Table 3.A Distribution and Use of the Term HebrewThe majority of biblical references to Hebrews are clustered in three places: the early chapters of Exodus, the Joseph cycle and 1 Samuel. In virtually every instance the term Hebrew is used by non-Israelites to refer to Israelites: by Egyptians in the Joseph cycle and in Exodus, and by Philistines in 1 Samuel. | 1 | Joseph Cycle | 39: 14, 17 | | | 40:15 | | | 41:12 | | | 43:32 | | 2 | Exodus (early chapters) | 1:15, 16, 19 | | | 2:6, 7, 11, 13 | | | 5:3 | | | 7:16 | | | 9:1, 13 | | | 10:3 | | 3 | 1 Samuel | 4:6, 9 | | | 13:3, 7, 19 | | | 14:11, 21 | | | 29:3 | | Other | Jonah 1:9 |
Exodus Texts | 1:15 | Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, | | 1:16 | "When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live." | | 1:19 | The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and are delivered before the midwife comes to them." | | 2:7 | Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" | | 2:11 | One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. |
The term Hebrew may be related to the term Habiru (sometimes also spelled Hapiru and 'Apiru). The Habiru are attested in the Amarna letters and in other documents. The Amarna letters are a collection of correspondence between the Egyptians and their vassals in western Asia dating to the 14th century B.C.E. The kings of Palestinian and Syrian city-states appeal to their Egyptian overlords for help against the Habiru. The term does not designate an ethnic group. Instead it refers to mercenary soldiers, trouble-makers, and caravaneers. The identification of the Hebrews with the Habiru is disputed and far from settled. For further discussion see Greenberg (1955), Gottwald (1979), and Naaman (1986). |
