There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding the word “Hebrew”, its meaning, or just who exactly it refers to. The ‘bandit’ etymology is incorrect. The word “Hebrew” is a patronymic name, stemming from the name “Eber” or “Heber,” a man who lived c. 2303 BC. The name “Eber” means, “to cross over.” “Hebrew,” which is derived from it, is intended to denote the people who came “from the other side of the river” (i.e. the Euphrates), from Haran (Genesis 11:31), and were the descendants of Eber.
The descendants of Eber, or Hebrews, were not Arabs nor did they originally come from the Iraqi city of what has been incorrectly identified as Ur Kaśdim, or Ur of the Chaldees. The real Ur Kaśdim is the modern Turkish city of Şanlıurfa or more commonly Urfa, which was known in antiquity as Edessa, near the ancient Armenian (Indo-European) kingdom of Urartu. Racially, the Hebrews and their Israelite descendants were Aryans.
Many people mistakenly believe or have been brainwashed into believing that the people who call themselves “Jews” today are descended from the Ancient Israelites of the Old Testament, however, in reality, this is not the case. Modern Jews are, in fact, primarily descended from the Edomites who were converted to Hebræism by John Hyrcanus in the 2nd Century BC. In addition to that, the Ashkenazi, or European, Jews also have Turkic, Mongol, and European ancestry.
The Edomites were a racially-mixed people, descended paternally from Esau (the son of Isaac, and brother of Jacob). Esau took his wives from among the Canaanites: Judith, a Hittite; Adah (called Basemath), a Hittite; Oholibamah, a Hivite. He also married Mahalath (also called Basemath), an Ishmaelite (Arab), upon hearing of his parents’ displeasure with his marriage to Canaanite women (Genesis 28:1–9). The Canaanite peoples descended from Canaan, the son of Ham, whose descendants were cursed to be slaves unto the descendants of Shem and Japheth, by his grandfather, Noah, as seen in Genesis 9. Today, the physiognomy of the Canaanites would be considered “Jewish.” Ancient reliefs and other artwork depict them as having large, hooked noses and recessive chins, similar to that of modern Jews.
The Israelites / Hebrews
The Israelites of old were regarded by the Egyptians as people from the land of Amurru, meaning “the land of the Amorites” which the Israelites had conquered. Another term applied to the general Syrian area was Retenu. The name “Upper Retenu” corresponded to the geographical space encompassed by the Land of Israel, according to the Bible. People from the area known as Amurru or Retenu after 1400 BC were Israelites. They are depicted on Egyptian monuments as red, blond, or black-haired with frequent blue eyes and red beards. Illustrations of individuals with this appearance are automatically assumed to pertain to the Israelite or Syrian area.
Another blond blue-eyed people depicted on Egyptian monuments were the so-called “Libyans” and it has now been shown by Alessandra Nibbi that these were not dwellers of “Libya” but rather of the Nile Delta and of Hebrew origin (Nibbi, A (1989) Canaan And Canaanite in Ancient Egypt).
On the Egyptian pictures skins of individuals from the Israelite or Syrian area are often light colored and rosy (Godbey, Allen H. (1930) The Lost Tribes a Myth, Durham, U.S.A., p. 83).
In addition, Mediterranid individuals from these same areas are also depicted and sometimes they are the majority. The identification of the Amurru people depicted with Israelites may be confirmed from illustrations of an Egyptian monarch and his campaign against the Tribes of Israel: In about 924 BC, the king of Egypt, Shishak, invaded Judah and the (then) separate state of Northern Israel. Pictures of the campaign of Shishak reveal him receiving homage from the King of Judah and from the heads of cities and dignitaries in Judah and throughout northern Israel. The personages depicted are of Amurru type and these pictures are sometimes even used as typifying the Egyptian depiction of Amurru characteristics. In the said context Amurru, in effect, often meant Israelite.
Here are a few examples of how the Ancient Israelites were anciently depicted:
(Depiction of a resident of Ammuru [Palestine] from the Tomb of Seti I)
(Residents of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Brunette Mediterranid [left] and Blonde Nordid [right]. The Mediterranid figure possesses blue-eyes and a blonde beard)
(Hebrew slaves in Egypt prior to the Exodus. Blonde types are present alongside others)
(Relief of Israelite musicians from Carchemish)
(Heads of Northern Israelite Cities that paid tribute to Shishak, King of Egypt)
(Statuettes of women from Ancient Judah)
(Residents of Galilee from the time of Christ from Mosaic found in Sepphoris)
The Israelite tribes tended to marry only within themselves and thus physical differences between different tribes were emphasized. The claim may also be made that peoples of the same areas of otherwise entirely different physical characteristics often have the same coloring (Dixon, R.B. (1923) Racial History of Man. NY & London, p. 32ff). As for Scriptural references to the racial types of the Israelites, Jacob (i.e. Israel) was twin-brother of Esau who was אדמוני, admoni (i.e. red-haired. Admoni (אדמוני) is more commonly translated as “ruddy,” as in “ruddy of face” (i.e. the ability to blush), but can also be taken to mean “red-haired” or “golden-haired”) and hairy (Genesis 25:25) whereas Jacob was smooth-skinned (Genesis 27:11). Laban, the father-in-law of Jacob, has a name meaning “white.” David, King of Israel, was also described as אדמוני, admoni (1 Samuel16:12; 1 Samuel 17:42), as was his son, King Solomon who was described as צח ואדום, tzach v’adom “white and ruddy” (Song of Songs5:10). Further, in Lamentations 5:7, the Nazarites are described as צחו מחלב אדמו עצם מפנינים ספיר גזרתם, Tzachu mechlav ademu etzem mippeninim gizratam sappir “whiter than snow, purer than milk, more ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.”
Compare and contrast these images:
(L) Amurru (Hebrew-Israelite) type—(R) Canaanite-Edomite type
The Egyptians depicted the Amurru (Israelite) types in Palestine as what we would now call “European.” This later type became the dominant one in Palestine (Amurru or Retenu) after the Canaanites were driven out, to become Carthaginians, or to settle in diverse locations. The Amurru type (Hebrew/Israelite), as seen on the left, is clearly a totally different family stock of the Canaanite-Edomite type on the right (Deal, David Allen (1993) The Nexus. ISAC Press, Columbus, Georgia, pp. 53-54).
Professor Archibald H. Sayce informs us that: “the ‘Amorites’ [the Hebrew Amurru] of Palestine were tall, handsome people, with white skins, blue eyes and reddish hair, having the characteristics of the white race.” (The Hittites: The Story of a Forgotten Empire, p. 15 by A.H. Sayce). He further states that captives taken by Shishak of Egypt, at the time of Rehoboam, from Israelite cities, are depicted on the walls of the temple of Karnak. They are ‘Amoritic’ [Amurru] as opposed to the so-called ‘Jewish’ [i.e. Edomite] type. Even the Encyclopædia Britannica, 14th ed., Vol. I, in its article entitled “Amorites” says, “Egyptian illustrations of the New Kingdom show the Palestinian Amorites [the Israelite/Hebrew Amurru] to have been a race much more like the Northern Europeans than the Semites; long-headed, with blue eyes, straight nose and thin lips …”Professor R. B. Dixon mentions that in the period of 2500 BC-1500 BC the population of Palestine consisted primarily of ‘Mediterranean’ and ‘Caspian’ peoples (Dixon, R.B. (1923) Racial History of Man. NY & London, p. 172).
According to Egyptian colored wall illustrations a good proportion of the western “Semites,” including the Hebrews, were blond and red haired. Hebrew slaves have been portrayed (on wall illustrations still existent today) working for their Egyptian taskmasters and some the Israelites depicted are blond (Gray, John (1969) Near-Eastern Mythology: Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. London, Hamlyn, UK, p. 109). Coloring varied from tribe to tribe and fairhairedness may have been more pronounced later in the north of Israel than in the south. In order that no one should misunderstand this matter it is worthwhile clarifying it:
- Red or Blond-hairedness was considered a characteristic of peoples from the Land of Israel and Syria according to Egyptian illustrations.
- Sometimes groups of Israelite and Palestinian-Syrian individuals are shown as entirely blond or red-haired with blue eyes and pale white rosy skins.
- More often people are shown from the same areas with dark hair and red or blond beards and eyes being either brown or blue.
- Blond or red-haired individuals are sometimes depicted in groups though frequently they are shown as mixed in with other darker individuals with similar facial features to themselves.
- Mesopotamian, Syrian, and Phœnician colored statuettes depict both Mediterranean individuals as well as those with blue eyes and red-blondish hair. Statuettes from Judah and northern Israel show individuals with both apparently Nordic as well as Mediterranid type features.
- There were both Mediterranean and lighter Nordic types existent amongst the ancient Israelites and the peoples around them. The evidence supports the idea that maybe there existed a certain differentiation from tribe to tribe or from one general area to another.
- The climate and physical environment have a definite effect on a person’s (or an entire people’s) physical appearance. So does heredity. How environmental and genetic factors interact with each other is unknown but it definitely does occur.
The Edomites / Idumæans
Obviously, the racial characteristics of Esau’s Canaanite wives were passed on through his descendants, dominating over Esau’s, who, himself, is described as having been covered in red hair (Genesis25:25).
A bitter rivalry between the descendants of Esau and Jacob continued throughout history, and as they lived in close proximity for hundreds of years, their hatred worsened. The Romans referred to the Edomites as Idumæans, separate from Israelites, when they lived in the region of Palestine together. The Romans later divided Palestine into districts, with Idumæa (land of Edomites) being one of the districts.
In the 2nd Century BC, prior to the Roman occupation of Judæa, the Idumæans (Edomites) were forcibly converted to the religion of the Israelites (known as Hebræism or Mosaism) by the Hasmonæan leader and High Priest, John Hyrcanus, who then gave them full citizenship (See Flavius Josephus’ Antiquities, book 13, chapter 9 ). Many of these Edomite converts rose to some of the highest positions of power within the Israelite religious hierarchy, eventually bastardizing it into what became known as Pharisaism and later progressed into Talmudism, and then into modern Judaism. Herod I, the half-Edomite usurper king of Judæa, removed nearly all of the legitimate Levite high priests in the Temple of Jerusalem and replaced them with his Idumæan kinsmen of the Pharisaical order, their leaders being his own sons. During the Herodian and Roman periods, “some twenty-eight high priests (only two of which were from families that had any legitimate claim) held office in little more than one century (from 37 BCE to 70 CE)” (Charlesworth, JH (1992), Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, p. 239).
The beginnings of Judaism take place with the Pharisees, as is reported in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia:
“The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is the largest and most important single member of that literature.” – Vol. VIII, p. 474 (1942).
The faith of the Hebrew Bible, which “officially” began with Abraham, can be referred to either as Hebræism or Mosaism (after Moses) and has since been fulfilled by its only authentic and legitimate continuation, Christianity. Judaism is the continuation of Pharisaism and is neither identical to the teachings of Moses, nor is it based on the teachings of Moses. Since Judaism is based on the Talmud, Judaism is, in fact, heresy against the teachings of Moses. In far more instances than not, the Talmud contradicts the teachings of Moses, thereby violating Deuteronomy 4:2, in which Moses himself condemns any attempt to change the written doctrine of the Holy Bible.
Judaism (in the more modern sense) began around 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the founding of an academy at Jabneh by Yochanan ben Zakai, the next transitional period came with Judah HaNasi and the codification of the law around 200 AD, followed by the two Talmuds, one composed in Babylon and the other in Jerusalem (c. 400-500 AD).
Then came the mass conversion in the kingdom of the Khazars, the Messianic expectations with the pseudo-Messiah Sabbatai Zevi, the new reform movements, such as with the Baal Shem Tov and his Hasidic disciples.
It is these Edomite Jews who authored the books we now know today as the previously mentioned Babylonian Talmud, a collection of books which speaks of Gentiles as ‘animals’ who are destined to serve Jews and which also insults Jesus Christ numerous times. You can read what the Jews believe about Jesus in their own Jewish Encyclopediahere.
At the fall of the Roman Empire, the Edomite Jews became scattered over all of Europe, setting up many Jewish communities there, with some settling down in the Turco-Mongolian (Khazaric) area of Russia, where they intermarried with the heathen Khazars who had converted en masse to Judaism. They are called Ashkenazi Jews, and make up at least 90% of modern Jewry. Every Israeli Prime Minister has come from this heathen background.
“Edom is in Modern Jewry.” (The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, vol. 5, p. 41)
“Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an ‘Israelite’ or a ‘Hebrew.’” (The Jewish Almanac, Compiled and Edited by Richard Siegel and Carl Rheins. New York: Bantam Books, 1980) p. 3.)
“Hasdai ibn Shaprut, who was foreign minister to Abd-al-Rahman, Sultan of Cordova, in his letter to King Joseph of the Chazars (about 960 AD) … speaks of the tradition according to which the Chazars once dwelt near the Seir Mountains.” (Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 6, p. 372)
The ‘Seir Mountains’ are none other than the original land of Esau-Edom—“Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom” (Genesis36:8). Seir was a mountain range south of the Dead Sea and was also known as the ‘land of Edom’ (Genesis 36:21). The Seir Mountains were the home of the Edomites for nearly a millennium. The Edomites arrived in Edom or Seir at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 13th Century BC.
Thus we have it from Jewish sources that the Khazars originally ‘dwelt near the Seir Mountains’ so are racially of Edomite stock. But how and when did Edomites get to Khazaria? There is evidence that in the 6th century BC, some of the Edomites fled their homeland of Seir and migrated north. After the fall of Jerusalem, in 586 BC, the Edomites began to press northward (Ezekiel 36:5).
For further study and information regarding the Edomite origin of today’s Jews, I’d recommend reading Chapter 7 of Ted R. Wieland’s book, Mystery of the Gentiles: Who Are They and Where Are They Now?, entitled Unmasking Today’s Edomites: A Mystery within a Mystery.
The Word “Jew”
English translations of the Bible use the term “Jew” in three distinct ways:
- The Judahite, who is a literal blood descendant of Judah. They, for the most part, completely make up certain ethnic groups in Europe. All Bible prophecies about Israel and Judah pertain to these people;
- The ancient Judæan (or even a modern Israeli), who were (or are) citizens of political entities. This category includes citizens of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Roman province of Judæa, including the Tribes of Benjamin and most of the Tribe of Levi; it will even include Canaanites and Edomites (the ancestors of modern Jews) who were citizens of Judah or Judæa. The Bible says nothing about either of these because Israel is not a mere political entity. The Zionism of the Jews of the Israeli Republic is not the Zion of the Kingdom of God nor the Zion of the former (now extinct) Israelite theocracy;
- The Jew who subscribes to the religious faith called Talmudic (Rabbinic) Judaism, which is a combination of the Mosaic Law, human tradition, occultism and Baal worship. It is militantly antichrist; a false religion. The true “Jew” (“Judahite” would be the proper term) who subscribes to the faith of the original Israelites no longer exists because that religious faith, and its political entity ‘Israel’, was brought to completion by Jesus Christ and is now fulfilled in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church (See here).
In conclusion, we see that the people we know today as “Jews” are not the people of the Bible but, usurpers of the name of Israel. Jesus Christ was not a “Jew”; He was an Israelite of the tribe of Judah (i.e. a Judahite).
