Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth;
Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
Genesis 10:21
Right out of the gate, it is important to try and establish a measure of clarity. It can get a little confusing to hear the different names used for God’s people: Semites, Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews. Let’s briefly look at each one to gain a better understanding. I think you will see an interesting pattern emerge, but allow me some grace as I paint with broad strokes. We start today’s study after the great flood looking for the origin of each word.
Semites are the descendants of Shem, the middle of the three sons of Noah (Genesis 10:21). They settled in the general area known today as the Middle East. As we’ll see tomorrow, Semitic is the term used to define the language group to which Hebrew belongs.
The word Hebrew is derived from the name Eber, also in the verse above. Abraham was a descendant of Shem and of Eber. It was Abram/Abraham who was first called a Hebrew (Genesis 14:13). The last time the word is used in the Old Testament to label someone is by Jonah about himself (1:9). However, the Apostle Paul referred to himself as a Hebrew twice (2 Corinthians 11:22; Philippians 3:5).
Jacob was renamed Israel by God in Genesis 32:28. He was a descendant of Shem, Eber, and Abraham, and his descendants were called Israelites. This term is used as a corporate name throughout Scripture, even in the New Testament. References to Israel are particularly numerous in the first five books of the Old Testament. They can also be found in Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Kings, and so on. Once again, Paul referred to himself as an Israelite in the same verse as above, 2 Corinthians 11:22.
What about the word Jew? This is derived from the word Judah. He was one of Jacob’s twelve sons. This means that he, too, was a descendant of all the same people in the family line we’ve been examining. So, Jews were specifically descended from the tribe of Judah. Jesus was accurately referred to as King of the Jews (Matthew 27:37) because He also was descended from Judah (Matthew 1:3). However, it seems over time that Jew came to mean all people of descent from the twelve tribes.
The meanings of these four terms have somewhat changed up to the present. Anti-Semitic is a term used to describe those who are racist against the Jewish people of today. Hebrew is the name of the modern-day Jewish language, and Israeli (Israelite) refers to anyone living in Israel. Jew is especially used in a religious context as the name of those who adhere to Judaism. For the sake of continuity in this devotional, I will mainly (but not exclusively) refer to them as Jews.
