Eber

E´ber [HEBER]

See HEBER.\par

E’ber. (the region beyond).

1. Son of Salah, and great-grandson of Shem. Gen 10:24; 1Ch 1:19. (B.C. 2277-1813). [For confusion between Eber and Heber, see Heber.]

2. Son of Elpaal, and descendant of Sharahaim, of the tribe of Benjamin. 1Ch 8:12. (B.C. 1400).

3. A priest, in the days of Joiakim, the son of Jeshua. Neh 12:20. (B.C. 445).

Son of Salah, great grandson of Shem (Gen 10:21-24; 1Ch 1:19; Num 24:24, where the "Eber" whom "ships from Chittim shall afflict" represents not the Hebrew, but in general the western descendants of Shem, sprung from Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram; the posterity of Abraham who descended from Eber through Peleg, and also the descendants of Eber through Joktan. As "Asshur" represented the Shemites who dwelt in the far East, including Elam, so Eber represents the western Shemites.

Eber (ç’ber), beyond. 1. The great-grandson of Shem, Gen 10:21; Gen 10:24; Gen 11:14-17; 1Ch 1:19, and the ancestor of Abraham in the seventh generation. See Hebrews, Heber.

[E’ber]

1. Son of Salah and great-grandson of Shem. Gen 10:21; Gen 10:24-25; Gen 11:14-17; Num 24:24; 1Ch 1:18-19; 1Ch 1:25. Called HEBER in Luk 3:35.

2. Son of Elpaal, a Benjamite. 1Ch 8:12.

3. Priest of the family of Amok. Neh 12:20. The same Hebrew word is sometimes translated HEBER in the A.V.

EBER (Authorized Version Heber).—The eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews; named in our Lord’s genealogy as given in Lk. (Luk 3:35).

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Eduard König

The eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews; grandson of Arphaxad and great-grandson of Shem; father of Joktan, the ancestor of the Arabs, and of Peleg, among whose progeny, in the fifth generation, was Abram (Gen. x. 22, 25-30; xi. 18-26).

The word "Eber" signifies "the region beyond." Of the nine words in Genesis that designate Shem's descendants, at least two, "Arphaxad" and "Serug" (Gen. xi. 10, 21), are identical with the names of districts: the former indicating the district of Arrapachitis on the upper Zab, the latter the place where Abu Zaid of "Saruj," the hero of Ḥariri's "Maḳamat," had his home. The conclusion is therefore warranted that the term "Eber" originally designated a district.

The use of "Eber" as a "nomen appellativum" is common; it denotes originally "that which is beyond." This explains the fact that, in the genealogy of the Semites, Abraham and, especially, Israel are called descendants of "Eber"; for if "Eber" had been originally the name of a person, it would be strange that Abraham should have been so closely linked with him, since Eber was not his immediate ancestor, but one six times removed. It is because "Eber" was originally the name of a region that it took so important a place in the genealogical tree.

"Eber" designates the region occupied longest and most continuously by the peoples that traced their descent from Shem through Arphaxad. This is apparent in the words, "And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim [Kition, on the island of Cyprus], and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber" (Num. xxiv. 24). Here "Eber" designates a country in the neighborhood of Assyria, and to a certain extent forming a part of it—the country beyond the Euphrates. The importance of that river for anterior Asia may serve to explain the fact that the country beyond the Euphrates was designated κατ' ἐξοχὴν as the "region beyond."

The Babylonian name corresponding to the Hebrew "'Eber ha-Nahar" is "'Ebir Nari" (comp. Winckler, "Gesch. Israel's," i. 223, note 1). It occurs in an inscription of Assur-bel-kala (Hommel, "Ancient Hebrew Tradition," p. 195, line 5) about 1100 B.C. In I Kings v. 4 (A. V. iv. 24) "'Eber ha-Nahar" is descriptive of the limits of Solomon's kingdom.

Hommel's opinion is that the region beyond Wadi Sirḥan is indicated; but see Ed. König, "Fünf Neue Arabische Landschaftsnamen im Alten Testament," 1901, p. 44.

EBER.—1. The eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews (the first letter in both words being the same in the Heb.), the great-grandson of Shem, and ‘father’ of Peleg and Joktan (Gen 10:21; Gen 10:25; Gen 11:14 ff.). The word ‘çber signifies ‘the other side,’ ‘across’; and ‘ibri. ‘Hebrew,’ which is in form a gentile name denoting the inhabitant of a country or member of a tribe. is usually explained as denoting those who have come from ‘çber han-nâhâr (see Jos 24:2-3), or ‘the other side of the River’ (the Euphrates), i.e. from Haran (Gen 11:31), in Aram-naharaim the home of Abraham and Nahor (Gen 24:4; Gen 24:7; Gen 24:10). According to Sayce, however (Exp. T. xviii. [1907] p. 233). the word is of Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] origin, and denoted originally the ‘traders’ who went to and fro across the Euphrates. In the genealogies in Gen 10:1-32; Gen 11:1-32 the district from which the ‘Hebrews’ came is transformed into an imaginary eponymous ancestor. Why Eber is not the immediate, but the sixth ancestor of Abraham, and why many other tribes besides the Hebrews are reckoned as his descendants, is perhaps to be explained (König) by the fact that, though the Israelites were in a special sense ‘Hebrews,’ it was remembered that their ancestors had long made the region ‘across’ the Euphrates their resting-place, and many other tribes (Peleg, Joktan, etc.) had migrated from it. What Eber means in Num 24:24 is uncertain: most probably perhaps, the country across the Euphrates (|| with Asshur, i.e. Assyria).

2 A Gadite (1Ch 5:12). 3. 4. Two Benjamites (1Ch 8:12; 1Ch 8:22) 5 Head of a priestly family (Neh 12:20).

S. R. Driver.

ē´bẽr (עבר, ‛ebher; Ἔβερ, Éber, in Gen; ̓Ωβήδ, Ōbḗd, in Ch):

(1) Occurs in the genealogies (Gen 10:21, Gen 10:25; Gen 11:14) as the great-grandson of Shem and father of Peleg and Joktan. The word means “the other side,” “across,” and the form “Hebrew,” which is derived from it, is intended to denote the people or tribe who came “from the other, side of the river” (i.e. the Euphrates), from Haran (Gen 11:31), whence Abraham and his dependents migrated to Canaan.

(2) A Gadite (1Ch 5:13).

(3) (4) Two Benjamites (1Ch 8:12, 1Ch 8:22).

(5) The head of a priestly family (Neh 12:20).

Eber was an early Semite (i.e. a descendant of Shem) whose two sons, Joktan and Peleg, began two notable lines of family descent (Gen 10:21; Gen 10:25). The line of descent through Joktan produced many of the Arab tribes (Gen 10:26-30), and the line through Peleg produced those tribes of Mesopotamia to which Abraham belonged (Gen 11:16-26). The name ‘Hebrew’, by which Abraham and his descendants were known, was taken from the name ‘Eber’ (Gen 10:21; Gen 14:13; Gen 39:17; Exo 1:22; see HEBREW). So too, it seems, was the name ‘Habiru’, by which semi-nomadic peoples in general were known. The word eber meant ‘to pass over or through’.