 Hebrew, Israelite, Jews. What do these terms mean? Are they synonymous? And really, what are their origins? You hear a lot about these terms, Hebrew, Israelite, Jews. And the question is, what do they mean? What's their origin? Can they be used synonymously, or is there a difference? So I wanna go ahead and jump into it, but first off, I wanna just say this in caution, that's all I'm understanding that these terms do not refer to someone's color, someone's skin color, the skin tone. We'll cover the reason why Jews come in all different shapes and sizes or colors in just a little bit, and we'll see how the origins of these names have played into that. But you need to understand that it's not so much of a race, it's really more of a religion, obviously, more of an ethnic religion. The thing is though, being a Hebrew, being a Jew, being an Israelite, being a Jew, being a Jew is something that's passed down either biblically or because of rabbinic traditions. It's passed down through the mother's lineage, because a mother can marry anyone, she can be Jewish and then turn around and marry someone who's Asian, someone who is white, someone who's black, someone who is of a different part of the world. The child can also then become or claim to be Jew. We'll cover that in just a little bit though. So we wanna start off with the term Hebrew. It is the oldest term that's used to describe these people. Now I'll say up front and we'll discover that these terms, all three, have become synonymous with each other. But the word Hebrew is a noun as well as an adjective. It refers to the people, it describes the people, as well as describes or refers to the actual language. Speaking Hebrew, the first time that we see this term, Hebrew, shows up in the Bible in Genesis chapter 14 in reference to Abraham. So let's go to Genesis 14, verse 13. The one who had escaped came and told Abraham or Abram, the Hebrew. And the word that's used here is labram haibri, the Hebrew that we see here, that's the term for Hebrew. Now it comes from, the name Hebrew comes from Abram leaving the land that God tells him to get out, leaving a bear, which we'll get this term, a bear or either hard be a soft, smooth be or V sound a bear, where we get this term, Hebrew also from Avar, which means to pass over to cross over and this is Abram crossing over from the Euphrates going into the land that God promised him, ultimately we call Israel. And so we see in this passage that the term Hebrew or Hebrew refers to the people or his people are referenced as Hebrew. Obviously at this moment, this is not referencing an actual religion because at this time, there are no commandments, there are no set of laws, the new covenant, the old covenant has not been set in place. But again, it becomes anonymous, but at this time it's just referring to people or his family, his lineage. Also, we see this usage in Jonah chapter one, verse nine. We go there says, and he said that to them, I am a Hebrew speaking of Jonah. And he uses the phrase Hebrew, Anokim, which is I am a Hebrew. So the term Hebrew is there. And so it's just referencing who he is, where he's from his lineage. And in this regard, it's used to refer to all of these Jewish people. Again, we'll get to the terms Jewish or these Israelites in just a second. As a matter of fact, let's go ahead and talk about what it means to be an Israelite. The name Israel comes from Jacob, who obviously is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and then Jacob, Jacob's his grandson. And so God gives him this name, Israel, which means having wrestled with God. And so all of the descendants of Jacob or Israel is his name, are now called the children of Israel. And so when you say someone is an Israelite, it just means that you are of Israel or from Jacob or from his lineage. It refers to, an Israelite refers to a person who is also from the land of Israel, because this is where they go to settle. Now, a dispute arises, a civil dispute obviously between the North and the South. And we see Israel being the name commonly ascribed to those in the Northern Kingdom. And then the Southern Kingdom having the name ascribed to them Judah because it references the two tribes that are left and the 10 tribes in the North, the 10 tribes in the North are called the Northern Kingdom or Israel. Now, because of this invasion and this conquering by the Assyrians, we'll see these Israelites, these those of the Northern Kingdom begin to flee. And when they begin to flee, they many fled North and Eastward. But then also, now there were some that also stayed as well, but then we also see those who fled to the South, to Judah. And when they fled to the South in Judah, they became known as Jews. The term Jew is derived from Judah or Yehuda. It became synonymous with all, all of them recognized that they were part of the 12 tribes. All of Israel, all the Jews, all the Israelites recognized that they were one of the 12 tribes and they still recognize that they were part of the same family. However, as they moved and began to settle in Judah, this is before they were also conquered, the term became synonymous with them that they are Jews, even though they might be of a different tribe. Case in point, in Esther 2.5, we read this, now there was a Jew in Sousa, the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shmi, son of Kish, a Benjaminite. Well, so here we see that he has called a Jew, but his tribe is a tribe of Benjamin. And so you'll see times where they may even still reference their tribe, although many of the identity of their tribe became to be a little bit confusing because of the intermarrying even amongst the different tribes. And so you might be of this tribe and you may be of this tribe, but what are you? Well, what you are is a Jew, what you are is an Israelite, what you are is a Hebrew. And so we see this example even with Jonah. As a matter of fact, when we go to Romans, Paul states that he is a Jew. Paul states that he is of Israel, but he even also recalls what his tribe is from. There are those that still did remember who their tribe is from. There are some who did not, but most importantly though, they were all still part of Israel, the nation. And God makes his promise with Israel, the nation that one, Abraham's descendants are going to be many and plentiful, which we see and we have a scattering. But he also makes his promise that Israel will never cease to be a nation before the Lord, that he will bring them back into the land, which we saw him do. And then he also has a promise specifically for them. Now the promise is gonna be for those who are ethnically of Israel, who are physically of this lineage, who also place this faith in Christ. Though they have not done so, there are few, but for the most part, they don't do so. But I want to make it clear because it's become an issue where people think or some are trying to say that it's their color that is determinative of who they are. Jews come in different shapes, size and colors. Because of this dispersion that we have seen. And remember, Peter writes, who is also Jewish, Peter writes in first Peter chapter one, verse one, Peter and apostle Jesus Christ, he writes, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontius Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bethany according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling with his blood, may grace be multiplied to you. And so here he's writing to these tribes, these Jews who have been dispersed because of persecution and so forth and look where they have been dispersed to according to this letter, all these different regions in Asia Minor and so forth and into Pontius, into Galatia and so forth. And so we know that the Jews have been dispersed to Asia Minor, to Asia, to Europe, to Africa, all over. Jews literally are all over the world. And so it would not come as a surprise to know that there are a lot of people who have through some sort of DNA testing that we have discovered that there are Jews who are here in America, who may look like me, who may be white, who may be in between, who may be of Hispanic heritage, who may be Asian and that also certainly includes the Jews who are still in the land of Israel. So let's understand that when we say Hebrew, when we say Israelite or Israel, when we say Jew, it has become and it is synonymous of the same people. And again, notice it does not reference a skin color, but it references a religion of faith and a lineage of those who have descended from Abraham.