Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/765

* HEBREW MUSIC. 705 HEBREWS. gogen- und ^'olh■>i-^l^'lodicn bci den Juden gc- schichtUch nachireisharf (Leipzi;?, 1898) ; Saal- sehiitz, Oeschichte und W i( rdi g ii ii g dcr Miixik bci den Hehraern (Berlin, 1829), vlii<-li <;ivos a com- parison of the Hebrew instriinieiils willi the Greek and the modern Aral)ian; Slainer, The Music of the Bible (New York and London, n. d.) ; Wellhausen's edition of the Psalms in the Polychrome Bible (New York, 1898), with appendix on the "Music of the Hebrews;" J. Weiss, Die mii»ikalischen Instrumente in den hi-iligen Schriften des alien Tcslnmcnts (Vienna, 1895) ; Biichelcr. '-Zur Geschiehfe der Tempcl- nuisik und dor Tempelsalmen," Zcilschiiff fiir Altiestamentliche Wisscn.trhaft (1899-1900) : the Hebrew archaeologies of Nowack and Benzinger; and for the musical instruments of the Book of Daniel, H. Derenbourg. See Psalms; David. HEBREWS. The name given to a group of clans of Aramean stock, who trace their origin to Southern Babylonia. The ultimate home, however, of these groups, and of the Arameans and Arabs, is in general to be sought rather in the steppes of Arabia. Hence they passed to the north in two steady streams, one by a direct route into Palestine and S3'ria, the other by the Euphrates Valley, where some made more or less permanent settlements, attracted by the higher culture prevailing in that region, while others continued northward and passed into Syria and ultimately Palestine. The name Hebrew is first applied to Abraham (Gen. xiv. 1.3) : but there is an earlier eponymous ancestor, Eber (Gen. x. 21), to whom it properly belongs. The designa- tion of Abraham as "the Hebrew' already reflects the later conditions when the Hebrew confederacy was organized. Miere the name originated is, therefore, a problem for which no satisfactory solution has yet been proposed. Some have sup- posed that the name originally designated a nomadic people of invaders, and that the Habiri of the Amarna tablets are Hebrews in this sense. Inasmuch as the term is generally used by for- eigners in designating the Hebrew confederacy (Gen. xl. 15: Ex. ii. 6; I. Sam. iv. 6) . it has been interpreted as the name given to the people, and denoting those who had 'come from beyond.' The stem from which Hebrews is formed has this meaning: but the explanation is not acceptable, since in that case the name would hardly have acquired such importance as to give rise to an ei)onymous ancestor, Eber. The fact is that, since the literature of the Old Testament is for the great part written from a religious point of view, the distinctively religious designation of the confederacy as Bene Israel (or Israelites), or as Israel and Judah, receives the preference over Jhrim or Hebrews, and hence the latter is intro- duced only on special occasions and for some spe- cial reason. For the history, language, litera- ture, and institutions of the Hebrews, see .Jews; Semitic Languages. HEBREWS, Epistle to TnE(Gk. ^7rpos'E/3/.a(- ot/s iirurToK-fi. he pros Hebraioiis epixtolr. Lat. epts- tola ad Uebrwos) . An anonymous book of the New Testament. The questions concerning its au- thor, the readers to whom it was addressed, and the place where, as well as the time when, it w.as written have all been points of critical debate, and it cannot be said that any one of them is yet positively settled. I. The time of composition could not have been later than A.D. 95. since the book was used freely by Clement of Kome in his letter to the Co- rinthians, which is assigned to about this dale. How much earlier than this it wa-s written de- ])cnds largely upon what is to be understood by the ijerseeutions referred to in x. .'iii-.'U. If they are to be identified with the Claudian edict (see Persecutions of the Christians), it caiuiot be dated earlier than 48 ; if they are to be identified with the Jewish War (see Jew.s), it cannot be dated before (15. In fact, whichever event is in- tended, it is likely that the writing wa.s long sub- .sequent to it, since the persecutions are referred to as belonging to the 'former days' (x. 32). As between these two events, however, the statement in xii. 4 that the readers had 'not yet resisted unto blood' would seem to make it unlikely that they had passed through the horrors of the Jewish War. But the force of this argument is dependent largely on the assumption that the readers were resident in Jerusalem or some part of Palestine. If resident elsewhere, then a new viewpoint of the persecutions is possible, and the above limits may not be necessary. It would seem to be certain that the author belonged to a generation later than the Gospel times (ii. 3; cf. Luke i. 1-4), and that the readers were under rulers different from .those who had founded and had originally been in charge of the Church (xiii. 7 ) . It would further seem to be clear that the persecutions mentioned in x. 32-34 as belong- ing to the 'former days' are to be sejjarated from those in the midst of which the readers were at the time of writing, and in which they had not yet come to the shedding of blood (xii. 4) . though the crisis of their troubles wa.s not far beyond them (X. 25: cf. xii. 25-29). Anything more definite than this, however, nuist depend upon the consideration of the remaining points. II. The place of the Epistle's composition would seem largely to depend on the interpretation of xiii. 24(>. if 'they of Italy' is to be understood as referring to those who had come from Italy, then the Epistle was written somewhere outside of that country: if it is to be understood as referring to those who belonged to Italy, then the place of writing was most n:iturally some- where within that land. As to which of these two usages the author had in mind, it may, perhaps, be impossible definitely to .say; although, from the grouped cliaracter of 'the salutations in the verse, it would seem that he was sending a greet- ing to all those who were associated with the readers — both officers and fellow (Christians — from all those who were associated with himself. But this would seem to imply that these latter were the Christians generally of the land from which he was writing,- since otherwise they must be merely Christian sojourners who were acci- dentally in the place where he was. Tn this case we should liave a general greeting on the one side and a strangely partial greeting on the other — a greeting from a group of Christian travelers in a city, but none from the Cliristians of the city itself. There would, consequently, seem to be something in favor of the Epistle's having been written within the land of Italy. If so it was probably at some other place than Rome, since Timothy's relea.se from prison and his expect^ed arrival at the place where the author was (xiii. 23) would indicate a coming from Rome, as the most probable place of imprisonment, to some other place where the author was awaiting him.