Spirituality Column #756

May 11, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

All the Sons of Eber

By Bob Walters

“Sons were also born to Shem …  the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.” Genesis 10:21

I’m a Christian so it should make sense that I spend most of my Bible-reading time reading about Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  It’s my happy place.

As it happens, these days I’m spending a lot of time in the Old Testament (OT) preparing a weekly Thursday Bible lesson, “Genesis to Jesus.”  One can find Christ, Christian lessons, and Christian metaphors anywhere in the Bible.  God’s righteousness never wavers, and I’ve been sneaking a lot of what I’ve learned into these columns.

Recently a Christian friend asked a more pointed question about OT lore, “When did Judaism enter history?”  My kneejerk response was that I supposed it would have been with Jacob, renamed “Israel” after he “wrestled” with God (Genesis 32:48), and fathered the twelve tribes of Israel nearly 4,000 years ago.  But that would mean Jacob’s father Isaac, and his father Abraham – the Father of Judaism – were not actually Jews.  Hmmm.  So, I did the modern thing and Googled it: When, and Who?

Turns out a specific answer doesn’t seem to exist, though about a million opinions do.  The Old Testament is certainly a history of Judaism, but I read the Bible predominantly as a history of God’s Creation, God’s righteousness, Mankind’s fallenness, and perhaps most importantly, as a history of faith and exposition of God’s love.  My ultimate take-away, of course, is the salvation Christ offers to the whole world.

That said, going back to the question about Judaism entering history, I wonder if it entered with Jacob’s family, or actually with Abraham’s faith.  God’s covenant with faithful Abraham (Genesis 17:2-8) sure argues as Judaism’s starting point.

But consider too that if Judaism truly originated with faith in the One True God … you know, GOD … then the Bible’s earlier non-Israelite characters of great Godly faith like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Melchizedek seem legitimate to join the faithful line of “Yahudi.”  These are persons from the later Hebrew “Southern Kingdom” named for the tribe of Jacob’s fourth son, “Yahud,” or “Judah,” hence the words “Judaism” and “Jew.” (A fun fact is that “J” was “Y” in Hebrew and “I” in Greek and Latin; “J” wasn’t its own letter until fairly recent times, 500 years ago or so. “Jew” first popped up in the 1800s.)

“Hebrew” is perhaps the oldest identifier, referring as it does to the faith, race, and language of Judaism.  “Hebrew” likely originates with “Eber,” the great-grandson of Noah’s blessed son Shem (Genesis 9:26-27, 10:25).  “Eber” also means “crosses over,” perhaps referring to Abraham “crossing over” the Euphrates from Ur into Canaan.

Shem, of course, is the origin of “Semitic” people which include the Jews and many other Arab nations and languages. An Islamic teaching is that Shem’s family refused to help Ham’s family build the Tower of Babel so God did not confuse Shem’s family language.  Hence Muslim tradition that Semitic was the original language of man.

When and where did Judaism begin, exactly?  I’m not sure.  What I am sure of is that “all the sons of Eber” led to the chosen nation of Israel…and Jesus.  Quite a legacy.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that faith in God existed before religion. And this: The modern though controversial phrase “Judeo-Christian” created in 1939 by novelist George Orwell became an American political and media bon mot supporting the WWII plight of Jews in Europe. Problematically, it blurs history and distorts doctrines.