# Non-Israelite Hebrews???

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 26, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672 "2004-12-26T11:15:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672/1 "2004-12-26T11:15:08Z")

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in [Another Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5481198&postcount=6)

> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> The Hebrews were the descendants of Eber, who was Abraham’s great-great-great-great-grandfather. The Israelites were the descendants of Jacob, who was renamed Israel.

[Variation on Monty Python]

Given this information, my wife would not deduce that **All Israelites are descendants of Eber** nor would she deduce that **Descendants of Eber may or may not be Israelites** but, rather, she would deduce that I do not love her anymore.

[/Variation on Monty Python]  
I would assume that there were many descendants of Eber who were _not_ descendants of Jacob. So are there (or were there) Hebrew peoples other than the Israelites?

If so who would be some examples of Non-Israelite Hebrews?

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672/2 "2004-12-26T11:31:02Z")

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Well, I don’t think the Bible ever really adresses the subject, but several other nations in the ancient Middle East spoke languages very similar to Hebrew. The Phoenicians, for instance, and the Aramites (whose language eventually evolved into Aramaic).

I believe that the only specifically non-Israelite Hebrews in scripture are Rebeccah, her brother Lavan, and his daughters Leah and Rachel - in short, the people of Abraham’s homeland who married his descendents. Since Abraham supposedly came from Messopotamia, one might assume that Hebrews lived there, too.

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**Author:** ![Josh\_dePlume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Josh\_dePlume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Josh_dePlume)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672/3 "2004-12-26T15:41:17Z")

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First of all, the notion that “Hebrew” refers to the descendants of Eber is just a conjecture. But Genesis does mention many peoples who are descended from Eber but not Jacob. For example, Jacob’s twin brother Esau is said to give rise to the Edomites.

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**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672/4 "2004-12-26T16:16:50Z")

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And since the Arabs are supposed to be descended from Ishmael, they also would be Hebrews.

Bet that would start an interesting conversation in the West Bank…

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-israelite-hebrews/281672/5 "2004-12-26T20:46:19Z")

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> [@jayjay](#):
>
> And since the Arabs are supposed to be descended from Ishmael, they also would be Hebrews.
> 
> Bet that would start an interesting conversation in the West Bank…

In fact, a common Israeli euphemism for Arabs is “cousins.”