Dict: smith - HEBREW

smith:

HEBREW - H>@ - This word first occurs as given to Abram by the Canaanites, kjv@Genesis:4:13) because he had crossed the Euphrates. The name is also derived from Eber, "beyond, on the other side," Abraham and his posterity being called Hebrews in order to express a distinction between the races east and west of the Euphrates. It may also be derived from Heber , one of the ancestors of Abraham. kjv@Genesis:10:24) The term Israelite was used by the Jews of themselves among themselves; the term Hebrew was the name by which they were known to foreigners. The latter was accepted by the Jews in their external relations; and after the general substitution of the word Jew, it still found a place in that marked and special feature of national contradistinction, the language.

HEBREW LANGUAGE - H>@ - The books of the Old Testament are written almost entirely in the Hebrew language. It is a branch of the Shemitic language, one of the three great divisions into which all languages have been reduced. It is one of the earliest of known languages, and some suppose that it was the original language of man.

HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO THE - H>@ - The author
There has been a wide difference of opinion respecting the authorship of this epistle. For many years Paul was considered the author; others think it may have been Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos. Much of the theology and the language are similar to Paul’s, but the authorship of the epistle ia still disputed. To whom written .
The epistle was probably addressed to the Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine. The argument of the epistle is such as could he used with most effect to a church consisting exclusively of Jews by birth, personally familiar with and attached to the temple service. Date.
It was evidently written before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, probably about A.D. 62-64. Place .
It was probably written in Italy, while Paul was a prisoner at Rome. Contents .
With respect to the scope of the epistle, it should be recollected that while the numerous Christian churches scattered throughout Judea, kjv@Acts:9:31; kjv@Galatians:1:22) were continually exposed to persecution from the Jews, ( kjv@1Thessalonians:2:14) there was in Jerusalem one additional weapon in the hands of the predominant oppressors of the Christians. The magnificent national temple might be put against the Hebrew Christian; and even if this affliction were not often laid upon him, yet there was a secret burden which he bore within him, the knowledge that the end of all the beauty and awfulness of Zion was rapidly approaching. The writer of this epistle meets the Hebrew Christians on their own ground, showing that the new faith gave them Christ the Son of God, more prevailing than the high priest as an intercessor; that his Sabbath awaited them, his covenant, his atonement, his city heavenly not made with hands. Having him, believe in him with all your heart, with a faith in the unseen future strong as that of the saints of old, patient under present and prepared for coming woe, full of energy and hope and holiness and love. Such was the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews.