, Mamre is said to be H-)MR-Y:  
“the Amorite”.]  
 
In its historical context, “the Hebrew”/(BR-Y at Genesis 14: 13 effectively 
means “the Patriarch people”, the E-Bi-Ri/(BR people/-Y, since “Patriarch” 
and “lord”/e-bi-ri have almost the same meanings.  (BR-Y also plays off the 
Hebrew and Akkadian words for “strong”.  The early Hebrew author of truly 
ancient chapter 14 of Genesis is aggressively asserting at Genesis 14: 13 
that Abraham himself is a powerful, strong, respectable 
“lord”/e-bi-ri/E-B-R/(BR or princeling (though he lives in a tent and has 
neither a city nor a chariot), who is in league with two Amorite princelings 
and a Hurrian princeling in southern Canaan.
 
The traditional view that H-(BR-Y derives from the Hebrew verb (BR, meaning 
“to cross over a boundary”, is based on the traditional, erroneous view that 
the Patriarchal narratives portray the Hebrews as being indigenous to 
southern Mesopotamia, with Abraham being the first one of his kin to “cross 
over the boundary” and enter Canaan.  In fact, Genesis 25: 8-9 confirms that 
Abraham’s ancestors had all, except his unfortunate father, lived and died in 
beloved Canaan, so that the Hebrews are indigenous to Canaan.  Genesis 14: 13 
is not calling the Hebrews the “crossing over a boundary people” or 
“immigrants” or "those who pass from place to place, migrants, wanders etc." 
(or, for that matter, “habiru”).  Rather, Genesis 14: 13 is proudly and 
aggressively calling Abraham a “lord”/(BR/E-Bi-Ri/E-B-R, with his people now 
to be proudly known as “the strong, Patriarch people”, (BR + Y.  (BR-Y is 
based in large part on the Hurrian word e-bi-ri [viewed from an early Hebrew 
perspective as being E-B-R, and rendered in early Biblical Hebrew as (BR], 
meaning “lord” or “king” or “Patriarch”.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois