The eponymous ancestor of the Ivrim (עברים) = "Hebrews" - except that there probably wasn't one, as the name was almost certainly an insult rather than a tribal or ethnic designation.
Ever means "beyond", or "to pass over" (ironic in the context of the Mosheh story), and is almost certainly derived from the Egyptian word Habiru, or Hapiru, meaning "foreigner" or "stranger" or "outsider", and very much in the sense that "Mexican" is used in modern America. Probably they were not originally a tribe at all, but a common term for foreigners (something in the manner of wog - "western oriental gentleman" - in the English as a kind of universal pejorative for all non-Whites). Thus, in full, Ever ha-Nahar (עבר הנהר), meaning "from beyond the river", which is how they are referred to in 1 Kings 5:4 (1 Kings 4:24 in some English translations), and also by the Mitsri (Egyptians). Which river is not clear however, but probably the Yarden (Jordan).
Genesis 10:21 names Ever as a son of Shelach (שלח) in the family of Shem (שם); he was the father of Peleg (פלג) and Yoktan (יקטן).
Genesis 10:21 names Ever as a son of Shelach (שלח) in the family of Shem (שם); he was the father of Peleg (פלג) and Yoktan (יקטן).
Peleg simply means "a division", and Genesis 10:25 gives the traditionally meaningless aetiological explanation of this, "because in his days was the Earth divided".
Yoktan as a grandson of Shem makes more sense, the Yoktanite Arabs being a major grouping of the southern Arabian tribes. All of this places Ever deep in Mesopotamia, and if correct must mean that the Egyptian word Habiru, and the term Hapiru that appears in other ancient manuscripts, are simply not connected to this Ever at all, but were convenient to add as a diversion when the redaction took place.
Genesis 11:14 ff states that Ever was aged thirty-four at the birth of Peleg, and that he died aged four hundred and sixty-four - see notes to Age.
An Avarah (עברה), which word comes from the same root, is "a ferry-boat", from the notion of getting "beyond" one place and to another.
The evidence of the text is that "Hebrew", whether as Habiru or Hapiru or even as Ivri (עברי), which is how it appears in the Tanach, was not a name used by the Beney Yisra-El themselves, but only by the Beney Kena'an, and others, when describing them, in the same way that the inhabitants of the land probably did not call themselves Beney Kena'an, but Chorim, Anakim, Amorim, etc (a useful parallel might be modern Britain, where we might call ourselves British, but are more likely to identify as English, Scots, Welsh or Irish, but under no circumstances would we ever refer to ourselves as United Kingdomers, even though it would be technically correct.) The term "Hebrew" is in fact only used in the Tanach by foreigners, or when Beney Yisra-El are speaking to foreigners about themselves.
Genesis 11:14 ff states that Ever was aged thirty-four at the birth of Peleg, and that he died aged four hundred and sixty-four - see notes to Age.
An Avarah (עברה), which word comes from the same root, is "a ferry-boat", from the notion of getting "beyond" one place and to another.
The evidence of the text is that "Hebrew", whether as Habiru or Hapiru or even as Ivri (עברי), which is how it appears in the Tanach, was not a name used by the Beney Yisra-El themselves, but only by the Beney Kena'an, and others, when describing them, in the same way that the inhabitants of the land probably did not call themselves Beney Kena'an, but Chorim, Anakim, Amorim, etc (a useful parallel might be modern Britain, where we might call ourselves British, but are more likely to identify as English, Scots, Welsh or Irish, but under no circumstances would we ever refer to ourselves as United Kingdomers, even though it would be technically correct.) The term "Hebrew" is in fact only used in the Tanach by foreigners, or when Beney Yisra-El are speaking to foreigners about themselves.
1 Chronicles 24:27 gives a man named Ivri (עברי) from the same root.
Numbers 27:12 and 33:47 and Deuteronomy 32:49 speak of a mountain range on the other side of the river Yarden (i.e. in Mo-Av), which is called Ha Avarim (העברים) - a word that could perfectly well be read as "Ha Ivrim" - and of which Nevo is the summit. Nevo, or Nabu, was the son of Marduk in Babylonian cosmology, and gave his name to the Yehudit word for Prophet = Nevi (נבי). It was on the summit of Mount Nevo – i.e. in the mountain shrine of the god Nabu - that Mosheh died (Deuteronomy 34:1). Later Greek writers associated Nabu with Mercury.
Numbers 27:12 and 33:47 and Deuteronomy 32:49 speak of a mountain range on the other side of the river Yarden (i.e. in Mo-Av), which is called Ha Avarim (העברים) - a word that could perfectly well be read as "Ha Ivrim" - and of which Nevo is the summit. Nevo, or Nabu, was the son of Marduk in Babylonian cosmology, and gave his name to the Yehudit word for Prophet = Nevi (נבי). It was on the summit of Mount Nevo – i.e. in the mountain shrine of the god Nabu - that Mosheh died (Deuteronomy 34:1). Later Greek writers associated Nabu with Mercury.
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