Chebar

A river of Assyria, made memorable by the church, when in the captivity of Babylon, being placed there. That beautiful, though pathetic poem (as it may well be called of Hebrew poetry), we have in the hundred and thirty - seventh Psalm, is supposed to have been written on the banks of Chebar. (See Ezek. i. 1.)

a river of Chaldea, Eze 1:1. It is thought to have risen near the head of the Tigris, and to have run through Mesopotamia, to the south-west, and emptied itself into the Euphrates.

Che´bar, a river of Mesopotamia, upon the banks of which king Nebuchadnezzar planted a colony of Jews, among whom was the prophet Ezekiel (2Ki 24:15; Eze 1:1; Eze 1:3; Eze 3:15; Eze 3:23; Eze 10:15; Eze 10:22). This is without doubt the same river that was known among the Greeks as the Chaboras, and which now bears the name of Khabour. It flows to the Euphrates through Mesopotamia, and is the only considerable stream which enters that river. It is formed by the junction of a number of small brooks, which rise in the neighborhood of a ruined town called Ras-el-Ain, 13 furlongs south-west of Merdin. It takes a southerly direction till it receives the waters of another stream equal to itself, when it bends westward to the Euphrates, which it enters at Kerkesia, the Carchemish of Scripture [CARCHEMISH].

A river which rises in the northern part of Mesopotamia, and flows first southeast, then south and southwest, into the Euphrates. It was called Chaboras by the Greeks; now Khabour. On its fertile banks Nebuchadnezzar located a part of the captive Jews, and here the sublime visions of Ezekiel took place, Eze 1:3 ; 3:15; 10:15; 43:3.\par

Che’bar. (length). A river in the "land of the Chaldeans." Eze 1:3; Eze 3:15; Eze 3:23, etc. It is commonly regarded as identical with the Habor, 2Ki 17:6, and perhaps the Royal Canal of Nebuchadnezzar, -- the greatest of all the cuttings in Mesopotamia.

A river of Chaldaea, where Ezekiel saw his earlier visions (Eze 1:1; Eze 1:3; Eze 3:15; Eze 3:23). Nebuchadnezzar had planted many of the captives taken with Jehoiachin there (2Ki 24:15). The Habor or river of Gozan, where the Assyrians planted the Israelites (2Ki 17:6), is conjectured to be the same. The Greek Chaboras. It flows into the Euphrates at Circesium. But the name Chaldaea does not reach so far N. More probably the Chebar is the nahr Malcha, Nebuchadnezzar’s royal canal, the greatest (chabeer means great) in Mesopotamia. The captives may have been made to excavate the channel. Tradition places Ezekiel’s tomb at Keffil, which favors our placing Chebar in Chaldaea, rather than upper Mesopotamia.

(Hebrews Kebar´, כְּבָר, perhaps from its length; Sept. Χοβάρ), a river in the "land of the Chaldaeans" (Eze 1:3), i.e. apparently of Mesopotamia (comp. 2Ki 24:15), on the banks of which some of the Jews were located at the time of the captivity, and where Ezekiel saw his earlier visions (Eze 1:1; Eze 3:15; Eze 3:23; Eze 10:15; Eze 10:20, Eze 43:3). It is commonly regarded as identical with the HABOR (חָבוֹר), or river of Gozan, to which some portion of the Israelites were removed by the Assyrians (2Ki 17:6). But this is a mere conjecture, resting wholly upon the similarity of name, which, after all, is not very close. It is perhaps better to suppose the two streams distinct, more especially if we regard the Habor as the ancient Chaboras (modern Khabour), which fell into the Euphrates at Circesium, for in the Old Testament the name of Chaldea is never extended so far northward. The Chebar of Ezekiel must be looked for in Babylonia. It is a name which might properly have been given to any great stream (comp. כָּבִר, great). Perhaps the view, which finds some support in Pliny (H. N. 6:26), and is adopted by Bochart (Phaleg, 1:8) and Cellarius (Geograph. 100:22), that the Chebar of Ezekiel is the Nahr Malchr, or Royal Canal of Nebuchadnezzar — the greatest of all the cuttings in Mesopotamia — may be regarded as best deserving acceptance. In that case we may suppose the Jewish captives to have been employed in the excavation of the channel. That Chaldea, not Upper Mesopotamia, was the scene of Ezekiel’s preaching, is indicated by the tradition which places his tomb at Keffil (Loftus’s Chaldaea, p. 35). SEE EZEKIEL.

Chebar (kç’bar). A river in Chaldæa, Eze 1:1; Eze 1:3; Eze 3:16, etc.:cannot be the same as Ilabor, but may be one of the canals which connected the Tigris with the Euphrates, near Babylon.

[Che’bar]

The river in the land of the Chaldeans, near to which Ezekiel was dwelling, when some of his visions were revealed to him. Eze 1:1; Eze 1:3; Eze 3:15; etc. Some identify it with the Habor, but this is only conjecture, and others consider the Habor to be much too far north.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Robert W. Rogers

Name of a Babylonian river or canal, by the side of which Ezekiel "saw visions" (Ezek. i. 1, 3; iii. 15, 23; x. 15 et seq.). The Hebrew "nahar" (), usually rendered "river," was evidently used also for "canal" (= Babylonian "naru"; compare Ps. cxxxvii. 1, "naharoth Babel"; that is, "canals of Babylon"). In Babylonian, "Naru Kabaru" means, literally, "great canal." The river has usually been identified with the Chabor, a tributary discharging its waters into the Euphrates at Circesium; a mistake not to be justified in view of the definite statement that it was in the land of Chaldea. The stream intended is undoubtedly the Kabaru, a large navigable canal near Nippur, twice mentioned in an inscription recovered by the Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania (see Hilprecht and Clay, "Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania," ix. 50).

CHEBAR.—A canal in Babylonia (Eze 1:1 ff.) beside which the principal colony of the first Exile of Judah was planted. It has been identified by the Pennsylvania expedition with the canal Kabaru, named in cuneiform documents of the time of Artaxerxes i. It apparently lay to the east of Nippur. The name means ‘great.’ Hence for ‘the river Chebar’ we may read ‘the Grand Canal.’

J. F. McCurdy.

kē´bar (כּבר, k^ebhār, “joining” (Young), “length” (Strong); Χοβάρ, Chobár): The river by the side of which his first vision was vouchsafed to Ezekiel (Eze 1:1). It is described as in “the land of the Chaldeans,” and is not, therefore, to be sought in northern Mesopotamia. This rules out the Habor, the modern Chabour, with which it is often identified. The two names are radically distinct: חבור, ḥābhōr could not be derived from כּבר, k^ebhāř. One of the great Babylonian canals is doubtless intended. Hilprext found mention made of (nāru) kabaru, one of these canals large enough to be navigable, to the East of Nippur, “in the land of the Chaldeans.” This “great canal” he identifies with the rood. shaṭṭ en-Nı̄l, in which probably we should recognize the ancient Chebar.