The Amarna Letters
The Amarna Letters, a trove of 382 clay tablets in cuneiform found at Pharaoh
Akhenaton’s newly built capital of Amarna, contain some 3 dozen letters sent from
Canaan and the upper eastern Mediterranean coast to Egypt complaining of
invaders and the need for military assistance from Egypt – their overlord and
‘protector’.
The invaders are called Apiru, a term also pronounced Hapiru or Habiru, and found in numerous other records from throughout the
Fertile Crescent covering some 600 years as far back as the 18th
century BCE.[i]
The term means in ancient
Sumerian ‘dusty/dirty’ and was used for outlaws, robbers, raiders, mercenaries
and rebels, and also for servants, slaves and labourers. As such, it was a derogatory label for any
group who were considered ‘outsiders’, ‘troublemakers’ or of low social status[ii].
Now the Amarna Letter pleas for aid against Apiru invaders are normally dated to at most the 30 years or so between 1360 and 1332 BCE as
other of the letters name the recipients as Pharaoh Amenhotep III, his successor Amenhotep IV (who
changed his name to Akhenaton), and an unnamed young third pharaoh -- possibly
his son, Tutankhamen. [iii]
Are the children
of Israel under Joshua the Apiru of the letters?
Wikipedia notes that there
is no scholarly consensus as to the origin of the term ‘Hebrew’ – עִבְרִי.
It cites Josephus who in his
Antiquities of the Jews, book 1:6:4 states
the term means “descended from Eber”, Abraham’s ancestor (going back 6
generations).[iv]
This is also the only
etymology Strong’s Concordance lists
-- with the caveat of “perhaps” -- for its entry #5680.[v]
The more likely origin, as
acknowledged by Wikipedia, is the Hebrew word for “to go across”. Namely, a term someone would use for himself
or that others would use for someone who travelled or migrated from across
the Euphrates River, the natural southern border of ancient Mesopotamia.[vi]
As such, it could apply to
not just Abraham and his descendants, but to any migrating Mesopotamians.
Eventually, however, during
the time in Egypt, it became the common tribal name of the descendants of
Jacob.
Early use of
adjective “Hebrew” עִבְרִי in the Bible
The descriptor ‘Hebrew’ עִבְרִי is
first used in the Bible for Abraham in Gen. 13:14 when mentioning that ‘Hebrew’ Abraham lives beside his Amorite
neighbours and allies.
It appears next when the
wife of Potiphar accused Joseph of attempted rape, calling Joseph a ‘Hebrew’
(i.e., foreigner) in Gen. 39:14 and 17.
In Gen. 40:15,
Joseph, explaining where he came from before being sold as a slave, says he was
kidnapped while living in the land of the ‘Hebrews’.
Rabbinic commentaries by Radak,
Shadal, Tur HaAroch and Rav Hirsch follow Ramban’s lead that it refers to the ‘well-known’
settlement of Abraham and Isaac in Hebron.[vii]
More likely, as Joseph was
not kidnapped per se but sold off by his half-brothers, Joseph’s account here is
probably a misrepresentation and he probably intended to say he was kidnapped from above the
Euphrates.
In Gen. 41:12, Joseph is again
called a “Hebrew youth” by pharaoh’s restored cupbearer, meaning Joseph is a
foreigner.
Then, in Gen. 43:32, when Joseph
shares a banquet meal with his 11 brothers and Egyptian companions, the text
stresses that the Egyptians would not eat beside the brothers –referred to as ‘Hebrews’
--as the latter were eating sheep and goat meat which was considered by
Egyptians as deities. Here, again, the
term Hebrew probably means foreigners.
Hebrews
as a tribal name
But from Exodus chapter one
onward, the term Hebrew is clearly used as a tribal name for the
descendants of Jacob.
When pharaoh calls the
(Jewish) midwives who assist birthing among the (Jewish) women, they are called
“Hebrew midwives” הָעִבְרִיּוֹת לַמְיַלְּדֹת in Exod. 1;15 and their pregnant clients as “(female) Hebrews” הָעִבְרִיּוֹת
in Exod. 1:16 and Exod. 1:19.
When baby Moses is found on
the Nile by pharaoh’s daughter, the instant she sees him she knows he is a ‘Hebrew’
(probably due to circumcision) and sends for a ‘Hebrew’ wet-nurse who turns out
to be his biological mother (Exod. 2: 6
and 7).
When adult Moses sees an
Egyptian severely beating a slave, the slave is called a ‘Hebrew’ and Moses
intervenes to save a tribal kinsman (Exod. 2:11).
Then when in Exod. 2:13 Moses
sees two men – called ‘Hebrews’ --
fighting and tries to stop them, the text criticizes them for betraying Moses
to pharaoh and forcing Moses to flee.
The most powerful evidence
that the term ‘Hebrews’ was used as a tribal name is Exod. 3:18 where God reveals Himself to Moses
in the burning bush and orders him to go to pharaoh for the release of His
people: referring to Himself as “the God of the Hebrews” עִבְרִיִּים֙הָֽ
אֱלֹהֵ֤י.
Moses thereafter uses this wording:
הָֽעִבְרִיִּים֙ אֱלֹהֵ֤י, when speaking to pharaoh to release the
descendants of Jacob in Exod. 7:16, Exod. 9:1 and 13, and Exod.10:3.
The tribal name Hebrews
appears twelve (12) more times in the Tanach re: laws of Hebrew slaves in the Chumash and Jeremiah, battles between Philistines and King Saul’s forces[viii]
and in Jonah, when he identifies
himself to the ship’s crew as a Hebrew who worships the one true God (Jonah 1:9).
Tribal term יִשְׂרָאֵל נֵיבְּ -- Israelites
The second, more august
tribal name, יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּנֵ, first appears in Gen. 50:25 when Joseph is dying and asks
his brothers, to ensure his body is eventually buried in Canaan when they exit
Egypt in future. He asks them this as fellow offspring of their common father
Jacob, who gained the august second name of יִשְׂרָאֵל
decades before when successfully overcoming an
angel in hand-to-hand battle (Gen. 32:28): a name which means “victorious in
the struggle with God”.
After all, his birth name,
Jacob, is not very noble, as it literally means ‘heel’.
For at birth he was grabbing
onto the heel of his twin brother Esau, who was being born first (Gen. 25:26).
So, starting with Exodus 1:1,
the term יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּנֵ appears numerous times, with a sense of nobility
and pride in the new tribe and nation.[ix]
Hebrews ﬦעִבְרִי
and Apiru
The word ﬦעִבְרִי
(EVRIM), normally pronounced in English as ‘Hebrews’, and the word ‘Apiru/Hapiru/Habiru’
sound very similar and some have suggested they refer to one and the same
group.
In particular, Steve Rudd, a
devout Christian, in his analysis of the three dozen Amarna letters re: Apiru
invaders, sees the letters as independent evidence of the conquest of Canaan by
Joshua and the Israelites as presented in the Bible, and translates Apiru as ‘Hebrews’
in every letter. [x]
Wikipedia acknowledges this
identification of Apiru with the Israelites under Joshua has been fairly common
but, as noted earlier, it stresses the term Apiru was long used before any
Israelite nation emerged[xi].
More importantly, while the
term Apiru/Hapiru/Habiru sounds similar to the term Hebrews ﬦעִבְרִי, they
having different linguistic origins and
meanings.
Apiru was always a derogatory
term from its Sumerian origin as ‘dusty/dirty’ onward, and was a term based
on class: being an outsider to normal society or of lowly status. The term Hebrews ﬦעִבְרִי
is geographical in nature and denotes being from beyond the Euphrates river,
the natural southern boundary of ancient Mesopotamia.
The term Hebrews ﬦ יעִבְרִ in
the Bible is never an insult.
Instead, it first marks
one’s Mesopotamian origins during the time of the patriarchs and during the
stay in Egypt it became commonly used by and for the descendants of Jacob – as
a basic tribal name.
CONCLUSION re:
names ﬦ יעִבְרִ and Apiru
Yes, it is possible that the
descendants of Jacob were labelled by the ancient slur of Apiru in Egyptian or
Canaanite records, but it is wrong and dangerous to assume every time the term
Apiru appears that it refers to the tribal descendants of Jacob.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letters
and https://www.worldhistory.org/image/5623/the-amarna-letters/
[iv] See Genesis 11:16-27.
[viii]
Exod. 21:2, Deut. 15:12; 1 Samuel 4: 6 and 9, 1 Samuel 13: 3, 7 and 19, 1
Samuel 14:11 and 21, and
Samuel 29:3; Jeremiah 34: 9 and 14.
[ix] See listing at https://biblehub.com/hebrew/strongs_3478.htm
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