Tag: Ivri Hebrew

When Did The Hebrews/Israelites Become Known As Jews?

In the Old Testament/TaNaKH,

we read that YHVH’s people were known as

Hebrews and as

the children of Israel or Israelites;

however, when we reach the Brit Chadashah/New Testament, they are primarily called, or referred to as Jewish, Judeans or the Jews.

How, when and why did that change occur?

First of all a root meaning of the word

Hebrew – Ivri – עברי

is passing beyond or

on the far shore.

The first use of the term is in Genesis 14:1

when Abraham is called a Hebrew.

Joseph Yosef יוֹסֵף‎

is also called

a Hebrew in

Gen. 39:14, 17; 41:12.

The people whom YHVH delivered from Mitzryim / מִצְרַיִם / Egypt through Mosheh/משֶׁה/Moses were called Hebrews.

The word ‘Hebrew’ may be derived from the name of one of Abraham’s ancestors, the patriarch Eber

noted in Gen. 10:21–25, 11:14–17.

The term Hebrew is the same word used for both

the language and the people.

It is עברי  Ivri or Ibri

pronounced: Erverh

and literally means:

from the other side

and also means:

to pass through to the other side

or one crossed over.

Related to Abraham crossing over from his fathers home of idol worship to follow the call of the One True and Living God.

This is one reason Jews were originally called Hebrews, or in Hebrew, Ivriyim, because they were willing to take on, and take down, the idols of the day.

 

Abraham was known as Ha’Ivri, the Hebrew, in context, this meant Abraham from the other side of the Euphrates. Then prophetically to the crossing over of the Reed Sea out of Egypt and again across the Jordan River into the Promised Land/Canaan/Yisrael; and to our future crossing over into the spiritual Promised Land of the Heavenlies.

IVRI

The script used in the Torah scrolls is the original

Ktav Ivrit which was revealed to

Avraham Avinu who was the first

Ivri-Hebrew.

The proper pronunciation in the native language of the ancient Israelites’ designation, commonly known, as Hebrew in English is IVRI

pronounced; Erh-Verh.

Many believe Hebrew in this context is related to Eber, an ancestor of Abraham mentioned in Genesis 11:14–16.

Independent of the term’s meaning, its original connection is with Abraham as founder of the YHVH’s chosen people.

To be a Hebrew literally means:

to possess the courage to stand apart,

to dare to be different,

and Abraham was the first to proudly bear this title of distinction.

According to the Bible, Abraham left polytheism to follow the God who made the universe. Abraham lived about 2,000 BC and he and his descendants were known as Hebrews recorded in Gen. 14:13. In fact the Pentateuch/Torah/ was written by Moses in the Hebrew language.

תּוֹרָה Tōrā, “Instruction”, “Teaching” or “Law” is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

 

YHVH’s people are referred to by many different names in the scriptures.

They are called:

Israelites,

Jews,

Hebrews,

children of Abraham,

Daughter of Zion,

YHVH’s chosen people, etc.

One of the most common names for

YHVH’s chosen people

in the Scriptures is Israelites.

This name came from through

Isaac יִצְחָק Yitschaq

and Jacob יַעֲקֹב  Yaʿaqov

who were

Abraham’s son and grandson respectively.

Jacob’s name was changed to

Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל Yisra’el

as recorded in

Gen. 32:28; 46:1.

Since this time Israel’s descendants were known as

the children of Israel

or Israel or Israelites.

Israel’s family moved to Egypt where his son Joseph was second in command to the Pharaoh. In Egypt the Israelites grew to 2 million people when they subsequently migrated to Canaan in the Middle East under the leadership of Moses and Joshua.

 

Another common name for the Jewish people is Jews.

The word Jew comes from the name Judah, the leading tribe of the 12 sons or tribes of Israel.

After the Israelites invaded Canaan, they were ruled by the kings Saul, David and Solomon. King David lived about 1,000 BC. After this, the kingdom was divided into two, with 10 tribes in the northern kingdom of Israel and two in the southern kingdom of Judah as recorded in 1 Ki. 12; 2 Chron. 10. Samaria was the capital of Israel and Jerusalem the capital of Judah.

The Hebrew noun

Yehudi – Jew, 

Strongs #3064, 

Yehudi: Jews, Jew, Jewish

Original Word: יְהוּדִי
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: Yhuwdiy
Pronunciation: yeh-hoo-DEE
Phonetic Spelling: yeh-hoo-dee’
KJV: Jew
NASB: Jews, Jew, Jewish, Jews’, Judeans
Word Origin: [patronymically from H3063 (יְהוּדָה – Judah)]

1. a Jehudite (i.e. Judaite or Jew), or descendant of Jehudah (i.e. Judah)….

is derived from the name Judah,

who was one of Jacob’s twelve sons.

Yehudi occurs 76 times in the following books of the Old Testament:
 11 times in Jeremiah (written about 600BC), where it describes Judeans,
Twice in 2 Kings (written about 550BC), where it describes Judeans who lived about 750BC and 590BC,
Once in Zechariah (written about 520BC), where it may describe both Judeans and Israelites,
 52 times in Esther (written about 460BC), where it describes those dispersed after the Babylonian invasions and living in the Persian kingdom, including Mordecai a Benjaminite Esther. 2:5; 5:13, and
 10 times in Nehemiah (written about 430BC), where it describes exiles who returned to Jerusalem.

A related word Yehudain Strongs #3062 only occurs in the books of Daniel and Ezra, written about 530BC and 440BC respectively. 

Originally, the word referred to members of the tribe of Judah, but later it described anyone from the kingdom of Judah. This would include those from the northern kingdom of Israel who moved to Judah, including Mordecai’s and his ancestors, who was called a Jew in the book of Esther. Also, as those who returned after the exile settled in Judea, they were called Jews regardless of their ancestral tribe. In the New Testament, the words, Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews are used interchangeably to describe the descendants of Jacob. John. 4:9; 2 Cor. 11:22.  this is the same today as the words Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews are used as synonyms.  A Jew was, literally,

one from the land of Judah,

although the word later came to be applied to any Israelite, regardless of the tribe to which he belonged.

In 722 BC, Samaria was conquered by the Assyrians and the Israelites were dispersed into surrounding nations as recorded in 2 Kings 17. As they assimilated and now have no national identity, they are known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. However, they weren’t all lost because some remained in Israel and some moved to Judah, 2 Chron. 15:9; 35:18.

In 605 BC and 598 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah and in 586 B.C. Jerusalem was destroyed. Many of the Jews were taken to exile in Babylon. When the Persians conquered Babylon in 538 BC, the Persian King Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to their homelands and many returned to Judah. After the Babylonian exile, Jew replaced Israelite as the most widely-used term for these survivers. This was because, by that time, virtually all Israelites were descendants of the kingdom of Judah. Also, the Jewish religion was known as Judaism.

After Jerusalem was rebuilt, Judea was ruled by the Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians and Romans. Although the terms Hebrew and Israelite continued in use into the New Testament period as recorded in Rom. 9:4; 2 Cor. 11:22; Phil. 3:5; by then the term Jew was more commonly used. The Romans referred to Yeshua/Jesus as the king of the Jews at His death. Matt. 27:37.

In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, however, this didn’t destroy all the Jews as many were living in other countries. In 134 AD the Romans attacked again and the Jews were killed, enslaved and dispersed to surrounding countries including Europe and North Africa. Since this time, Judea has been ruled by the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic Empire, the Crusaders, the Mamluk Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire. The Jews were persecuted and driven out of many regions culminating in the holocaust. Despite these difficulties, the Jews maintained their identity, even in foreign lands. The need to find a homeland for Jewish refugees led to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

Today, the word Jew is now used to refer to all of the descendants of Jacob and those who adhere to Judaism.

To summarize the usage of the word Jew.

The Hebrew word translated Jew in the Bible originally meant the tribe of Judah and the kingdom of Judah/Yehudah. Judah’s father Israel died in about 1680BC showing that the name Judah originated in the 17th century BC. With the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, the kingdom of Judah became the sole Jewish state and the name was applied to all Israelites. The Hebrew name for Judean or Jew appears in the Bible from about 600BC during the Babylonian Exile. This name was also applied to those who were dispersed in 586 BC. The term became more common in the Hellenistic period, 4th century BC.

After the Israelite exiles returned to Palestine, the region began to be known as Judea. And the dispersed Israelites began to be known as Judean. By the time of the Roman Empire, Jew was widely used to describe the people of Judea.

Below is the same word as spoken in various languages:
Yehudi – Hebrew
Yehudai – Aramaic

 Ioudaios – Greek
Iūdaeus – Latin
 Judeu, then Juiu, then Juif  – French
 Gyv, then Ive, Iewe, Iew – Old English
 Jew – English (1775)

So we can conclude that the Hebrew word translated Jew in the Bible is used for all the descendants of Jacob or Israel; and also note that in the Bible, Jewishness was determined through the father’s line, as is clear from the genealogies.Today, depending on context, it can also mean one who follows the Jewish religion. The date that Hebrews or Israelites become known as Jews is from about 600BC and specifically, this word derives from Judah/ Yehudah, one of Yaaqov/Jacob’s 12 sons, and the one who was the ancestor of

Yeshua Hamashiach /Jesus Christ

Matt. 1:3, Luke 3:33.

Yeshua/Jesus is Jewish, 

Yeshua Hamashiach/Jesus the Messiah.

However the term Jew became used for all descendants of Israel. So the term Jew was used interchangeably with Hebrew and Israelite. Thus a Jew is biblically defined as a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Shalom shalom

‘Mishpachah’

‘Family/Tribe’

משפחה

Mish-pa-KHa,

friends, visitors and every reader…

Please don’t leave this page before making certain you are His

and are truly born again from above.

Know of a certainty that Jesus/Yeshua is

your Redeemer, Savior, Lord

and soon returning King

and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.

NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry.

I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus.  Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Where Is Madaba – What Was Found There And Why Is It Important?

Where is Madaba/מֵֽידְבָא֙ ?

Madaba is a town located in the country of

Jordan/Yarden

bordering Israel/Yisrael.

Madaba is mentioned in the Bible:

Recorded as Medeba in the translation; spelled with the vowel e in place of a Recall no vowels in the original text it would have been m d b

מ  ד ב 

But we have cast them down, Heshbon is ruined as far as Dibon, Then we have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.

Numbers 21:30

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba, as far as Dibon;

Joshua 13:9

Their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba;

Joshua 13:16

So they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped before Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to battle.

1 Chronicles 19:7

They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off.

Isaiah 15:2

The

Madaba מֵידְבָ֖א

 Map,

also known as the 

Madaba Mosaic Map,

is part of a floor mosaic 

in the early Byzantine church of Saint George

a

19th-century basilica,

in

מֵידְבָ֖א/Madaba,

Jordan

Yarden/The Descender.

 

This intricate floor mosaic of the Holy Land is believed to have been created in the 6th-century A.D.; being made between 542 and 570 as the floor of the church.

The mosaic was rediscovered in 1884, when the local community in Madaba, Jordan, made an incredible discovery, which has proved to be the oldest Holy Land map in the world.

It was unearthed during the construction of a new Greek Orthodox church on the site of its ancient predecessor.

This floor is the single most important piece of Byzantine Christian mosaic art in the East. 

In 614, Madaba was conquered by the Sasanian Empire. During the eighth century, the ruling Muslim Umayyad Caliphate had some figural motifs removed from the mosaic. In 746, Madaba was largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequently abandoned.

Because the mosaic map of Madaba is the oldest known geographic floor mosaic in art history, it is used significantly for confirming the position and location of biblical sites. E.g. In 1967, excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem revealed the Nea Church and the Cardo Maximus in the very locations suggested by the Madaba Map.

The floor mosaic is located in the apse of the church of Saint George at Madaba.

An apse is a semicircular recess,

often covered with a hemispherical vault.

It is not oriented northward, as modern maps are, but faces east toward the altar in such a fashion that the position of places on the map coincides with the compass directions.

Originally, it measured 21 by 7 m and

contained more than two million individual tiles

The mosaic map depicts an area from 

Lebanon in the north to the Nile Delta in the south,

and from the Mediterranean Sea 

in the west to the Eastern Desert.

Among other features,

it depicts the Dead Sea 

with two fishing boats,

a variety of bridges linking

the banks of the Yarden/Jordan,

fish swimming in the river

and receding from the Dead Sea;

 Made almost unrecognizable by the insertion of random tiles/tesserae during a period of during a period of opposition to and destruction of, religious images known as Iconoclasm;

is a lion hunting a gazelle in the Moab desert, (top left of picture);

palm-ringed Jericho (at the bottom and below),

Bethlehem, and other biblical sites.

Below, place where

John the Baptist was at Yeshua/Jesus’ immersion

at the mouth of the Yarden/Jordan,

Bethabara

and the (nearly-obliterated) lion hunting a gazelle.

The map may have served to help pilgrims’ orientate themselves in the Holy Land.

All the landscape areas are labeled with explanations in Greek and depict approx. 150 towns and villages.

Ancient church buildings were positioned 180 degrees from the Temple in Yerushalayim/Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies was entered from the East with the ark of the covenant in the west.

Byzantine church buildings were entered from the west with the “altar” in the east. Because of this, the Madaba map is oriented so that those sitting in the pews can look ahead to see the map, then look beyond the map and see the pulpit or “Altar”.

The map is read from the west.

While modern maps are labeled as if one is standing on the south pole and looking north, the Madaba map is labeled from the north looking south. This means that the lettering of the map is upside down to how we would orient the map on paper. It’s like looking at a map of a country at 180 degrees/upside down.

The Madaba map is not to scale.

Yerushalayim/Jerusalem is greatly enlarged and distances are greatly distorted in comparison to what we would expect from an accurate map; because the map was for devotional purposes, not science and geography as we would like it to have been from a modern perspective.

When they built the map, one 1/2 inch cube of stone mosaic at a time, they surely never thought they were working on what would be the most important ancient map in existence!

The largest and most detailed element of the topographic depiction is Jerusalem (Greek: ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑ[ΛΉΜ]), at the centre of the map. The mosaic clearly shows a number of significant structures in the Old City of Jerusalem: the Damascus Gate, the Lions’ Gate, the Golden Gate, the Zion Gate, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the New Church of the Theotokos, the Tower of David.

This post on

Madaba

and its amazing mosaic map has an important place

in verifying the location of Yeshua/Jesus’ immersion

from our previous 2 posts. 

Passing through the waters may have a much deeper meaning than we first thought on reading the Bible the

Jordan/Yarden River

has a major part in many of the prophetic scriptures.

From as far back as Abraham…

Abraham entered the Promised Land through the gateway of the Jordan River Valley when he first journeyed from Ur of the Chaldeans (Gen. 12:1–9).

 The Book of Genesis refers to the

patriarch Abram as:

ha-ivri  הָעִבְרִי

or

the Hebrew. Gen. 14:13.

…to those which were fulfilled in John/Yocananan and Jesus/Yeshua’s day.

Recall an earlier post concerning the meaning of the word

Hebrew – ivri

עברי

ivri means: to cross over.

pronounced: eevriy

The actual definition of the word is:

one who has crossed over, passed over or beyond

ivri or ivrim

depending on whether you’re speaking

of an individual or a group. 

From the root word ivr   עבר

to cross over, or pass through.

An IVRI one who crosses over into both a promised land and a life of divinely determined service. One who crosses over (ovr) boundaries and obstacles, and in particular the obstacle of meaninglessness and despair.

He was the first Hebrew (Ivrit)

or

one who crossed over.

Crossing over means going from

being a worldly Babylonian

to

becoming the Israel of Elohim.

Gal 6:16; Eph 2:1.

Abraham crossed over

from false gods to the one and only true God.

He crossed over

physically by leaving his homeland

He forsook Babylon and

crossed over

the Euphrates and

Yarden/Jordan Rivers 

in his journey westward en route

to the Promised Land as he followed YHVH’s leading.

The Israelites were delivered from the Egyptians as they

crossed over

through the Red/Reed Sea, and then they

crossed over

through the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

All these acts are pictures of deliverance and salvation.

We also

crossed over

from death to life through Messiah.

Origin of the word Hebrew:

 From the time of the Abraham until the time of Jesus Christ, the world knew the Israelites as עברי (Erverh)

The Israelites wrote their name in their language with the letters עברי. The letters I V R I represent עברי in English.

The name ‘Hebrew,’ is the English translation of the name pronounced Erverh from Latin. The name “Hebrew,” is the result of translating the Latin “Hebraicus,” into English.

Thus, the name, “Hebrew” is the result of a double translation of the original name עברי, (Erverh). Had the translation been from the original texts with the name, עברי, we’d never have heard the name Hebrew.

The proper pronunciation in the native language of the ancient Israelites’ designation, commonly known, as “Hebrew” in English is “IVRI” pronounced Erh-Verh. Because most modern Bibles are direct translations or carbon copies of the Latin translation, the result is all modern Bibles carry the name Hebrew. Derived from the Latin name Hebraicus. Without the Latin name “Hebraicus,” a direct translation from the original Dead Sea scrolls would read “Erverh,” instead of Hebrew.

The name “Hebrew,” is the English translation from the original ancient texts of the name עברי (IVRI) pronounced Erh-Verh. (Ever or eber.)

One final thought as to the name

Jorden – Yarden – Descender:

In modern Hebrew letters reads:

ירדן

nun-dalet-resh-yod

(Recall, Hebrew-  ivri, reads from right to left and there are no vowels like our alphabet: i.e. no aeiou).

And in Paleo Hebrew Pictographs

Yod = Y = A hand closed or closing upon, to work, a deed done, a finished work.

Reysh = R = A head, a person, what is the highest, the most important, chief.

Daleth = D = A door, a path, a way of life, movement into or out of.

Nun = N = A fish, to sprout, to spread, offspring, descendant, action, life, heir to the throne, faithfulness.

The meaning of

Jordan/Yarden

could be said to be:

A visible tangible representation of His Hand opening and closing the waters and as the most important and highest Authority giving His instructions which when applied declares He is the door. The only WAY in is by recognizing the authority which results in our exemption and freedom, release from past sins. As heir to the throne, He is our deliverance He is our life.

Isa 43:2  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Our Descender Yeshua/Jesus

will never leave us nor forsake us…ever!

He is our LIFES/CHAIM

Hallelujah!! He is with us always!

שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם‎,

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week, you are greatly loved and prayed for daily. Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation or without our Heavenly Fathers’ shalom ENVELOPING you and the deep inner knowing that you are sealed to the day of redemption by the Blood of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.

Not sure ..you can be…

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.