Connections in the etymology of #hebrew #habiru #apiru #eber #Abraham #jew #jesus #ibrim #ivrim

We discuss the compelling reasons behind the large migration of the Ivrim, or Hebrews, as they are referred to in ancient texts. The Ivrim were a group of wandering people, often described as nomads or those who crossed over from one place to another. This is evidenced by the meaning of their name and the fact that figures like Abraham were called 'Hebrews'. The Ivrim were also associated with being shepherds or cattlemen on the move, as seen in the story of Abraham's possessions of sheep, goats, and other livestock.

#migration #nomads #Ivrim #Habiru #Abraham #Eber #Arameans #shepherds #cattlemen #apiru #jews #jewish #genesis #bible #exodus #thewonderingpeople #hebrewhabiru #connection

(Full Transcript)
“When someone migrates, someone wants to move or go, migrate some place, there are usually compelling reasons. People don't usually, I mean, we know there are all kinds of adventurers, individuals who want to be adventurous, and they want to go on safari, and they want to visit the world or go to find religion in the mountains in the Himalaya. But we're talking about peoples, nations, groups. They move or they migrate under compulsion usually. Now what were the compelling reasons here? Here we have to reconstruct or at least trace the conditions that existed which might have led to this, which I believe was a large migration and included many peoples who went by the general name of Ivrim, that's Hebrew, the Hebrew form of the word Hebrew. In the ancient texts, they are mentioned many times in Babylonian and in Egyptian and in Ugaritic writings, and there their name appears as Habiru. Now this is the Babylonian form of the name. In Ugaritic and in Egyptian it appears as Habiru. So Abraham is called Haivri, Abraham is called the Hebrew, Abraham Haivri, Abraham the Hebrew. Now first of all, what does the name mean? It seems from the description in the other writings and also from our analysis of the name itself that Ivrim has to do with those who wander. So it could be an equivalent for nomads or where the name appears again it says, I took your ancestors, Me'evar Hanahar, from the other side of the river, meaning the Euphrates River. So the word Avar, which means to cross over or to move in a certain direction, is the same root as the word Ivrim. So somehow there's a connection between them. There's something about them which is nomadic, the wanderers are those who cross over from one place to another. And not only Abraham but others are also called Ivrim. In fact if we go back to Genesis, the beginning of 11, there when we read the genealogy of Abraham, the great-great-grandfather of Abraham has the name Eber, which would be what we would call the eponymous ancestor. So Eber would be the ancestor whose plural is Ivrim. And the children of Eber include others, not just Abraham's family, but others as well, including Arameans. So we're talking about wandering people. The other thing is, when we get into the story, we see that Abraham's business is cattle. He has sheep and goats and bovine cattle and camels and horses as well. So they are, let's call them shepherds on the move or cattlemen on the move.”